Wagner Moura has quietly become one of Netflix’s most reliable leading men, and the streamer’s latest chart-topper, “The Last House,” extends a run that began with his breakout turn as Pablo Escobar more than a decade ago. That role, in “Narcos,” has since led to six projects with the platform, placing Moura in the same category as repeat Netflix collaborators like Millie Bobby Brown and Noah Centineo.
In the new film, directed by Louis Leterrier, Moura plays Jason Delgado, a father trapped with his family in their Seattle home after a mysterious flood seals them inside for years alongside creatures from the ocean. Moura told The Hollywood Reporter that the project arrived at a pivotal moment for Latino actors in Hollywood, one he attributes to shifting industry attitudes rather than a single turning point.
“I think the world is evolving, and it’s inevitable that Hollywood will stop seeing a Latino as the violent dude or a Latina as the sexy Latina,” he said. “We’re in a moment where the industry is starting to look at us as who we are, which is an important part of American society.”
Production on “The Last House” collided memorably with the most prestigious moment of Moura’s career. While shooting the film, he learned that his other project, “The Secret Agent,” would premiere at Cannes, and he managed to attend the screening on May 18 of last year. He could not make it back a week later for the awards ceremony, where the film earned a top honor, because filming continued without him. On one particularly unglamorous day on set, Moura found himself picking up dog waste on camera, a jarring contrast to the glamour he had just left behind in France.
Moura, 50, also discussed his hope to eventually take on a romantic comedy, saying he wants to explore what falling in love looks like for someone his age rather than a younger character. He drew on his own experience isolating with his family during the pandemic to inform Jason’s arc, describing the early days of COVID as an intimate, unexpected gift of time with his wife and sons even amid a public tragedy in Brazil. “The Last House,” co-starring Greta Lee, is now streaming on Netflix.
