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With the rerun of Avenida Brasil, the country returns to hating Max, but in real life, the actor who brought the character to life does his own electrical work, produces fertilizer with a worm bin, and says he doesn’t want any kind of slaughter on the farm because everything lives in harmony there
While millions of Brazilians prepare to hate Max from Avenida Brasil again in the rerun that has just aired, the actor who played the most memorable villain in Brazilian television is probably barefoot on a farm in Teresópolis, in the mountains of Rio de Janeiro, harvesting lettuce from his own garden. Marcello Novaes is 63 years old, the nearest neighbor is 800 meters away, and he wouldn’t trade this life for anything.
The statement may seem exaggerated. It is not.
From the apartment in Barra da Tijuca to the absolute silence of the mountains
Before the farm, Novaes lived in Barra da Tijuca, West Zone of Rio de Janeiro. A neighborhood of luxury condominiums, heavy traffic, constant noise. The kind of place where most global actors choose to live due to proximity to Globo studios.
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Marcello took the opposite path. He bought the farm that belonged to his uncle, the same one he had been visiting since he was 14, when he already preferred to dig his feet into the soil rather than stroll in shopping malls in the South Zone. The property is located in Teresópolis, in the Mountain Region, surrounded by forest, with a spring on the land and no neighbors in sight.
The nearest neighbor is 800 meters away. This is not an estimate. It is the actual distance between Marcello’s house and the next human being. In urban terms, it would be equivalent to walking eight blocks without encountering a single door.
What he does there all day long
Novaes’ list of activities on the farm seems like the description of someone who prepared for the end of the world and decided they liked it.
Organic garden. The actor grows his own food without any chemical products. The fertilizer comes from a worm bin, compost bins, and the droppings of the chickens he raises on the property. Food scraps turn into humus that goes back into the soil. The cycle is closed.
Chicken raising. But with one rule: “I don’t kill a chicken because I don’t want any kind of slaughter on the farm. Everything lives in harmony. I only eat the eggs.” The phrase is his, given in an interview with GShow. It is not a character. It is a principle.
Woodworking workshop. Marcello built a workshop where he makes furniture and decorative objects from tree trunks he finds on the property. He does his own electrical work, painting, and maintenance of the house. He learned from his uncle when he was a teenager and never forgot.
Spring water. The water that supplies the farm springs from the ground within the property. Novaes had a small artificial waterfall built to take advantage of the natural resource. He drinks water that comes from the ground he walks on.
The pandemic that changed everything
Marcello already visited the farm frequently, but it was the Covid-19 pandemic that turned the visit into a permanent move. He spent two years isolated on the property. Two whole years. Without filming, without Rio de Janeiro, without Globo.
When the isolation ended, he looked around and realized he didn’t want to go back.
“I saw that it’s a place that brings me a lot of peace. The energy is different. I have a great identification with nature”, he told GShow. The actor keeps the house in Barra da Tijuca as a logistical base for when the filming schedule gets tight, but the farm is where he truly lives.
The contrast between character and person
The irony is almost cinematic. In Avenida Brasil, Max was the con artist who wanted money, status, and power at any cost. In Dona de Mim, a soap opera that has just ended, Marcello played Jaques, another villain obsessed with a mansion and controlling the richest family in the plot. He was nominated for Best Actor at the Melhores do Ano for this role.
In real life, the same man who plays characters obsessed with wealth chose a life where richness is measured in meters of distance from the nearest neighbor, in fresh eggs for breakfast, and in furniture built with his own hands from fallen logs.
His children Diogo, 30, and Pedro Novaes, 29, son from his relationship with actress Letícia Spiller, grew up visiting the farm and maintain a strong connection with their father’s lifestyle.
At 63 years old, the most hated villain in Brazil found something that none of his characters ever achieved: true peace. And it is located 800 meters from the nearest neighbor, in the middle of the mountains, among chickens that will never be killed and logs that become tables.
With information from NSC Total, GShow, and Caras magazine.
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