National film that is competing for the Oscars paid special attention to cars when making the period setting
The national film “The Secret Agent” is collecting awards at several festivals and has become a strong candidate at the Oscars. Director Kleber Mendonça Filho took special care in the production to rebuild what the city of Recife (PE) was like in 1977, and the cars were an essential part of this.
The capital of Pernambuco was set to return to the 1970s, with trade signs, payphones, cars and clothes. In total there were more than 360 cars on the scene in the film, with about 150 provided by local collectors.
SEE ALSO:
Behind this automotive cast was João Lucas, who acted as a producer of stage vehicles. He worked looking for the cars and coordinating them in the scenes.
According to the producer, the research and pre-production period for The Secret Agent was five weeks. He circled vintage car meetings to meet the owners and contacted local clubs.
Director Kleber Mendonça Filho demanded some precautions, such as not having cars newer than 1977. The production also asked to remove accessories that were not of the period, so that the setting is faithful.
The preference was for popular cars, because in the daily life of Recife most of the vehicles that ran were from the working class. Hence the large number of Beetles, as well as Corcéis and Brasília. João Lucas adds that they also didn’t need to be impeccable like in the meetings:
The cars couldn’t be shining. We asked them to leave the cars out of the cover, if possible in an open garage, to naturally pick up some dust.
The production also had scenographic dust to “make up” the four-wheeled actors on stage. The vehicle producer asked the owners to always be with the cars, many acted as extras.
One car that broke this rule of not using new vehicles was the police’s Chevrolet Veraneio. The production did not find one with white paint and or collectors who accepted to sticker an original as a vehicle.
They resorted to a unit from the 80s, as the body was the same, it was only necessary to change the front parts, such as the hood, grille and headlights to be characterized. The car was also repainted and received different upholstery. The art department finished with the characterization of the van at the rear. Below we have before and after photos.
Another that marked the production of The Secret Agent was the FNM truck. João Lucas says that he found one in perfect condition in the city of Gravatá, 75 km away from Recife.
The owner drove to the capital for the recordings. The production was afraid of this, but the truck arrived on set even before the crew.
João Lucas coordinated all the filming involving the old cars:
Whenever there were cars, I was present throughout the set dynamics to coordinate with the director, art and set production team. Just as the work of the entire production team was essential, which made it possible for the streets to be blocked so that we could do all the logistics of positioning and moving the cars safely.
We won’t go into the details of the script, but the cars are integral parts of The Secret Agent. The film deals with memory and vehicles are also instruments for the preservation of history. They act as silent witnesses and keep traces of events.
The Secret Agent is not only taking Brazilian cinema to the world. It’s also showing how it was a part of our past and the cars helped illustrate that.
