Selton Mello on Continous ‘I’m Still Here’ Momentum, Attending Cannes for the First Time With ‘La Perra’ and Playing Twins Alongside Starry Cast in ‘Zero K’

From the way he lines up upcoming projects, one would think Selton Mello has 72 hours in the day. But the crunched-up schedule is a joy, not a burden, to the Brazilian actor, who is hungry to capitalize on the continuous momentum of Walter Salles’s Oscar-winning “I’m Still Here.”

Currently undergoing a period of many firsts in his decades-long career — having just starred in his first big Hollywood production alongside Jack Black and Paul Rudd in Tom Gormican’s “Anaconda” and acting in French for the first time in João Paulo Miranda Maria’s “I Don’t Even Know Who I Was” — the actor is now gearing up to experience his first-ever Cannes with Dominga Sotomayor’s “La Perra,’ also his first-ever film in Spanish. 

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“I am allowing things to happen and keeping the door wide open,” he tells Variety. “After ‘I’m Still Here,’ I could have lined up several projects in Brazil that would block my time for a while, but I don’t want to do that. I want to have the chance to jump on other projects and undergo new experiences and witness new ways of working.”

Attending the Oscars fulfilled one of Mello’s lifelong dreams, one that felt impossible for many years. Now readying himself to attend Cannes, the actor feels that same childlike spark of excitement. “I have a 40-year-old career, I’ve acted in dozens of films and directed three and have never been to Cannes, which is such a curious thing. I am so, so excited to be there. I feel like a child headed to the amusement park because all my idols have been to Cannes. I have never walked the red carpet, never been to the Palais, and I have no idea what it will feel like. I’m experiencing a lot of first times and loving every minute of it.”

Mello began acting as a child on Brazilian novelas, moving onto cinema in his early adulthood. The actor holds several major box office hits in his home country, as well as having starred in seminal films that have shaped the face of Brazilian cinema during the country’s Resumption Cinema, the period between 1995 and 2005 marked by the restructuring of development policies that allowed a film boom in the Latin American nation. Some of his most well-know work includes “A Dog’s Will,” “Lisbela and the Prisoner,” “Drained” and “My Name Isn’t Johnny.” 

When asked about the diversity of his recent projects, which range from major studio productions to indie Latin American films, the actor says this is a pattern he’s followed throughout his career. “I always tried to see-saw between popular comedy and arthouse cinema,” he says. “What ‘I’m Still Here’ did for me, and for that I will be eternally grateful to the genius who is Walter Salles, is to open the doors to the world. I am undergoing a very rich moment of personal creativity where I get to witness cinema in its many forms, and I am soaking in every single minute.”

“I think it’s beautiful because I am curious and excited, but I have been met with the same sentiment by other actors,” he adds. “People whom I’ve long admired come to me with great respect. When I arrived on set for ‘Anaconda,’ they had a red carpet waiting for me. They called me their Oscar boy. Paul Rudd and Jack Black told me, ‘We have never been nominated for an Oscar, but you have! You’re the only one on set heading to the Oscars!’ They were all rooting for the film.”

Currently, Mello is once again having the chance to work alongside some of his international idols, including Peter Sarsgaard and Caleb Landry Jones, as he is shooting Michael Almereyda’s “Zero K” in São Paulo. An adaptation of Don DeLillo’s New York Times best-selling novel, the film is produced by Mello’s longtime collaborator Rodrigo Teixeira at RT Filmes. The film also stars Britt Lower (“Severance”) and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas (“Sentimental Value”).

“It’s my second film in English after ‘Anaconda,’ but this time an arthouse production, which is very interesting,” he says of the project. “Almereyda was fundamental for my generation because of his incredible ‘Hamlet’ starring Ethan Hawke. It’s such a joy to work with people I deeply admire. I loved Caleb’s work for a long time. I’m a big fan of ‘Nitram,’ and to be able to work together and just spend some time talking films and music has been such a joy.” 

“Zero K” also adds another first to Mello’s tally as he will be playing twins, a challenge he hasn’t faced before. “It’s a great exercise for my creativity, which I always welcome.” 

On top of his English-speaking work, Mello is also thrilled to have had the chance to act in Spanish in Dominga Sotomayor’s “La Perra,” premiering at Directors’ Fortnight. The actor emphasizes he would love to continue working within Latin America and to reinforce his sense of Latinidad.

“When I boarded ‘La Perra,’ other opportunities in Latin America started to arise, and I am now getting the ball rolling on a few different projects with really great partners,” he teases. I didn’t expect the success ‘I’m Still Here’ would have in Latin America, but also in Europe. It helped me get a manager in London, which opened another universe entirely. Then people in Latin America started knocking on my door, and I am very glad to keep it open.”

With so many new challenges in his career, what would he still like to do? One focus is to expand his directorial work and to capitalize on international opportunities from this angle, too. Mello has directed “The Clown” and the Vincent Cassel-starring “The Movie of My Life,” as well as directing and starring in the Brazilian version of “In Treatment,” now headed to its sixth season on Globoplay. Currently, Mello is prepping his newest directorial feature project, an adaptation of renowned Brazilian writer Machado de Assis’s “The Alienist.”

“There was a point in my acting career where I felt I had done everything, and this is when I became a director,” he recalls. “That decision opened up my world and brought me back to that childlike euphoria. Then the same thing happened when I decided to direct for television, and then again when working internationally.”

Speaking about “In Treatment,” Mello points out that the Brazilian version of the internationally successful format is the one to run the longest. “I find that curious because people perceive Brazil as a football and beach country, and then we have this dense, deep series that broaches mental health so sensitively become so successful. The series was my Master’s degree as a director because it takes place in one room with two people. You can’t run away from it, so you have to make that attractive to an audience.”

As for “The Alienist,” Mello calls it a “longtime dream.” “I first read the story when I was in my early twenties, and I went crazy about it. I was obsessed.” He is currently prepping production on the film, which he will also star in as Doctor Simão Bacamarte, “a doctor who cares for the human mind and who studies the limit between reason and madness.” The film is produced by Brazil’s leading production company Conspiração, with whom Mello is also collaborating on an unannounced project “to be shot in multiple languages” and currently in development. 

On top of “The Alienist,” Mello is now in post-production on João Paulo Miranda Maria’s “I Don’t Even Know Who I Was” in Paris, which he also produced alongside Les Valseurs and MyMama Entertainment. He is also working closely on international projects alongside veteran producer and Rio Film Festival head Ilda Santiago and Mayra Faour Auad through their MyMama Entertainment label, noting they have formed “a creative collective” to get projects off the ground. To wrap up, Mello is also currently in talks for a new project with longtime collaborator Rodrigo Teixeira at RT Features.

Selton Mello is repped by Conway van Gelder Grant and TFC Management.