Newly way, the production company Chinito Chinito premiered the series "Viral" on the Amazon Prime screen, an independent product that bases its story in an apocalyptic world full of dangerous infected.

Directed by Rodrigo Maggio, the series has the leading roles of Flor Benítez de Blauve and Ignacio Huang, remembered for his time in the movie "A Chinese story" with Ricardo Darín.

Precisely Huang spoke exclusively with La Vereda to tell more details about this ambitious production, whose genre is little explored in our country, much less in a pandemic context how we have to live.

The series began its filming in 2016 and it lasted for four years while waiting for its release through the Amazon Prime screen. All this patience was due to the five minds behind Chinito Chinito. Producer whose name “has nothing to do with my origin, it is pure chance ", according to Huang.

According to what the actor explains, the contact between "Viral" and he came "out of nowhere, when they asked me for contact on Facebook ". At that moment, "Rodrigo -May – he told me that they had a proposal for me ".

Huang remembers walking to the meeting that took place in Villa Devoto, place where he resides. “He explained to me about the series and about the desire to incorporate a character with my profile. I saw a preview because they had started recording with Flor, who's like Sarah Connor from Terminator. She is the heroine ", relates the artist who at that moment saw the fragments and "I was instantly surprised. My jaw dropped ".

In the first instance, Huang was surprised that “it was something Argentine, because something like this was not done here. And it's not about money, but because of the creativity and intelligence with which they carried out ”that caused me to say“ yes instantly ”.

What can you tell about your character?

Rodrigo introduced me to this character, What is a Chinese in an imaginary post-apocalyptic world. His name only sounds when he is in his family environment. He is a very quiet man who works in an Argentine refrigerator of a Chinese company. He has his wife and fulfills his tasks. Regarding your personality, he's very introverted and weird.

He's a gray man, until the pandemic exploded, infecting almost the entire population, where does this nightmare arise. There his rebellion begins in such a crisis.

How have you prepared your role, both physically and acting?

At the acting level I was very attracted, although I never did action genre. The closest thing was "Brothers and Detectives" (Damien Szifrón). I love it, more when you can be someone other than what you are in life. Rodrigo explained to me how he imagined the character: taken out and explodes along with the pandemic. He imagined a Rambo, naked torso, covered in blood on fridge apron and I said "wow" (laughs). I would never imagine like this, more having to kill everything that crosses. I am so grateful to life that someone offers me such a chance. For things like this I studied acting. My character is very liberating.

Something you have to know is that this started filming in 2016. A long time passed ... at that moment I was physically better. Over time your waist hurts (laughs).

Always in a good mood and happy for his participation in the series, Huang felt that his character “was very demanding, but like i said before, i loved doing it, especially in character psychology: Become an explosive being ".

On the other hand, the actor highlighted the task of Matías Stella, one of its preparers. "The other level of preparation is psychological, which is tremendous. His work was very valuable because he helped me get things that I did not know I had. The character is very bipolar, he has moments of fury and a lot of sadness ".

Do you have an opinion about this genre of production?

We like to tell you apocalyptic production, because when it comes to zombie, it is a genre that has been mutating. I started watching from the first chapter of "Walking Dead" until I got tired ... I think that was when Michonne left (laughs). But the first chapters did surprise me, where was everything. The same happened with us in this production.

I also got hooked on “Fear the Walking Dead”… but I stopped following it, also tired me at one point, but again those chapters hooked me where they escaped as a family. I remember watching "Walking Dead" and having recurring nightmares about zombies.

I think that in many ways we live it firsthand. While there is a fable with the theme of the undead, we are not strangers to the fact that there is a virus going around. We, those who escape from being infected, we did not see death nor did we see hospitals. I remember the news that came from India, with the Delta variant and the stacked bodies and I directly did not want to see the images. I think those are the reasons this post-apocalyptic genre thrives.. On the one hand, It generates a certain fantasy for me about a ‘world after’, when it stops being as we know it and the other thing is that all this we have can change and disappear in a second.

Ignacio remembers the first days of the pandemic and manages to draw a parallel with the dangers reflected in "Viral". In that context, remember "the first day of quarantine, go up to the roof and listen to ambulances and I was scared. I remember the first time that I went out on the street, also with great fear, more when there was no one. What one sees in the series can be so real "and in turn wonders" What happens if there is no health, police?, if people come into your house and that place stops being your house. Things that are more terrible than the monsters that appear in "Viral". The terrible is a world of chaos, without any kind of order. That is not fiction and it can be something that happens from one moment to another ".

What generates debuting on a platform like Amazon?

In the time that we had begun, Amazon was not what it is today. When we filmed the last chapters in 2019 I wondered what we were going to do. That was what he said to Rodrigo, I even suggested that a feature film be made and presented in theaters, but not. The boys continued with the idea of ​​the series, that's why it's filmed like this.

There are many independent productions that fall in time, for the lack of support for them to come to light. All the effort came from the production company, even our salaries with all that that means. The five producers invested their salaries in this series, with a lot of energy. I highlight this because many times, for getting a good role or a good job, we do it for free. I thought the series was going to go out of style, but the pandemic reinforced it.

Without anticipating anything about the story, Is there room for a continuation?

There is an open plot. I know the boys are thinking of a continuation. This, in the independent world it has a lot of "we are seeing it". But it also has to do with a large number of series that start and are later discarded.. It is always according to the taste of the people.

We await the repercussions to determine a little of how it would continue in the future in a more stable situation in the country.

How has your year been on a personal and professional level?

This year was better than 2020, year in which he had planned a theatrical tour of Paraguay, with ten scheduled functions that were postponed by the pandemic. It was very painful. It was tremendous, I could only do theater on the sidewalk. We did it with a chinstrap. This year I premiered my Chinese puppet show at the "Titiritodos", a festival that took place in Córdoba. They were also made via streaming, with participation in Colombia. In that sense I cannot complain.

At the cinema we were going to premiere "Charlotte" with Angela Molina, but only a small premiere could be made before the closing for the second wave, so i hope in 2022 have a rerun for the Argentine public. "Viral" now has me very nervous, because it is the debut in a platform of this type.

Now with the puppets I will be in Pinamar and later the Cultural Center of Cooperation. I think the pandemic made me better handle self-management.

Before saying goodbye and true to form, the actor anticipated that he will return to the stage as the creator and actor of "Scarlet Wedding", the work that he has been writing and will narrate a period story located in ancient China. Show that could premiere at the end of next year under the direction of Laura Riera, that "besides being a great friend and director, has a lot of access and contact to Chinese culture. There will be a lot of Peking opera theater resource. A lot of work is promised and something new for the Buenos Aires billboard ".