Having secured rights to Marília Mendonça’s music and life story, Prime Video is preparing its own ‘Marília-verse’ of projects about the late Brazilian superstar singer, who tragically died in a 2021 plane crash at 26. The streamer has found its leading lady for the biopic, plucking an unknown first-timer to play the sertanejo icon.
Amazon MGM Studios is producing the Marília film about the star’s life, and it will stream on Prime Video next year. Before the movie, there is a documentary series entitled Marília Mendonça: Sentimento Louco, which launches this year.
Mendonça was the Brazilian singer and songwriter who rose from a modest background in the Brazilian state of Goiás. She went from singing in church as a teenager to becoming one of the biggest Brazilian artists of all time and a leading light in the sertanejo music scene, a genre that is hugely popular in Brazil and often likened to country music. Mendonça forged a path as a female artist, turning her personal stories into songs and is hailed for having given a voice to thousands of women.
Her tragic death in November 2021 in a plane crash en route to a concert caused a national outpouring of grief and a huge, ongoing interest in her life and music.
The lead role in Marília went to Marina Versos, which given the profile of the star is remarkable as she is a first-timer. Julia Priolli, Head of Creative for Brazilian Originals at Amazon MGM Studios, says Versos rose to the top after an exhaustive search to find the film’s title star. It was a big call as legions of fans will always have strong opinions on who plays a beloved icon.
“We were testing people for over a year, there were more than 1,000 tests,” Priolli explains to Deadline. “Her friends were like, ‘You should apply,’ and she said, ‘No, this is not for me, I’m not an actress.’” She relented and submitted a tape, and got called in.
“She sent us the video, and everybody fell in love with her. We brought her to São Paulo and she did a lot of screen tests, and we were sure it was her.”
The Prime Video doc and movie will capture her life story in different ways. “She went against all the stereotypes, she was more like the girl next door,” Priolli says about Mendonça. “It’s difficult to film because she went through so many different phases.”
The movie’s cast includes Hermila Guedes, Klara Castanho, Marcelo Serrado, Sophia Valverde, Daniel Haidar, Alejandro Claveaux, George Sauma, André Torquato, Luccas Oliver, Igor Armucho, Davi Bensá and Marcus Gouveia.
Dainara Toffoli directs the biopic, which was written by Carina Schulze and Patrícia Andrade.
The Amazon exec adds the Mendonça projects fit with Prime Video’s wider push into YA content, and also a focus on ripped-from-the-headlines stories.
“We have understood that our audience is really, really connected to true stories,” she says. “It doesn’t matter if it’s crime or if it’s someone’s inspirational story… if the story is real, people relate to it.”
In true crime, Prime Video Brazil enjoyed success with Tremembé, with a second season coming, but the emphasis on real-life stories goes beyond crime, which is where Marília enters the picture.
“We are starting this biopic strategy with Marília Mendonça and some upcoming stories not announced yet, it’s a huge thing for us.”
The Marília-verse will span more than the doc and biopic, Priolli adds. “We always thought about Marília as a broader ecosystem. We’re announcing the movie and the documentary now, but we’re also developing other projects that are still in development.”
The Marília-verse is also part of an effort by Prime Video to shine a light on parts of the country not regularly seen.
“We felt that we needed this diversity and to portray different parts of Brazil,” Priolli says. “Brazil is huge, there are so many stories to be told, and the Marília-verse is part of this bigger strategy.”
Meanwhile, Amazon MGM Studios and Prime are bettingg on Versos becoming a breakout talent. Priolli says: “She never acted before. It has been really intense. She started to prepare in January with a singing coach, an acting coach, a performance coach. She’s ready. She’s going to be a big star.”