“Olhar Indiscreto” (Lady Voyeur) is the most watched Netflix original Brazilian series on the platform from January to June 2023. There were 86 million hours watched worldwide in six months. The series reached the top 10 most watched non-English language series in several countries, such as France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, South Africa, India, and Qatar, among other countries. In Türkiye, it reached first place.

Launched a year ago, the psychological thriller starring actress Débora Nascimento, who plays Miranda, a hacker and voyeur who spends her days observing the life of Cléo (Emanuelle Araújo), a luxury prostitute who lives in the building opposite. The two meet when Cléo asks Miranda to take care of her dog because of a trip.

Born in Suzano (Greater São Paulo), Débora Nascimento started her film career in 2007 as the protagonist of the short film “Cérbero”, directed by Gastão Coimbra. In the same year, she acted in her first soap opera on TV Globo, where she worked on more than 15 projects between series and soap operas, such as Avenida Brasil (2012), which was exported to 147 countries and set the biggest record in international sales for the broadcaster until now.

In cinema, Débora acted in "Pacificado" by Paxton Winters, which won her the award for Best Actress at the 2019 Aruanda Festival. The film won the Concha de Ouro, the main prize at the San Sebastián International Festival. It also won the Best Film Awards at the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana, Cuba, and at the São Paulo International Exhibition, victories that added to the other 17 awards won in its festival career.

The actress was also in features such as "Budapeste," by Walter Carvalho, and in the film directed by Fernando Meirelles for “Rio, Eu te Amo," alongside Vincent Cassel.

Her latest work can be seen on the Star+ channel: the series created and directed by Carlos Saldanha, “Como Ser Uma Carioca” (How to Be a Carioca), based on the best-selling book of the same name and featuring Joana Mariani, René Sampaio, and Seu Jorge in the cast. Still unreleased, a police series produced by José Henrique Fonseca and Eduardo Pop, with general direction by Izabel Jaguaribe, for the Paramount+ channel is “Cenas de um Crime.”.

I spoke to Débora in a cafe in Amsterdam (Netherlands) about the psychological thriller with a female perspective, her career, and what it was like to play the character Miranda.

Beginning of your career, when did you discover you were going to be an actress?

Wow… I already “acted” when I was a child; I pretended; I played at being other people and it wasn't just that fantasy game. Until the beginning of adolescence, I was always very introspective and shy, so I created other dimensions, pretended to be other people, had other experiences, imagined a fake family, and did things like that beyond my childhood imagination.

I started working as an actress when I was around 16 years old, doing small jobs in parallel with my modelling career. When I started studying acting, I understood that it was what I loved.

Did you have support from your family?

I'm the only actress in the family; I can't say I'm the only artist because everyone has a little artist inside of them, hehe. I think that if you paint a picture or if you dance when you hear a song, for me, that is a kind of art as well. We are all artists, but I am the only one who works professionally with art in my family.

How did the proposal to play Miranda come in?

It was an invitation from Netflix. They already knew my work in Brazil, and they sent me the script. I read it and thought, "Wow!" I was interested, but at first I thought it was very "spicy." Well, let's understand what it is. I found the character's design to be very interesting, but there were some "pitfalls." I confess that I was a little hesitant, but after some conversations and several meetings, we made an agreement to create a mostly female team, and from that, I agreed and said, "I am in; let’s do it!"!

I met Luciana Oliveira (director of the series), and after many conversations and desk work, I told Netflix that I would accept the job because I knew there would be an entire female team. There was a very sincere conversation and a great exchange.

Each scene was prepared by the director, the author, and the entire team, from the costumes to the makeup, how the hair should be, all the nuances—everything was very much constructed by female hands.

You speak as a director; do you want to direct too? Can we hope for a “Director: Débora Nascimento”?

Yes! (laughs) I have some projects that I'm working on, yes! I have this broader vision too. I think that the actor and actress not only receive but also contribute to the film; it's not just receiving what the director says; it's a joint contribution. A character isn't born just from one person. For example, Miranda is not just me; it's a set of ideas: from Luciana to Bárbara, there's Maria, who prepared me too.

I generated the character and delivered it, but they all included Miranda's ingredients.

Is Miranda fragmented? Who is Miranda to you? What did she leave you?

Miranda… Miranda… (Débora remains silent, closes her eyes, and responds): An intense possibility. Miranda is an intense woman like me. My way of going little by little, getting to know the terrain first, is a lot like Miranda. We have a lot in common: we get around it, understanding things before diving in, but when we go... Gone! No regrets.

“Lady Voyeur” (Olhar Indiscreto) was my first work with a team with a majority of women. The process was very intense; it wasn’t “just joy," like everything else in life. We have to embrace the shadows too.

I was counting on them, on Luciana (director) giving to me all the support, on these incredible women on the team who told me: “calm down, breathe”. I was away from my daughter, and several other complex issues that, regardless of professionalism, are within us were within me.

Why did you decide to work with an all-female team?

“Lady Voyeur” (Olhar Indiscreto) is a very delicate series. She is a female protagonist who deals a lot with women's desires, curiosity, fears, and discoveries. Miranda gradually creates the courage to overcome her own fears in relation to the pain, the shadows of her family, and her own sexuality that remain trapped inside her in relation to others.

So an all-female crew was the basics for making the film.

How did Netflix react to this request? Were you negotiating with men or women?

It was a big and very happy team! The bosses at Netflix were also women. Talking to them was not complicated, just like coming up with ideas was not difficult to understand.

We are extremely independent and united in the way we lead. It was about time; in fact, it is past time for us to have our place. Nothing is more fair than having a project like this to bring women to work in the areas of direction, photography direction, costumes, camerawoman, and other sectors of production of a series or a film.

Does Miranda come back? Will we have a second season?

(Responds with a smile.) There isn't a second season; it's a closed miniseries. It really was a great joy and surprise, and everyone asks when the second season will be.

Speaking of a big surprise, did you expect this feedback?

Look, I dreamed of this great feedback! (smile) I waited because I was giving my all and my total dedication, and in my heart, I knew it would be incredible. I prepared for the series; I spent practically a year immersed in the character Miranda.

The series “Lady Voyeur” (Olhar Indiscreto) with Débora Nascimento, Ângelo Rodrigues, Nikolas Antunes, and Emanuelle Araújo is available on Netflix in Portuguese and dubbed in more than 20 foreign idioms.