Alice Braga talks We Are Who We Are and Queen of the South season 5

From Digital Spy

Rainbow Crew is an ongoing interview series which celebrates the best LGBTQ+ representation on TV. Each instalment showcases talent working on both sides of the camera, including queer creatives and allies to the community.

Next up, we're speaking to Alice Braga about We Are Who We Are, HBO's extraordinary coming-of-age drama.

Hollywood first sat up and took notice of Alice Braga after she was cast opposite Will Smith in I Am Legend, but the Brazilian superstar amassed a legion of fans long before that thanks to her breakout role in City of God.

Since then, Alice has played a huge number of roles in both English and Portuguese, but what binds all of her characters together is a quiet intensity and strength which is absolutely mesmerising to watch on screen.

For her latest project, Alice teamed up with Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino to play a queer military woman in We Are Who We Are. HBO's coming-of-age story is one of 2020's best, so we called Alice up to chat about her role as Maggie and ask for more updates on Queen of the South season five.

What was it like to play one third of an extremely intense family dynamic in We Are Who We Are?

It was a very interesting journey. Luca Guadagnino is a director that loves to explore character. He really works to take you out of your comfort zone – which I absolutely love – and try to find the structure of the characters you’re living through. It’s a very freeing type of work.

So it was wonderful because we were creating this family, but in such a specific circumstance, which is a gay couple moving into a military base in a foreign country. There are so many variables for the relationship and the exchanges between these characters. That was a very wonderful experience to live through.

Can you talk me through how you untangled all those elements of your character’s identity?

I tried to understand what Luca wanted from Maggie's relationship with Sarah, and especially with Fraser, who is our main character, the one that we’re following in the story. And Luca really wanted us to have a strong understanding of the military and how it all works.

It was really interesting to think of a gay person in the military, with the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" moment that existed, and then how it is nowadays – especially during the show, which is set during the 2016 elections. How is that weighing into these people’s lives?

To have Chloe Sevigny’s character come in as a base commander, which is the highest rank on a military base, while also being a gay woman – that says a lot.

Maggie is quite a sexual character on the show. How did you approach her more vulnerable, intimate moments?

I think that Luca is such a sensual and sexual director, but in an organic way. I’m a big fan of his film, I Am Love, and I always saw that sensorial touch to his direction. Everything is organic and it’s truthful, which is amazing.

So as an actress, I really trusted him. I trusted the story. I trusted the character. Because I think Maggie is this woman that loves life and to explore life. So she’s a very different person than Sarah.

I think it’s out of her marriage that she looks for these stories and this different passion or excitement. So for the sex scenes, specifically, I tried to bring that freedom. I really trusted Luca, and wanted to follow his lead into the view Maggie has of the world, which I think is very powerful, very human and natural.

The show as a whole flows in a very natural, organic way. Did you improvise much or add some of your own ideas into the script?

We pretty much followed the script the way they created it. But Luca, like I said, is a very free director in the sense of trying to find the truth behind the page, and taking you out of your comfort zone, and then letting everyone on set be free to explore.

So definitely a lot of small moments – like small changes in the momentum or something like that – but not specifically big, big improvisational changes. But definitely, once you’re with Luca on set, and depending on how he’s envisioned the scene, things can be mobile.

We followed his heart, and I think that’s why he’s brilliant, because he really follows his passions in the moment.

We Are Who We Are was always supposed to be a limited, one-off series, but if you were asked, would you ever be interested in reprising the role for a second season?

Definitely. It was a wonderful experience, and it’s such an interesting character. It was different from everything I’ve played before. Luca loves to work on the subjective side of human beings, and I think it’s interesting that you can always find many new layers.

And by doing a show, sometimes you revisit the character, and the character transforms itself, like we transform ourselves in life. Next year, we’ll be a different person than we are today as we’re talking right now. So it’s interesting to revisit a character in a show because that’s different than when you make a film.

How do you see Maggie evolving in the future?

I talked a lot with Luca about her ambitions and all that. There’s a lot of hidden things that Luca told me to explore in the show that I think Maggie’s wanting. Deep inside, you realise there are hidden agendas or feelings or emotions and desires.

So maybe that could be the way to go. There are these stories that she lives out of her marriage, that she explores – to live with passion, and to live freely.

We Are Who We Are is very inclusive in its approach to sexual and gender identity. With that in mind, we'd love to know your thoughts on the debate surrounding straight actors playing queer roles.

I don’t think we should just cast characters based on their sexuality and their sexual choices. But I believe, for example, we should definitely not put a cisgender woman in a transgender role. There are so many transgender actors out there that could play the role. Give them that opportunity.

I think a gay person should not necessarily need to always play gay characters, or not be able to play a straight person. I think that acting, by itself, is playing life. It’s living life. It’s recreating a soul or story. I think humans are all equal.

So I think it depends on who the character is and who the actor is, and how that actor sees that character, that human being, that soul, that personality. Who would be the best fit? Because I think they’re all equal.

It’s an interesting question, because there’s so much discussion. I definitely believe that for a transgender person, maybe that would be a specific thing. Then it’s really about representation.

As well as We Are Who We Are, you're also working on Queen of the South. Can you share any updates on filming for season five?

We stopped as soon as COVID started. So we’re going to go back, I think, end of October, beginning of November. Finally, they gave us the green-light. So now we have all the protocols in place, and I do believe that we’re going to have it made by the end of the year.

Is there anything you can tease about what's in store for Queen of the South season five?

I cannot tease much. They’re going to kill me if I do! [laughs] But definitely, what I can say is that Teresa’s going to get in a lot of trouble. She’s becoming the boss. She already has the business, but a lot’s going to happen in season five because she got to that point where she really is a powerful woman, like everybody thought that she would be.

We Are Who We Are airs on Mondays in the US on HBO. BBC will soon air season one in the UK. Date TBC.

Digital Spy has launched its first-ever digital magazine with exclusive features, interviews, and videos. Access the latest edition with a 1-month free trial, only on Apple News+.

Interested in Digital Spy's weekly newsletter? Sign up to get it sent straight to your inbox – and don't forget to join our Watch This Facebook Group for daily TV recommendations and discussions with other readers.

You Might Also Like

• Animal Crossing New Horizons is finally announced on Nintendo Switch

• How to watch Amazon Prime on your TV, smartphone and tablet – and enjoy Good Omens online

• Nintendo to release two new Switch consoles this year