Brazilian-born, Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Bruno Barreto has over the course of his career tackled everything from political thrillers to comedies and social dramas, but for his 19th feature film he had to look no further than his mother, who supplied the source material for Reaching for the Moon, and served as one of its producers. Inspired by Rare and Commonplace Flowers, a nonfiction book by Carmen Lucia de Oliveira, the movie centers on American poet Elizabeth Bishop (Miranda Otto) and her tempestuous lesbian relationship throughout the 1950s with Brazilian Lota de Macedo Soares (Glória Pires), a renowned architect in her own right. I recently had a chance recently to speak one-on-one with the personable Barreto — who in person resembles an older Moby — about his movie, his leading lady, and battling the urge to make his subject more likeable. The conversation is excerpted over at ShockYa, so click here for the read.