When director João César Monteiro met her in the Príncipe Real garden in Lisbon, having coffee with friends, he explained to her "in a nutshell" that she was the girl he was looking for to play the role of Joaninha in A Comédia de Deus (God's Comedy). Cláudia Teixeira, then 19 years old, had no experience as an actress. She was "so disarmed, so surprised" that it didn't even occur to her to say "no".