City of God
All actors and roles (10)
Short description
City of God follows two boys growing up in a poor Rio de Janeiro housing project from the 1960s into the 1980s. One, Rocket, is shy and wants to become a photographer rather than a criminal; the other, known first as Dadinho and later as Zé Pequeno, moves into the neighbourhood and sets out to become its most feared drug dealer. Their paths run alongside each other through years of robberies, gang rule and escalating drug violence, while Rocket keeps trying to stay clear of the crime around him. The story is based on real events and was written for the screen by Paulo Lins and Bráulio Mantovani.
Fernando Meirelles directed with Kátia Lund. It was the first feature in Meirelles's directing career, ahead of The Constant Gardener, Blindness, 360, Rio, I Love You, The Two Popes and Beast Race, and the first of two credits for Lund, followed by All the Invisible Children. Alexandre Rodrigues plays Rocket, Leandro Firmino plays Zé Pequeno, with Phellipe Haagensen, Douglas Silva, Jonathan Haagensen and Matheus Nachtergaele among a credited cast of 151.
Made for about 3 million US dollars, the film took roughly 31 million worldwide, a strong return on its budget. On IMDb it holds 8.6 out of 10 from around 867,000 votes, and on TMDB 8.4 from more than 8,000. A critics' rating of 8.6 from 162 reviews sits close to the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The script also did not include the moment in the final scene where the boy loses his shoe and goes back to pick it up. However, the director decided to keep this moment, as it vividly emphasized the presence of a very young boy in the gang.
- The film is banned from viewing in Belarus.
- The scene where we see piles of bodies on concrete blocks was recreated from a famous photograph taken during that very drug war.
- All non-professional actors were recruited from the slums of Rio de Janeiro, and some of them (Alexandre Rodriguez for the role of Rocket) were even from Cidade de Deus itself.
- The director stated that if he had initially known that filming in the Rio slums would be so dangerous, he would have abandoned the idea of making 'City of God'.
- Seu Jorge, who played Knockout Ned, is actually a very famous Brazilian singer. One of his songs is featured on the film's soundtrack.
- Filming didn’t actually take place in City of God, as it would have been incredibly dangerous. The entire film was shot in neighboring, less dangerous areas.
- In one scene, little Rocket (Luis Otavio) starts laughing at his brother nicknamed Goose, who is slapped by their father. The laughter was not scripted, so Goose's line, 'Don't laugh at me,' was pure improvisation.
- The black-and-white satellite view of the territory belonging to Little Zé shows the real City of God.
- The main character, Rocket, is a fictional image based on the lives of two people: the author of the book 'City of God,' Paulo Lins, and his childhood friend who dreamed of becoming a photographer.
- During the filming in the newspaper office, some members of the film crew acted as extras, particularly art director Tool Pick (a grown man who mocks Rocket).
- Fernando Meirelles wanted to cast only non-professional actors and actors whose names were almost unknown. One such actor was Matheus Nachtergaele, who played the gang leader nicknamed Carrot. But while Meirelles was working on the script, Nachtergaele unexpectedly became extremely popular in Brazil thanks to the film 'Auto da Compadecida, O' (2000). Fernando Meirelles was slightly upset, but Matheus promised him that he would become so immersed in his role that his fame would not distract the viewer from the film for a single second. Nachtergaele even moved to Cidade de Deus, where the film's main actors lived, and spent three months there to better prepare for the role.
- The actor Leandro Firmino, who played one of the main roles (Little Zé), also comes from Cidade de Deus (City of God). He came to the audition completely by chance, along with his friends.
- The first murders of Pretty Ned are accompanied by joy and congratulations from the residents of City of God. The woman who spoke to him after the first murder is the mother of the real Pretty Ned.
- The dialogue between Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues) and Marina (Graziela Moretto) about him never having taken a hot shower was not in the script. In fact, it was a conversation between the actors off-camera during a break, when Rodrigues was talking about his life in the favelas.
- To create tension between the characters of Goose and Lil’ Zé, acting coach Fatima Toledo advised teenager Renato da Silva (Goose) to bully child actor Douglas Silva (Lil’ Zé) for 15 days straight. As a result, in the scene where Goose slaps Lil’ Zé, Douglas Silva couldn’t hold back and started crying, threatening to leave the film. Thus, the look of pure hatred he casts at Goose is completely genuine.
- Initially, the script did not include a scene in which the gang prays before starting a war. During filming, one of the guys hired from the slums told the director that prayer before a skirmish is an essential attribute of the lifestyle of gangs. Then Fernando Meirelles suggested that the boy perform this rite, and it ended up in the film.
- In the very finale, in a conversation of a small gang of bandits, the phrase slips out that they need to create a list of people who need to be killed. The boys grew up and became the most infamous brigade in Rio, called the Red Team. It is known that they still have a 'blacklist'.
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