Fernando Meirelles

Director

• Born: November 9, 1955
• Place of Birth: São Paulo, Brazil

Contribution: Fernando Meirelles is an award-winning Brazilian film director best known for his films City of God (2002), The Constant Gardener (2005), Blindness (2008), and The Two Popes (2019).

Background

Fernando Meirelles was born in São Paulo, Brazil, on November 9, 1955. His mother, Sônia Junqueira Ferreira Meirelles, was a designer of landscapes and interiors; his father, José de Souza Meirelles, was a gastroenterologist and a member of the Brazilian National Academy of Agriculture. Due to his father’s work, Meirelles’s family traveled to different countries numerous times, which immersed Meirelles in various world cultures at a young age.

When not traveling the globe, Meirelles spent his youth on family farms in Alto de Pinheiros, a western district of São Paulo. He has two sisters, Márcia and Silvinha. His older brother, José Marcos, was struck by a car and killed when Meirelles was only four years old.

Part of Meirelles’s father’s job was producing eight-millimeter films for the university where he worked. He would sometimes bring home the camera and film parody movies starring the Meirelles family. These family movies, along with the animations of pioneer cartoonist Norman McLaren, had a large influence on Meirelles’s early interest in film. He received a Super 8 camera when he was twelve years old and proceeded to make short films. In high school, he was a member of the Cine Club, for which he would screen foreign films.

Life’s Work

At the University of São Paulo, Meirelles majored in architecture. For his senior thesis, which is typically presented in design form, he created a documentary about urban life. With his friends, he began making experimental films, which won some awards, and in 1989 they started an independent production company called Olhar Eletrônico.

For nine years, Olhar Eletrônico produced different series for public television, including 180 episodes of the popular children’s show Rá-Tim-Bum (1989–92). The group decided to shut down the company in the early 1990s to focus on their new advertising production company, O2 Filmes.

In 1997, Meirelles read the novel Cidade de Deus (1997; City of God, 2006), a semiautobiographical best seller written by Paulo Lins. The book focuses on the development of organized crime in the favela slums of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and follows several youths who struggle for control of its drug trade.

Meirelles knew he wanted to adapt the book, but in the meantime, O2 Filmes made their first feature film, Menino Maluquinho 2: A Aventura (The Nutty Boy 2, 1998), directed by Meirelles. This was followed by Domésticas (2001; Maids, 2003), an episodic satire that looks into the aspirations and hardships of domestic servants. The film screened in January at the 2001 International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

Meirelles then persuaded the author of Cidade de Deus to sell O2 Filmes the rights. The book features several hundred characters and takes place over numerous decades, so screenwriter Bráulio Mantovani had a daunting task ahead of him. A large cast of nonactors recruited from Rio’s favelas was assembled to give the film an authentic feel. The favelas were treacherous to shoot in, so Meirelles received permission to film from the drug dealers who worked in each location.

Cidade de Deus, released in English-speaking markets as City of God, was a massive hit in Brazil. After it screened at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival in France, Meirelles received much international exposure; the film was highly acclaimed around the world and won dozens of awards. It received four nominations at the 2004 Academy Awards, including best director for Meirelles and best adapted screenplay for Mantovani.

For his next film, Meirelles decided to avoid mainstream Hollywood offers. He instead chose to direct the thriller The Constant Gardener (2005), based on the 2001 novel of the same name by British author John le Carré. The plot, based on a true story, follows a British diplomat as he investigates the murder of his wife, played by Rachel Weisz, in Kenya. The film had generally positive reviews and grossed more than $80 million worldwide. Weisz won an Oscar for best supporting actress, and the film earned three other Oscar nominations as well.

The next film Meirelles directed was Blindness (2008), based on the 1995 novel Ensaio sobre a cegueira by Nobel Prize–winning author José Sarmago. While the author initially declined to sell the rights, he relented on the condition that the film be set in an unrecognizable country. The story follows a society as it deteriorates due to an epidemic of blindness. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2008, and the reviews were highly polarized. Many organizations of the blind community in the United States objected to the film, arguing that blind people do not act in groundless, savage ways like those depicted in the film.

Meirelles followed up with the 2011 thriller 360, an ensemble film examining the interconnected lives of several people, based on the play Der Reigen by Arthur Schnitzler. The film premiered in August 2011 at the London Film Festival. Critics gave the film mostly negative reviews.

In 2016 Meirelles directed a segment for Rio, I Love You (Rio, Eu Te Amo), with nine other directors; the love-themed anthology fared poorly with critics, however. That same year he put together the opening ceremony for the Rio Olympics. Then, returning to feature-length film, Meirelles helmed The Two Popes (2019), a Netflix historical drama about Pope Benedict XVI (Anthony Hopkins) and Pope Francis (Jonathan Pryce) that premiered at the Telluride Film Festival. It toured the festival circuit and was generally well received.

Additionally, Meirelles has periodically forayed into television, directing several episodes of the dramedy Som & Fúria (Sound and fury, 2009); the drama Cidade dos Homens (City of men, 2002–18); the 2015 miniseries Felizes para Sempre? (2015) and Os Experientes (The wise ones); and the crime drama Pico da Neblina (Joint venture, 2019). Some of his other television work includes Sala de Roteiro, a mocking look at Brazilian politics (2020); several episodes of Joint Venture, an imagination of Brazil with legalized marijuana, filmed between 2019 and 2022; and multiple episodes of Sugar, a private eye story for the Apple TV+ platform.

Impact

With his breakout feature film City of God, Meirelles garnered international acclaim and awards for his unique, dynamic style. That film, along with The Constant Gardener, established Meirelles as an important filmmaker interested in deeply human stories. City of God in particular drew global attention to the state of the slums of Rio de Janeiro. Along with his O2 Filmes production company, Meirelles continues to produce international films and television series, such as the farce El Baño del Papa (The pope's toilet, 2007); the favela drama Cidade dos Homens (City of men, 2007); the action adventure Xingu (2011); and the historical drama Marighella (2019).

Personal Life

Meirelles is married to ballet dancer Ciça Meirelles. They have two children, Francisco and Carolina. Meirelles owns a farm and a cemetery in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.

Bibliography

"Fernando Meirelles." IMDb, www.imdb.com/name/nm0576987/. Accessed 19 Sept. 2024.

French, Philip. “A Starry Cast and a Knowing Air Can’t Add Depth to Peter Morgan’s Tale of Blackmail, Infidelity, and Dodgy Deals.” Rev. of 360. Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 11 Aug. 2012. Web. 5 Aug. 2013.

Meirelles, Fernando. “Fernando Mereilles and City of God: The Hollywood Flashback Interview.” Interview by Terry Keefe. Hollywood Interview. Hollywood Interview, 6 Dec. 2010. Web. 23 July 2013.

Meirelles, Fernando. “IAR Exclusive Interview: Director Fernando Meirelles Talks 360.” Interview by Jami Philbrick. I Am Rogue. Relativity Media, 2 Aug. 2012. Web. 23 July 2013.

Meirelles, Fernando. Interview by Paul Fairclough. Little White Lies. Church of London, 19 July 2012. Web. 23 July 2013.

Meirelles, Fernando. “The Personal Touch.” Interview by James Mottram. MovieScope Magazine 1 July 2012: 36–39. Print.

Munoz, Lorenza. “City of God an Awakening for Brazil.” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 24 Jan. 2003. Web. 23 July 2013.

Oppenheimer, Jean. “Traveling Full Circle.” American Cinematographer 93.8 (2012): 18–20. Print.

Salisbury, Mark. "My Screen Life: Fernando Meirelles on quitting architecture and his fears for the future." Screen Daily, 20 June 2024, www.screendaily.com/interviews/my-screen-life-fernando-meirelles-on-quitting-architecture-and-his-fears-for-the-future/5194637.article. Accessed 19 Sept. 2024.

Turan, Kenneth. “He Could See the Potential.” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 15 May 2008. Web. 5 Aug. 2013.