Camila Mendes executive produces and stars as Isabella in Música. The new film is currently streaming on Prime Video and this interview will contain major spoilers.

Based on writer, director, and star Rudy Mancuso, Música is a coming-of-age love story that follows an aspiring creator with synesthesia, who must come to terms with an uncertain future, while navigating the pressures of love, family, and his Brazilian culture in Newark, New Jersey.

As an EP, Mendes told me that a lot of her role was to “serve” the two female roles and “making sure that they felt justified in their own right.” For her character in particular, she expressed, “It was more about making sure she didn’t feel too perfect, too right of a choice. Obviously, you see that they have this special connection and this chemistry, but still, you can still feel that it’s not breaking through yet because Rudy is so distracted and he’s so caught between all the lies that like, he can’t really show up presently for Isabella and they never really get to take their thing to the next level. And you get a glimpse into Isabella’s personal life and her relationship with her mom, which is very different from Rudy’s relationship with his mom.”

The movie does a beautiful job highlighting Brazilian culture, which she also spoke with me about: “I’ve grown up being very inspired by non-Brazilian roles that are Latina, but most of the role models that I had in the industry, whether it was like Salma Hayek, Penélope Cruz, or whatever, were not Brazilian, but they were the closest thing I could latch onto as a kid. And so, a lot of my role models and characters that I’ve loved in films have been Hispanic and I hope that in the same way that I’ve valued them, that even if you’re not Brazilian and you’re a little girl growing up somewhere that you can see yourself in Isabella and feel represented. But then, especially for the Brazilian girls that have never had a chance to see themselves represented on camera, I want to give them that opportunity to glamorize them a bit, like let them — I want Brazilians to be seen cinematically. So I’m just really excited for them to finally get that opportunity, for all of us.”

I reunited with the talented actress to break down key moments and talk about why this particular ending was necessary, the question she asks herself before taking on a project, developing the female characters to have full arcs, wanting Brazilians to be seen cinematically, and more.

Watch our full conversation here: