While you wait, you can see hundreds of HQ captures I did for this video. I absolutely LOVE Alice’s facial expression!

Chosen because they kill without conscience, these warriors, some trained, some not, battle a pack of 10-foot-tall Predators who are hunting them as prey. In this vast jungle, these human predators must learn who, or what, they’re up against, and test the limits of their abilities, knowledge and wits in a battle of kill or be killed.

Having appeared in several films, most notably as Angélica in 2002′s highly acclaimed Cidade de Deus, she landed her first U.S. blockbuster with 2007′s I Am Legend. Who else has starred in two apocalyptic films about the world’s end within a year — the Will Smith starrer and Blindness (2008) — and survived?

Coming from a cinematic family — her aunt is the great Brazilian actress Sônia Braga — 27-year-old Alice Braga Moraes got started at eight years old being in a yogurt commercial. Besides her native Portuguese, this native of São Paulo, Brazil also speaks English and Spanish, and shows a sort of pluck that propels her career.

With Repo Men also out this year, Braga has learned to endure all kinds of abuse whether it’s rolling around in slimy traps, or having a hand rammed into her gaping wounds. Because she neither has the tough-as-nail glare of Angelina Jolie or the towering power of Uma Thurman, she has to suggest both intelligence and vulnerability — and that wins her roles.

Q: You’ve done a lot of futuristic movies lately; do you have an affinity for them? Do you look for science-fiction scripts or do they happen to find you?

AB: It was a happy coincidence. It was something that my mom always loved, so I grew up watching those types of films, but it wasn’t something that I focused on. These scripts came to me; I read them, had fun with them and liked them. I really had fun because this type of film really opens a door for your imagination. It was a happy coincidence.

Q: Meeting you here, it’s hard to believe they cast you as a tough “guy.”

AB: Everyone tells me, “You look so much taller in the movies.”

Q: Your character is Israeli military?

AB: She is a sniper. She’s a special force lady.

Q: So are you chasing the predators? [chuckles]

AB: I’m being chased.

Q: When did you finish it?

AB: We wrapped the second week of January [2010].

Q: How was that experience?

AB: It was great, really nice, a lot of running around — running for my life as fast as I can. A great cast and crew. The photographer, Gyula Pados, was amazing. It looks really nice and the predators are dark, and really, really, scary.

I think the fans are really going to be happy with it, at least I hope so. The director, Nimród Antal, is a fan of the films, so it was like a fan directing us. He was like a kid on set, and having that energy was really special.

Q: Was Predators a tough shoot?

AB: It was a fun shoot. It was hard because of the weather conditions — really cold and working outdoors. But it was a blast, and I think it’s going to be interesting.

Q: What’s it like acting next to some guy in a suit?

AB: Awesome. Truly, I had so much fun because in I Am Legend they were wearing suits with dots, so it’s like Teletubbies.

I remember I took a picture when I met the guys because one of the guys who played the Predator, Derek Mears — he also played Jason — he’s so big, and I was next to him barefoot. He’s great. Having someone that tall, that big, with me — and I’m like 5’3″ — that kind of vibe was great because it gives you [a sense of] that desperation.

Q: What was it like working with such different people on Predators? It has such an interesting collection of actors, like Topher Grace and Adrien Brody.

AB: It was great because I think they wanted to do something different. Having Adrien as the hero was not the obvious choice, but he did great. I thought it was a great choice just to play around with acting in an action film.

Q: It was R rated; was it ever going to be a PG-13?

AB: I don’t think they could have because there are some [really] dark scenes in it, like any other of this type of film. So I think it’s going to be hard. We never know what’s going to happen or what the studio’s going to do in the editing. But it looks really dark, and I had fun doing it.

Q: Will you get your own action figure for Predators?

AB: I hope so. We did the scanning. I don’t know if it was for action scenes or post-production things, but I really hope I have an action figure. I would love that.

Q: Do you think it one-up the old movies?

AB: I don’t know if it will one-up [the original]. I hope it adds up more than anything else. I don’t know if it ones-up the other ones. I think to become successful as the others I think it needs to add up. You cannot try to make something different because then you lose the fans. The best thing is to make a film for the fans. That’s why we’re making it.

Q: Is there a possibility to get your own franchise out of this Predators movie?

AB: I don’t know. I would love to, but I have no idea. I’m totally open for anything. People ask me, “What type of films do you want to make?” I want to make films. I have a blast when I’m on set. Seriously, I’m a kid, ask anyone that worked with me or saw me on set.

Actually, what [director] Fernando Meirelles used to do with me on Blindness is he would keep me for last so that he could keep me on set. He knew that I wouldn’t leave. So if it comes up, definitely I would love to do more action and more stuff. I’m open for any type of acting.

Q: Have you talked to Fernando recently? Do you have any idea what he’s going to do next? Are you going to work with him again?

AB: I heard that he was going to do something with a Janis Joplin story or something, but I’m not sure. I heard that at a party at midnight in São Paulo, so that’s not a trustful source.

He was doing a really wonderful TV series in Brazil about Shakespeare. He’s been writing, and I think he’s probably in pre-production or something. As I was shooting Predators I was away for the past few months so I’m not sure.

Q: If you could work on any action film franchise or remake, do you have that ideal role in your head where you could be another kick-ass character?

AB: I never thought about it. I’ve always been a small, short girl so I never thought about myself running around and kicking ass and punching and shooting. In Predators, I’m a sniper and truly, my gun was the heaviest gun on set. It’s 14 pounds and everyone is with a knife, a pistol, and I’m with a [huge] rifle.

I totally love the challenge to portray someone like that character. It would be great if something comes up as another action figure. It’s a nice challenge physically and emotionally.

Q: Your career seems to be moving not only in a sci-fi direction but in an action film mold. The world needs a really big Latina action star. They’re looking to cast Wonder Woman right now.

AB: That’s great! But Wonder Woman is not going to be Latin for sure. With my accent?

Q: Linda Carter is half Mexican.

AB: Oh yeah but she didn’t have an accent like I do. That would be great though; Wonder Woman Latina. But I did City of God and Lower City and independent projects, and then I did some dramas. It was nice to face a film like Repo Men that has some drama, is a character that has some hard background stories but at the same time is running and training and firing. It’s cool.

Q: When did you do Repo Men?

AB: Right after, actually. I was shooting Blindness in Toronto and went to LA to audition with Jude [Law, co-star of Repo Men with Forest Whitaker] on a Saturday. Then I went straight back to Toronto to finish Blindness. Then I ended up shooting Repo Men in Toronto again.

My mom always asking me, “When are you going to do a romantic-comedy without monsters?” and I’m like, “Okay, that’s coming one day. Let’s work for it.” But this is a happy coincidence.

Q: Did you think of yourself as a female Terminator?

AB: The way Beth’s going, she probably can be a Terminator because the only thing’s real are the lips.

Q: One of those scenes near the end where he’s taking the parts out of you is really sick but also sexy in its own way. It recalls the movie Crash. In filming that scene, how did you play it so that it was both passionate but kind of sick and crazy at the same time?

AB: When Miguel told me that he wanted to do that scene as a love scene I couldn’t picture it. Once we started doing it I was just trying to figure out how to play it, not to be overly painful or only love and forget the pain. I tried to stay in the middle and to just bring truth.

It’s interesting that both characters are so in love and they’re fighting for their lives, yet they’re so connected at that moment in the film. I think pain and love go together. If you’re in love, you’re going to feel pain and the passion increases the pain.

It’s hard to explain with a logical answer, but mainly I do think that’s what Miguel wanted, and I tried to put my heart into it and just bring it alive. It was fun to do it because it was so free to create anything. We are in sexual positions actually; it’s like we’re making love. It was a great idea.

Q: Do you think your character, Beth, in Repo Men was plagued by a love for the surgery? Do you think she was addicted to the surgery or she was just going along trying to fix things?

AB: Miguel [Rosenberg-Sapochnik, the director,] and I spoke a lot about her past, about what she’s been through, what happened in her life, what was her background, why was she in that situation when we first see her in the film, just because I love doing that and Miguel also was really involved in the story.

We wanted to understand what kind of emotional state she would show up in. It’s just life; we created a little background, like some disease, some problem, some lack of health, addictions maybe. As soon as she started getting new ones then it became an addiction I think, because it’s kind of hard to say she had all those problems. It was mainly an addiction, but it’s hard to say that it was only that.

There was a line that ended up not in the film but is really fun. I looked at him and was like, “Did you get upgraded? Come on!” And that kind of line shows that she was always trying to keep up. It’s like us; you guys don’t have tape anymore.

We’re always upgrading, always doing something new. Everyone has the iPhone; in a week everyone’s going to have the iPad. We’re always upgrading all the time, so I feel that’s what Beth did. And it’s nice. If someone’s boring talking to you, just turn it down.

Q: How do you find the right level of empathy for a character that has so much of her body turned over to science and is a drug addict and does all those deals? How far do you go to make that character empathetic, and where do you stop?

AB: Empathetic in what sense?

Q: You want people to feel sorry for her so that you worry about her, but where do you stop? Because you also want her to be tough.

AB: I don’t know if I want people to feel sorry for her. I never felt sorry for her. I always try to not judge the characters that I portray. I try to just understand, and get meaning and belief in the characters. But I always tried to make her as human as possible.

All of us endure pain, sadness, loss. Life is not only happiness. But on the other hand, you can find love or happiness, or you can find anything else, so that’s the change she goes through her life. She’s giving up on herself when he finds her and that’s why I punch him in the face and am like, “Why? Why did you do that? You’re not going to save me right now. You’re going to go away.”

Who knows, maybe 10 guys did with her, or her family did with her, we don’t know. I just tried to create a character that was human more than anything. I think feeling pity is a really strong thing to feel for someone.

Q: Apparently, in the book version, your character had cancer which ravaged most of her body? Her husband at the time had been a doctor, so she got a discount, which is why she got so many body part upgrades — he was just trying to keep her alive. By that time she was 74% artificial, and he couldn’t be with her anymore.

AB: [Miguel] didn’t say anything. No but I wish he did. The script was so different in a sense, so we tried to build the story and background. There were a lot of different versions of Beth and Remy’s love story in the beginning, and then it changed through the course of the film until we started shooting.

Q: Miguel said your character started out in a different relationship with Remy. What’s your reaction as an actress? You play a part a certain way, and then it’s edited and somehow it works in a completely other way that you hadn’t intended. What did you think when you see that?

AB: My mom’s an editor, so I totally understand editors, which is great — It helps. I’m kidding. I grew up in this world. My father’s a journalist, but he directed a lot of TV shows in Brazil. I never think too much about what they’re going to do. I always try to grab the script and learn it by heart and focus on that, and whatever they want to do later they can do it. I don’t mind.

I’m passionate for the story and being part of something. That’s the most important thing. Funnily enough, in Repo Men, I prefer what I saw on the screen than what we shot. It works really nice. I don’t know how, because we had such a background in our minds — me and Jude, Beth and Remy — all the time that drove us through the journey towards the end of the film, and once we cut the part before they meet, where we meet them in the film, it could have gone wrong.

What is great is that it was done perfectly, and it was even better. I’m glad he took it off because the story is even sharper. I think more important than you as an actor is the storytelling. Of course as an actor you want to show your work, you want to be on screen, but being part of a nice story, it’s really special. So I do think as an actress you need to know how to understand and how to put yourself into it. Everything matters; don’t take anything for granted. Be present in the moment. That’s the best thing to do.

Q: Is there hope for a sequel that would include you?

AB: Maybe. I’ll give you Universal’s number so you can ask them. Then I’ll give you mine, and you call me. I have no idea what they think of it. I don’t think so. I think the story’s done.

Source: Brad Balfour to Huffington Post

This video was done to brazilian magazine Marie Claire (so the video is in portuguese), and Alice talk about her beauty secrets, and how it’s NOT related with make up but with some exercises in legs and arms, being most natural as possible, finding the right eyebrows shape, and taking care of the alimentation.

Shock Till You Drop: So jumping right on in, can you talk a little bit about who you play in the film?

Alice Braga: I play a character named Isabelle. She’s a sniper. She’s, we can say a tough cookie. I can say that she’s sweet inside, but tough outside, but just to do her craft more than anything. It’s funny, Nimrod, the director, he gave me a little book that talks about snipers. It’s kind of a manual that snipers use in the Army. It talks a lot about how they prepare and what are the qualities that a sniper must have. One of the qualities, like being really focused and you cannot be emotional. You cannot take emotion from your work. You cannot look at the other – to think about the target and not that. So it’s hard to kind of say because specific things about a sniper, but mainly knowing that information, it tells a lot about how a sniper is and that who she is, at the same time, a strong woman, so balancing her career and her personality. Does that make sense, what I just said? (Laughs)

Shock: Can you talk about being the only woman character in the ensemble cast? Then, plus being the only woman on set?

Braga: It’s awesome. (Laughs) It’s really cool. No, I’m kidding. It’s really nice because it’s only eight characters and my character, funny enough, is the one that is always trying to grab everyone together and like, reuniting everyone and stop the fights and saying that we have strength in numbers instead of being alone fighting these creatures, together we can be stronger. It’s really interesting because the boys, I call them my boys, I call them the boys, they’ve been amazing with me. They protect me and we create things together. Sometimes I’m like – I need girls around me because I’ve found myself like, talking about cars and about girls and I’m like, “I need girls around me.” (Laughs) But it’s really wonderful. As an actress it’s been a great experience. I’m having fun. I did different films. Like, “City of God,” there’s a lot of boys around me as well. So it’s been really cool. It’s funny, interesting enough, there are not many girls in the crew. In Hawaii it was even less, it was only me and the script supervisor and here we still have a little bit more, but still a lot of men. It’s fun. I’m loving every second of it. I think we created a unit that is really strong and I think we kind of brought that as actors and as characters I think we got that unity of it.

Shock: Is there any romantic elements in the film?

Braga: Who knows? (Laughs) I’m gonna leave that for you to think about it.

Shock: Are you used to running from creatures and fighting creatures?

Braga: I learned a lot I must say, but the great thing about this one is that we, as you guys can see, the creatures are dressed (in practical suits). So from “I Am Legend,” it was running from Teletubbies which is kind of the guys in suits with dots and I’m like, “How does it work? Okay.” Then I look at the pictures. So that’s the difference, but it’s interesting enough. It’s a different situation. I think “I Am Legend” had a different quality as a drama because it’s something that happened to society and are human beings that mutated into something else. That, I think it brought a lot for me and Will Smith to look on. Different than this one, it’s a different world and it’s a different kind of creatures that we’re running from.

Shock: As a sniper, it’s interesting because it seems like the Predators have captured all these big tough macho guys who are like, military folk are fighters or whatever. But as a sniper you have a very specific tool which is the gun. So does your character sort of have a disadvantage on the planet of not having her sniper rifle with her?

Braga: I have my sniper rifle.

Shock: Oh, you do?

Braga: Yeah, I do all the time. It was 14 pounds during the whole shoot. I’m really strong right now.

Shock: So the Predator is like, you keep it?

Braga: Yeah, we start the film with our own guns and stuff and then from there the stories start developing. But I have, each of us have their own thing as the characters bring, so I was lucky enough to get that. It’s funny that you said that because normally it would be a guy, a sniper and that’s why I like that the script is a girl because a girl, as I was saying about the emotion, girls are really emotional, we have period. Once you have period you get emotional. So it’s like, how come a girl is the sniper of the team? But it’s really nice to balance that. I’ve never done a character like this and it’s been a challenge because you need to find that strength, but at the same time you cannot lose her own being. It’s kind of been interesting to balance that and also as a character, how to stand up and face other seven guys, they are just making fun. Like the first few pages of the film of course the characters are like, you know, calling her, or playing with her, or taking her for granted or all of those things. So I think it’s interesting how to get that strength not for women, but for the character more than anything, just playing it not as a woman or a guy, but playing a strong human being.

Shock: Did you get to use the Predators guns at some point? Did you get a hold of their weapons?

Braga: Who knows?

Shock: Did you learn to really shoot?

Braga: Yes, we didn’t have much time. We didn’t have a boot camp or something. But as soon as we got in Hawaii we had Mike (Hanovitz). He’s a sweetheart and he’s been great for me. Like, I call him my teacher because my relationship with the gun, like, we were talking. He taught me a lot about it, like a sniper, spent hours and hours just crawling, or hours looking for the target and all these little details he gave me. When we got in Hawaii we did a whole day of just shooting. We couldn’t do every day, but that day I kind of learn everything and every time we head off I would like, work with it, especially when I had to train my arm. I did a lot of not weight lifting, but I went to the gym because the first day of shooting I lift and five seconds my hands were like – it’s 14 pounds, it’s really hard to aim at something. The camera is here and you need to aim and then suddenly start shaking. So we kind of built that where the arm goes because they really like, go and it’s there. Sometimes it was off, so we kind of trained that. The shooting we trained not much, but we did train just for us to be aware of the noise and all that. But mainly we focused on being like, looking good at the craft. So I was really worried about looking nice because if a sniper sees it I hope he can look and say, “Okay, she did a nice job. Maybe this is missing, this is that,” but just respectful to what they do. It’s a hard profession.

Shock: Could you talk a little bit about fighting some of these super Predators?

Braga: It’s cool. (Laughs) It’s really nice. It’s interesting. I still have like some scenes to shoot, but it’s interesting that once you feel like, “Oh my god, I’m in a ‘Predator’ film,” everyone knows the Predators and all that, so the first time I saw it I was kind of, “Wow, this is interesting. This is cool.” Especially that I’m short, it’s really scary because I’m a small girl. I’m 5’4″ I think and the creatures are probably, you know, I don’t know how tall they are. So it’s been cool. It’s been really nice. The good thing about being a sniper is I don’t need to have contact with it. (Laughs)

Shock: I was gonna ask you about that. Obviously the setup would be sniper long distance, but inevitably in every movie the sniper ends up very close to the villain and has to engage physically. So can you talk a little bit about preparing? I’m just gonna go out there and say it happens, so could you talk a little bit about preparing for say, a battle like that?

Braga: It’s funny enough, we’re still shooting so I haven’t got into it as much as the other characters did. Mainly the boys did, they shoot a lot with it. I haven’t done much yet, but because of that I really went to the gym for this film. I did a lot of running, I didn’t lift weights, but I just wanted to be strong if I needed to do repetition for a few scenes, or fighting scenes, or trying to kick something and be ready for it, I would, but we haven’t shot many. I think the boys can answer you better.

Shock: You were saying that in this movie not every character, but some of the characters have similarities or threads or counterparts in the original “Predator” film. There’s also one woman in the original.

Braga: No, funny enough, I saw the “Predator” film before doing my audition when they called me to audition for it. Then, I saw that just to understand what they wanted from my character and all that. Then I put it apart and I never saw it again. I didn’t want to keep trying to get something from it. I think it would come on the script, if that boss would write something. (Laughs as Robert Rodriguez walks by the room) But then I just wanted to focus on what we were doing and pretending nothing ever existed because our characters didn’t know, so they don’t know that the boss is. (Laughs) But, yeah, so it’s just I feel like it was great to see it just to get it as an inspiration and see Schwarzenegger doing, “Get to the chopper,” all those, it was really cool, but I think I prefer like, not thinking that I know those creatures because the character doesn’t know much.

Shock: I hesitate to even ask this, but in some of the things I’ve read about your character, there’s something of a secret to her personality. You know what I’m talking about.

Braga: Yeah.

CS: So how much do you bring that through playing it in the rest of the film without showing?

Braga: Without showing, yeah. I always try with my characters always having something inside and kind of understanding where she comes from, I think like every actor. But, hints of it during the film that maybe people are going to say, “Why? Why?” and then suddenly, “Oh, I get it.” I don’t (like) over thinking it too much and I’m not trying to play it all the time, but I just hope I can make the journey. I think in films like this it’s important that the journey gets complete. They say in drama school it’s like the hero journey or something like that. I don’t know I try to. I’m having fun with it, let’s see how it comes out. It’s hard because once you’re doing action films there’s so much going on that we need to put ourselves into it, but let’s see. I hope you guys enjoy.

Shock: It’ll be like a second watch like, “Oh, that’s that.”

Braga: Yeah, I hope so, “Hm, I see it,” great question. Thank you so much guys. Nice to meet you.

“Be directed by Marco Ricca is very special”, says Alice Braga

Alice Braga acted in blockbusters like “I and the Legend”, in Brazilian, Japanese and Canadian co-production “Blindness”, and also in important local productions as “City of God” and “Milky Way”. In the last one, she work besides Marco Ricca, who invited her to play Eliane, character of “Cabeça a Premio”, his first project as director. Alice talks with exclusivity to UOL Movies, and told how was works with Ricca direction.

Source: UOL Cinema – August 11, 2008

See here pictures of the set, added to our gallery:

Gallery Links
• Cabeça a Premio (2009) – On Set

The chances are you will know Alice Braga’s beautiful face even if, as yet, her name doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. In films such as City of God, I Am Legend and her latest, Blindness, with her raven-black hair, dark flashing eyes and flawless, honeyed complexion, she is compelling.

And she can act, too, often taking roles that others would be wary of. In Blindness she plays a call girl while another movie, Lower City, called for the kind of explicit sex scenes that would send most American actresses off to lie down in a darkened room before hitting the speed dial to their agent or therapist. Braga, on the other hand, relishes the challenge. “As a girl I’m shy, but once I’m in character, I don’t mind at all,” she says. “In Lower City I played a prostitute who falls in love with two best friends. She was a really powerful, strong character. I have to understand her, but I don’t have to judge her. As for nudity and myself, well, yes, I would be shy. I’m always covering myself up.”

At the moment, Alice (pronounced Ah-lee-say) Braga is able to flit between her native Brazil and California or even Cannes, where Blindness received its world premiere, with hardly anyone knowing who she is. “In Brazil, they’re far more interested in the guys from the soap operas,” she says in a voice that is low and husky, heavily accented and tinged, at times, with American inflections. “They go crazy for them. Absolutely nuts. But for me, I pretty much walk down the street and one or two people might say ‘hi’ but it’s not crazy.”

Not yet, maybe. But give it time. In Hollywood, where Latina actresses such as Eva Mendes (Miami Cuban), Jennifer Lopez (New York Puerto Rican) and Eva Longoria (Texas Mexican) have paved the way, Ms Braga is the new, very impressive kid on the block. She’s arrived with a flourish, and pretty soon can expect the kind of attention – and roles – that the aforementioned take for granted.

“I do think Hollywood has opened up not just for Latino actors but for foreign actors in general,” she says. “But the Latino community is very big there, and getting bigger. And it’s important for the Latino community to see an actor on screen that they identify with. There’s a connection and curiosity when you see people like yourself on screen. It was important for me, I know, to see actors that I identified with.”

Evidence of how rapidly Braga’s star is rising comes in odd and sometimes surreal ways. There was a prestigious invitation, accepted, to sit on the jury at this year’s Venice Film Festival. “Oh my God!” she says. “At first I was so nervous. I had butterflies in my stomach. But what an honour and I really enjoyed it. I mean, who wouldn’t? You go to a beautiful city, you stay in a luxurious hotel and you watch movies all day.”

At the other end of the cultural scale, there was a highly lucrative offer to shed her clothes for a Playboy photo shoot. “I was like, ‘Don’t tell me how much! Bye!’” she giggles. “I wouldn’t do it. The point is I’ll do a scene for a film because then I’m in character and it’s not me. If other people want to do it, fine, but that’s not for me. I really am too shy to do something like that.”

Shy is not a word I would use to describe Braga. After chatting to her, first in Cannes, and later on the phone from São Paulo where she is making her latest movie, other adjectives spring more readily to mind: vivacious, friendly, and bright. In the past 18 months she’s completed I Am Legend, a big budget blockbuster with Will Smith, appeared alongside our own Chiwetel Ejiofor in David Mamet’s Redbelt, starred with Jude Law and Forest Whitaker in the futuristic Repossession Mambo and played an illegal immigrant in Crossing Over, with Harrison Ford and Sean Penn.

The latter two films will be released here next year, but first comes Blindness, directed by her old friend Fernando Meirelles who put her on the road to stardom in the first place when he plucked her out of high school and cast her in the brilliant City of God, the story of a group of youngsters trying to survive in one of Rio de Janeiro’s most violent slums.

Braga and Meirelles – who also directed The Constant Gardener – are both natives of São Paulo and first met when she was a teenager taking breaks from school to make commercials for the likes of McDonald’s and C&A. “You know, they were fun to do. I just liked the environment – being on the set, hanging out with the crew, watching the way that they were put together. And I learnt a lot.”

Indeed, Braga, 25, has grown up on the fringes of film-making. Her father, Antonio, is a respected journalist who had his own show on national television, interviewing newsmakers “from politicians to writers and actors”, and now lectures at São Paulo university. And her mother, Ana, is a former actress who ended up directing commercials herself. Her aunt, Sonia Braga, is an acclaimed actress in her own right (and former romantic partner of Robert Redford) whose Hollywood calling card was Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985). Sonia has gone on to enjoy a successful American-based career with plenty of TV and film work.

The chances are, though, that her niece will eclipse that. Indeed, in some ways she already has. “Sonia moved from Brazil to New York the year I was born [1983] and once I started acting and doing my thing she wasn’t really close enough for me to talk to.

“Actually, my mother has been my biggest influence. She was a brilliant actress herself. My aunt is lovely and we’re all very proud of her, but my mother has been my mentor.”

Her first professional appearance came at the age of 8, in a yoghurt commercial directed by a friend of her mother. There were school plays and then, at 13, she returned to making ads. “I talk a lot. I do. Everyone says I talk a lot. Ask Jude Law. He said to me, ‘I’ve never met anyone who talks so much!’ And because I talk a lot, my mum’s friend, who was doing some commercials, said, ‘Come to the auditions.’ And I got them.”

She did numerous commercials over the next couple of years, including two for Meirelles who was, at that time, yet to make his first film. When he was casting City of God, back in 2001, he remembered Braga.

City of God blazed on to the screen, winning awards and critical acclaim across the world, and set both Meirelles and Braga on the road to Hollywood. “I have only great memories of that time,” she says. “It was my first film and as soon as I arrived on set I could feel the energy from those boys. Fernando and all of the actors, they were just so inspired, they were desperate to tell that story. It was my first contact with trying to make a piece of art.”

When Braga heard that Meirelles was casting Blindness, a screen adaptation of Nobel Prize-winning author José Saramago’s novel, she called him up. “I wanted to tell him about this documentary that I’d seen at one of the [film] festivals called Black Sun that’s about being blind. I said, ‘You must watch it and by the way I would love to be in your movie!’” she laughs. “He’s a very sweet, gentle man and never bossy or nervous. And as a director, he’s great because he opens so many doors for you as an actor: he allows you to create something and he’s a collaborator.”

She plays the Woman with the Dark Glasses, an upmarket call girl who catches a virus called “white blindness” which strikes suddenly and leaves most of the population in an un-named, big bustling city without sight. As the world moves into panic mode, the government quarantines the victims in a former mental asylum. A doctor – played by Mark Ruffalo – and his wife (Julianne Moore) who can, unknown to the others, still see, try to organise their ward into a community where everyone is cared for: food is shared and tasks are delegated. But the self-styled King of Ward 3 – played by Gael García Bernal – leads a renegade band that uses violence and intimidation to control the food supplies and brutally oppress the others.

Braga and her fellow cast members embarked on an intense period of research before the cameras started rolling, including sessions at “blind school” where they would be blindfolded for hours at a time in an attempt to get a feel for what it would be like to lose their sight. It was extreme but worthwhile, she says.

“Once you spend about six hours blindfolded you do get really, really tired, because your whole body gets so tense,” she recalls. “We did that as part of the preparation and it was very interesting.”

There is one scene in particular that is gruelling to watch, in which the men from Ward 3 rape the women, including Braga’s character. It must have been daunting and upsetting to film, I suggest. It’s the only time during our conversation when she loses her naturally bubbly demeanour.

“It was difficult. I tried not to over-think it. I just tried to be in the moment and react naturally. Fernando likes you to be real. But of course it’s something that affects you personally because you have to do it. And after it’s done you breathe in and breathe out and life goes on.”

Blindness was the opening film at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, a prestigious accolade, and for Braga, a vivid experience. “Going up the steps on the red carpet at Cannes was funny. Actually it’s interesting, I felt like a bride. You go there all dressed up and the music is playing and everyone is looking at you. It’s pretty wild.”

When we meet in Cannes, Braga is clearly enjoying all the hoopla. She’s wearing a chic, black Prada dress and seems just a little starstruck by the endless parade of movie stars trooping in and out of the hotel where she’s staying. She must be getting used to it by now though – after all she’s played opposite some of the most famous leading men on the planet. “Yes, but you still wonder what they will be like, especially when you’ve grown up watching them on screen. Fortunately, they’ve been lovely.

“Sean [Penn] is so sweet! I just want to hug him. He’s adorable. He scares people because of the way he is, but he is generous and kind and he will talk to you about anything: if you want to talk about politics, he will talk about politics, or whether you should have a ham sandwich for lunch.”

At the moment she’s back in Brazil, filming a thriller, Cabeça a Prêmio, in which she plays a “spoilt princess”, the daughter of a wealthy landowner who, it turns out, is also a drug dealer. “And my mother is playing my mother on screen. How amazing is that? The director had seen her when she was on stage maybe 20 years ago. It’s been very special for me to work with her.”

She’s making the most of being back in Brazil. Home will always be the teeming city of São Paulo even though, these days, she finds herself travelling from one film location to the next. “I do get homesick a lot. I’m really connected to my mum and dad and my older sister and I miss them and my friends. I miss the parties and the family dinners and all of that. But on the other hand, I’m getting the chance to do what I love. It’s just a balance,” she says.

“And you know, I’m young, I’m a single girl, so this is the moment. It’s exciting to go from one place to another and meet new people.”

It is indeed. Alice Braga has arrived on centre stage, and we can expect her to be around for some considerable time. You’ve seen the pretty face. Now it has a name.

Blindness is released in UK cinemas on November 28

Source: TimesOnline.co.uk

Tonight, during the VMB 2008, she did a short interview talking about her desire to do something for tv. Specially a soap opera.

“TV is something beautiful in our country. I would love to make a novel, or something.”

While she don’t receive a invite to do something on TV, she continue working on movies. She’s currently filming “Cabeça à Prêmio”, and was in São Paulo just for the VMB’s party.

Be here is special to me. Seven years ago, I was working here, in the party. Today, I’m presenting an award.

Every time we ogle Brazilian actress Alice Braga, we give thanks for our 20/20 vision. But what if we suddenly went blind and could no longer stare at the 25-year-old beauty from City of God and I Am Legend? Would there be any reason to go on living? (Yes, of course—her sexy accent is reason enough.)

In Braga’s marvelously disturbing new film, Blindness (adapted from José Saramago’s novel), she plays a call girl who is infected by an epidemic of blindness and forcibly quarantined with other newly blind people. Complex was lucky enough to sit with her and gaze into her eyes while discussing the project. Read on for her thoughts on acting without her eyes, doing nude scenes and human cruelty…

Interview by Justin Monroe

Complex: What was it like when you first put on your blindfold during your blindness training?

Alice Braga: It feels like the room gets bigger, like the sound, the volume just gets higher. You get completely protective the moment that you take out your sight. You really hear more things and increase other senses and in a way you look inside. We did that [training] actually not just to copy the feeling of [blindness] but just to try to understand why the posture suddenly gets like this. [Alice slumps forward.] I was thinking the moment I put the blindfold on I was going hit my head all the time, but the other people didn’t. They completely felt other stuff that I didn’t feel. It’s really personal how you react to it, because in a way it’s like a protection for life, like a survivor feeling of it.

Complex: Did you use blinder contacts often when filming?

AB: I was just wearing the lenses for action scenes because sometimes it’s really hard to control your eyes. If someone makes a sudden movement, you react. It’s natural.

Complex: What was it like acting without sight?

AB: It was really interesting because it brings all your senses higher, like the touching, the smelling. I like a lot to look into people’s eyes; I like a lot to hear what the person’s saying through their eyes. As an actor, I really like to communicate with the eyes emotions and feelings, like rage and everything. It was a wonderful challenge to face.

Complex: If you suddenly went blind, what would you miss looking at or watching most?

AB: People’s eyes. In this documentary that we saw, Black Sun [about Hugues de Montalembert, a painter who went blind], he says that one of the things that he misses the most is walking the street and locking eyes suddenly with someone that you’ve never met, that kind of connection. You exchange something, even if it’s just a tiny bit.

Complex: If you had to sacrifice a sense to save your life, which would you give up?

AB: My palate [the sense of taste]. I think I would prefer to have the smell more than the palate, even though I love to eat. [Laughs.] Other senses would kind of bring in the palate a little bit.

Complex: Nudity is a big issue for a lot of actresses in the U.S. You’ve done several nude scenes. In Brazil, is there similar pressure to do or not do nudity?

AB: I don’t know the specific behavior with that in Brazil, but I do try myself to understand the necessity of nudity in that specific project. If it’s something that I don’t believe is necessary, I won’t do it, but if it’s something that completely fits and is part of the storyline of the character and the character’s moment, I don’t mind doing it. As an actress, I try to portray life with passion and soul and belief above anything else, so if I hold myself back—like with Lower City, where my character was a prostitute in a love triangle—if I hold myself back for that type of story, I wouldn’t be a hundred percent in the character. I would be judging the character in a certain way. I try not to think much about it but just like, to understand and not judge.

Complex: Blindness has a lot to say about human nature and the cruelty mankind is capable of. Do you agree that we’re all capable of such cruelty?

AB: Yes, just by looking at the world nowadays. I opened yesterday’s newspaper and in the Bronx, a guy was hit with a baseball bat at 3 AM. He was already unconscious but they kept beating him. And this happens all the time; it happens in Brazil; it happens all over. For me, I do think unfortunately we are capable of horrible things.

Complex: In contrast, Julianne Moore’s character, who has her sight, is very selfless looking after the quarantined blind. How thin do you think the line separating kindness and cruelty is?

AB: I don’t know the specific line but I do think it’s the way that you face things. I think it’s really hard to say what is right or what is wrong. I don’t think that Gael [Garcia Bernal]’s character is a bad guy or Mark [Ruffalo]’s character is a good guy; I think they are just human beings facing a problem and trying to survive. I think there are so many questions to talk about before just pointing and judging.

Complex: Because we don’t know who people are and what has shaped them?

AB: Yeah, exactly. Especially once you are put in an extreme situation, a person can react with violence to protect themselves, and another one can just say, “Calm down, let’s try to talk about it.” Who knows what his character has been through his whole life. Maybe he was oppressed his whole life and that’s the moment that he said, “If I’m not having this [violent] reaction I’m not going to survive.” It’s instinct. So judging it as good or bad is really hard. That’s why I think José Saramago’s book is so amazing—blindness is a metaphor. We look at [the world around us] but we are not seeing it without really looking at it. I think these are the type of characters that you cannot judge; you have to agree to look upon them with pure vision, if you can.