You see all these old buildings [in Rio] going down or catching fire overnight, and it is so sad. I am very connected with these buildings because they are our history. It is the only one that we have.

Ultimately, you just have to do what feels right for the film. It really helps when you have great collaborators like my editor, Eduardo Serrano, who kept telling me various scenes should be longer.

I'm not saying that we need more stories about people of a certain age, we just need more great stories about people.

I live in New York, and Clara lives in Recife. The character is Brazilian, and as I read the script, I felt like Kleber [Mendonca] had been spying on me in order to create this role [in Aquarius]. Clara and I have different backgrounds. I come from an intuitive world, and she's an academic, but when we got together, we really became one. There are many times when I'm watching the film where Clara will say something, and I will find myself agreeing with her. It was the first time that I had this weird sensation that the character I played is so me, but yet it's so her.

People have reacted to the length of "Aquarius" in very positive ways. For example, at the beginning, you have people in a car on the beach at night. One character says, "I'm going to play you this great track." She pushes in a cassette tape, and they listen to about 45 seconds of Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust." You can actually see the pleasure registering on their faces, but it takes time, and audiences have appreciated that.

I didn't like the script [of Aquarius], I loved it.

It's a great role for any age. Any actress wishes they would find a screenplay that means as much to them as "Aquarius" meant to me, as a person and a citizen.