“You’ll absolutely adore this extreme, violent series from Brazil which if it were American would be on the cover of Rolling Stone. It’s called Magnifica 70 and is Mad Men meets Boogie Nights, set in Sao Paolo.”
Go on, you have us interested...
"The Dan Draper character is a State censor, who in episode one you see viewing this really trashy film called The Hot Student. He becomes infatuated with the lead actress, who reminds him of the love of his life – who died in really terrible circumstances. It turns into a battle between erotic obsession and political repression.”
In truth, I thought Walter Iuzzolino might have been overdoing the sales pitch a bit when he told us about the HBO Latino 13-parter that was about to debut on the international drama section of the Channel 4 website that he curates but, no: Magnifca 70 really is the hedonistic feast for the senses the Italian described when we visited his London HQ in May.

SHE’S REALLY NOT NICE
The object of all that erotic obsession is soft porn star Dora Dumar, AKA Simone Spoladore who was already a household name in Brazil thanks to her roles in a string of telenovelas and smart independent films like Southwest, The Year My Parents Went On Vacation and Elvis & Madona, the impossibly gorgeous story of a young lesbian who falls in love with a transvestite.
“Elvis is one of my favourite characters in the 20-plus movies I’ve done,” enthuses Spoladore who, with Hollywood beckoning, is in the UK until January perfecting her English.
“I thought: ‘Magnifica 70 is only a cult thing here, no one will recognise me – especially now that I don’t have blonde hair’. But everywhere I go, I have people coming up and saying, ‘We love the show!’ A lot of them, especially the younger ones, didn’t know that we were living under a military dictatorship in the 1970s, so we’ve taught them something about Brazil.”
Shot in the downtown quarter of Sao Paolo that became known as Boca do Lixo (“Garbage Mouth”), these Carry On meets Deep Throat-style sexploitation movies made household names out of Nicole Puzzi and Elena Ramos, who are two of the pornochanchada stars Simone researched for her role.
“They are the body and soul of those movies – strong women who in doing what they did were actually standing up to the regime,” she reflects. “I think of them as not just actresses but folk heroes. The military dictatorship has been dealt with before on film and in TV, but not in such an honest and provocative way. Some people were shocked by the nudity, but Magnifica 70 is very respectful of its female characters. At no point did I feel uncomfortable filming my scenes.”
Asked to describe Dora, Simone smiles and says: “She’s a multi-faceted character, a bad girl with an artistic soul who’s passionate about her work. At first you go, ‘She’s really not nice’, but as the series progresses you can’t help but fall in love with her.”

Magnifica 70 is free to view on channel4.com