Manuela Dias reveals what inspired her to write ‘Amor de Mãe’

Writing about motherhood was practically a call to Manuela Diasscreenwriter of Mother’s love, new 9 o’clock soap opera on TV Globo. At first, the author had presented another synopsis to the broadcaster, but the story changed when the daughter was born. “I lost three babies, one of them five months pregnant. So, Helena was very desired. With her arrival, my life expanded and many things took on new meaning. Together with the child, the mother is born, ”she says. Another great inspiration for Manuela was her mother, the producer and actress Sonia Diaswho introduced her to the world of theater and encouraged her to write.

In her prime-time debut, Manuela has been working around 15 hours a day. To take advantage of all the time she has to spend with her daughter, she gives up sleeping. It also features the filmmaker Caio Sóh, defined by her as a super dad. Manuela is dating today Murilo Benicio, who acts in the telenovela, in the role of Raul. Next to him, the son he had with Alessandra Negrini, Antonio Benício, debuts on Globo. About her personal life, the writer is very discreet and, when asked about what it’s like to work with her boyfriend, she says that she thinks about the characters and the actor’s possibilities, and not about the relationship she has with the person. But that seems like something from a soap opera, it seems.

CLAUDIA: How is your creation process?

A screenwriter works with perspiration, not with inspiration. I’ve already written more than 5,000 pages and, until chapter 55, I put all the dialogues on paper by myself. I have a wonderful team and the supervision of Ricardo Linhares It’s from Silvio de Abreu, who enlighten everyone with their guidance. But I’m freak of control. Now I can even pass this function on to other people. Only, when it comes to me, I rewrite everything. My routine is pulled. I wake up, shower and enter fictional life. It’s 15 hours a day, seven days a week. In fact, Sunday I work a little less.

CLAUDIA: How do you deal with the dilemma of reconciling motherhood and work?

To be with Helena more, I’ll do anything. So I limed sleep. I sleep what I can. I put it to bed at night, take it to the swimming pool, keep up with what I can, and lay it down at 4:30 in the morning. I’ve been tired for a while, but I have a very different reality than most women. I don’t need to spend five hours a day driving. I am privileged and I am aware of it. Being a mother, I can say that motherhood is very little celebrated. Guy changes a diaper and people clap. Of course, your son poops, congratulations, see?

CLAUDIA: How is your relationship with your mother?

She always inspired me a lot. I have a wonderful, present father, but she, a producer and actress, 30 years older than me, was my foundation. We are very close. My mother had a busy life, she was a nomad. Until I was 19, when I moved in alone, we lived in 20 different addresses in different parts of Brazil. She liked to change. Sometimes it was for work; others do not. Crazy! In one year, I lived in three states. For me it was good. As I love studying, I never repeated a year and started to create strategies to make friends. She would knock from door to door to find out where the children were and say: “Call me to play, please”.

CLAUDIA: Did your mother influence you in your career?

She was a film producer, theater producer, everything. She even made Rio Eco 92. My mother used to say that we were not middle class, but artistic class. Sometimes he had money; others do not. And so we went. In 1987, when I was 6 years old, they needed a child to play a child Hare Krishna in the play erotic cannibalsof Ciro Barcelos🇧🇷 That’s how I became an actress – I entered the scene incensing the theater. When I was 7 years old, my mother gave me a book on Greek mythology and I started to study archaic Greek. I worked so hard that I was able to read Aristotle’s originals, for example. It helped with my training. I spent hours reading and writing, and at 19 I wrote my first play. Soon after, in 2000, I was invited to collaborate with the series Sandy & Junior, at Globo, where I have been since then. I was a screenwriter of The big family it’s from Rare jewel🇧🇷 passed by total Zorra also. The catchphrase “I’m paying!” it’s mine!

CLAUDIA: You took a screenwriting course with Gabriel García Márquez in Cuba. How it was?

Imagine one of the greatest masters of literature teaching. I was about 27 years old, and the Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV had opened applications for screenwriters from all over the world. In one of the classes, you sent Gabriel ideas that you would like to develop. He was incredibly impatient with bad ideas and said: “Si, si, but cuál es la buena?” (in free translation, “yes, yes, but what’s the good?”). He had no condescension, he was a very voracious teacher. The experience in Cuba was beyond him, it was something for life. I stayed a month and came back transformed. A billboard on the street warned: “Tonight, 500 million children will sleep in the street. None of them are Cuban.” And, really, there were no homeless people. Of course that was 15 years ago and all regimes have their problems.

CLAUDIA: Mother’s love talks about the relationship between mothers and children. Why did you choose this bias?

When I started writing this project, the synopsis was different. But in the middle of the creative process I became a mother, and the soap opera changed. The story was born with my daughter and I needed to talk about motherhood. Every mother seems like a magical being who cannot do things for herself, but does for her children. She is a central figure of civilization. She has a fascinating power. No one wants to look bad in front of their mother, not even the worst of murderers. The mother understands and goes to hug her murderous son in jail on visiting day. She has a connection to life and solidarity that no one else has. We need to exalt these characteristics that are so intrinsic to mothers. The telenovela is an ode to the Brazilian mother. Our country is made of strong and warrior women.