Gloria Pires fights kung fu in a film and has an old passion revealed by Cleo: ‘She loved Bruce Lee’

Could this be another case of art imitating life? In “Vovó Ninja”, which opens in theaters on Thursday (5), Gloria Pires plays the mother of Cleo Pires —her real-life daughter— for the first time in a drama. But the similarities end there.

In the plot, her character, Arlete, is the grandmother of three connected children, who she will welcome into her home after a long time without seeing them. Just like her fictional grandchildren, viewers should be surprised to discover a secret skill of the seemingly calm grandmother: she is a kung fu fighter, who spent years in China, learning the art of war.

Those who weren’t so surprised were the actress’s children. In an interview with F5Cleo explained why Gloria chose to play such an unusual role: “She loved it! This woman loved Bruce Lee. Bento, my brother, was obsessed with Bruce Lee because of her. She loved having to do this. It’s just like her!”

In the film, Arlete fights against invaders on her farm and shows off all her martial arts skills. Director Bruno Barreto said that the actress had six weeks of training and actually did almost all the moves: “She knew them all.” [os golpes]. We just didn’t let her do them all because imagine if she broke some part of her body? It would be a tragedy.”

Gloria and Cleo remember that Bento, the actress’s youngest son with Orlando Morais, was a big fan of kung fu, encouraged by his mother’s passion for the Chinese-American actor. “He even had his birthday party themed around ‘Bento Lee’. His name was Bento Lee, because of Bruce. He knew the scenes, you know? He even did a little kung fu,” says Gloria.

Still in a family atmosphere, the actresses comment on the feeling of acting together as mother and daughter for the first time. “For me, it was a dream. We are very lucky to be able to be artists and to have art as a place to meet the people we love. Especially my mother, who is a queen in this art,” Cleo gushes.

The actress did not want to say whether she intends to continue the lineage of artists with a child of her own, but Gloria said that she wants to be a grandmother and, if her wish comes true, she would like to be present in raising her grandchildren. “I want to be a involved grandmother. But I will not be the grandmother who miseducates, no, I will be a grandmother who educates,” she says. “She has already promised me that,” confirms Cleo.

“Grandma Ninja” also stars Leandro Ramos, Luiza Salles, Michel Felberg, Angelo Vital, Matheus Ceará, Dadá Coelho, Luiza Nery, Thiago Justino, Pedro Miranda and Miguel Lobo. The script is by Rodrigo Goulart, Gustavo Acioly and Gabi Mancini.