Leo Bittencourt celebrates invitation to ‘Mania de Você’: ‘I had never done work without a test’

There is a new character surrounding the lives of Viola (Gabz) and Luma (Agatha Moreira) in “Mania de Você” (Globo): Rodhes, played by Leo Bittencourt. The actor joined the 9pm soap opera last week, in the wake of the plot’s turning point, as the chef’s foster brother and as part of Marcel’s (Bukassa Kabengele) circus troupe.

To the F5Leo said that the invitation to debut in the soap opera meant a lot to him, as it was made directly by the team of author João Emanuel Carneiro. “It was a surprise, because, until then, I had never done any work in my life that hadn’t been tested”, he says, proudly. “I had never received this type of invitation. The information reached me that my name had been approved and that João, the author, had liked me.”

A native of Amazonas, the actor began his career on Globo, in “Malhação 2018” and in the series “Segunda Chamada”. In recent years, he has been successful on streaming as Daniel Cravinhos in “The Girl Who Killed Her Parents” and in the sequels to the film about the Suzane Von Richthofen case, produced by Prime Video.

This year, he returned to Globo for the second season of “Rensga Hits”, in which he plays music producer Cauã Almeida, who has a romantic relationship with the protagonist Raíssa, Alice Wegmann’s character.

“At the beginning of the year, if you asked me what my expectations were, due to the recording of ‘Rensga’, it would be precisely this debut on open TV. It really is a special moment that, at the beginning, I wouldn’t have known I would have. Honestly, I tell you that I’m processing everything”, he says.

Leo talks about the role in the plot, appearing at a time when Viola is reconnecting with her origins, through the circus, her father, her brother and the community. “He’s a guy who was Viola’s foster brother, he was adopted by Marcel. During this week we’ll get to know the story a little more”, he anticipates.

But, amidst the confusion of the chef’s life, it is Luma that the character will get closer to. “Rodhes is a fair guy, a very honest guy. He has the values ​​he seeks to defend. And I think that’s where his life intersects with Luma, who is not in the right path in life”, he comments. “Maybe he’ll come across as just the person to help her on this journey.”

Already halfway through the plot, Leo said that the comments and metrics about low ratings did not reach behind the scenes of the soap opera: “That was never even an issue.” “We talk about anything else in life. We don’t even comment on the audience. And, as a spectator, the audience isn’t something that bothers me, to be very honest,” he says.

“I joined because I know the magnitude of this soap opera, I know how important it is to be in a soap opera”, says the actor, who also compares open TV with streaming: “Although it is hypothetically a low audience for a soap opera, it corresponds to perhaps 10 or 15 times more than any streaming number.”

“It’s very outside the bubble to believe that the soap opera doesn’t reach Brazil, it’s too big”, he assesses. “We are talking not only about the capitals, but about the interior of Brazil. I, who come from the North, know how strong the soap opera is still there.”