City of God, directed by recent Academy Award nominee Fernando Meirelles, makes its way to video store shelves this month. Recess film lead writer Jon Schnaars had the opportunity to speak with lead actress Alice Braga, who was born and raised in Sao Paulo and recently traveled to the United States for the first time.
Recess: What makes the movie City of God so important in your eyes?
AB: City of God is probably the first film to show the violence of the Brazilian slums through the eyes of a Brazilian filmmaker. These favelas are dangerous places to grow up and Fernando (Meirelles) has captured that violence in a powerful way.
What was it like working with Director Fernando Meirelles?
He was a great director to work for. I had done some commercials with his production company and when he approached me about playing the part of Angelica I was very excited. The script was very good and I knew we had the opportunity to make something really special.
This is a very violent film. How did you address this on the set?
Everyone was very careful. We couldn't shoot in the actual City of God because it was far too dangerous. In the favela, where we actually did the shoot, everyone was very safe; the residents were very helpful.
Meirelles made the decision to use real children instead of actors for this film. How did this work out?
Many of the people that were in the film had actually spent time in the favelas. They understood the violence of the film and that really helped the rest of us in beginning to understand what it was really like.
How has the success of City of God affected your career?
It has been really amazing. I got to come to the United States, and I was able to take some acting classes at NYU. Now I'm heading back to Brazil to work with some of South America's most well known filmmakers. My next two projects are with Walter Salles and Carlos Bolado. I'm just so happy that City of God has given me these opportunities.
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