{"id":456795,"date":"2026-05-19T15:00:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T15:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/456795\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T15:00:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T15:00:15","slug":"oscar-nominees-fernanda-torres-willem-dafoe-to-star-in-cuddle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/456795\/","title":{"rendered":"Oscar Nominees Fernanda Torres, Willem Dafoe to Star in ‘Cuddle’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tBrazil\u2019s Fernanda Torres<\/a>, Oscar-nominated for her stirring performance in Walter Salles\u2019 2025 international feature Academy Award winner \u201cI\u2019m Still Here,\u201d is joining four-time Oscar nominee Willem Dafoe (\u201cPoor Things,\u201d \u201cPlatoon\u201d) in B\u00e1rbara Paz\u2019s upcoming feature, \u201cCuddle.\u201d\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tSet in a near-future metropolis where intimacy is bought and sold, \u201cCuddle\u201d follows Dante (Dafoe), a professional cuddler paid to provide warmth, comfort and human connection to strangers.<\/p>\n

\n\tHis solitary life is upended when he meets Ava (Torres), an immigrant woman whose quiet strength and deep empathy awaken something long buried in them both. Their unlikely connection becomes a lifeline \u2014 and a chance at transformation, a moving reminder that even the smallest act of affection can change a life forever.<\/p>\n

\n\tDescribed as a dystopian character-driven drama, it is the latest pic from the \u201cI\u2019m Still Here\u201d <\/a>co-producer, auteur-driven Brazilian powerhouse Conspira\u00e7\u00e3o. Set against the backdrop of contemporary touch therapy culture and urban alienation, \u201cCuddle\u201d aims to reflect on humanity\u2019s desire for closeness, meaning and affection in a fragmented modern world.<\/p>\n

\n\tBP Produ\u00e7\u00f5es, Buena Vista International, Walter and Jo\u00e3o Moreira Salles\u2019 VideoFilmes, Infinity Hill<\/a> and TV Globo have boarded as co-producers.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTo join B\u00e1rbara Paz, Willem Dafoe<\/a> and Fernanda Torres in bringing to life a film about the joy and necessity of human connection in today\u2019s world is a tremendous honor for us. We truly believe \u2018Cuddle\u2019 will resonate deeply and powerfully with audiences everywhere,\u201d said producer Renata Brand\u00e3o, CEO of Conspira\u00e7\u00e3o Filmes, who has been attending the Cannes Film Festival<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tTorres also won a 2025 Golden Globe for her performance in \u201cI\u2019m Still Here.\u201d \u201cCuddle\u201d reunites Dafoe and Paz following their collaboration on \u201cMy Hindu Friend,\u201d Hector Babenco\u2019s semi-autobiographical swan song, <\/a>in which Dafoe portrayed a filmmaker closely inspired by Babenco himself, while Paz, Babenco\u2019s real-life wife and muse, appeared in a key supporting role.<\/p>\n

\n\tDafoe was an associate producer of the documentary \u201cBabenco: Tell Me When I Die\u201d (2019), which Paz directed as an ode to her late husband and which represented Brazil at the 93rd Academy Awards. It also snagged the best documentary award in the Venice Classics sidebar of the 76th Venice Film Festival.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cCuddle\u201d is produced by Brand\u00e3o and Juliana Capelini for Conspira\u00e7\u00e3o Filmes alongside Paz (BP Prods.), Axel Kuschevatzky and Cindy Teperman for Infinity Hill (\u201cArgentina, 1985\u201d) and Maria Carlota Bruno of VideoFilmes, with Phin Glynn and Delfina Montecchia executive producing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brazil\u2019s Fernanda Torres, Oscar-nominated for her stirring performance in Walter Salles\u2019 2025 international feature Academy Award winner \u201cI\u2019m…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456796,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[10532,321,198186,93,198187,61,198188,60,3430],"class_list":["post-456795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-cannes-film-festival","tag-celebrities","tag-conspiracao","tag-entertainment","tag-fernanda-torres","tag-ie","tag-infinity-hill","tag-ireland","tag-willem-dafoe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}