Eduardo Noriega is one of the many Spanish actors in the cast of the third season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, the AMC spin-off that has breathed new life into the zombie television universe based on Robert Kirkman's comic by bringing the action to Europe: France in the first two seasons, and now Spain in the third season currently airing, and the fourth, which is being filmed now.
We recently spoke with the show stars at the San Diego Comic-Con in Malaga, asking for some nuances that their North American colleagues would probably miss. Specifically, Noriega, who plays Antonio, told us that his character's portrayal reminds him of that of Abre los Ojos (Open Your Eyes), Alejandro Amenábar's 1997 film that was remade four years later with Tom Cruise in Vanlilla Sky.
"I have to say that Antonio's portrayal in The Walking Dead reminded me a bit of Abre los Ojos. In Abre los Ojos, he also had this deformed face. They're not the same scars; this is a burn; it has nothing to do with the story, but in some ways, I did think about my beginnings with Amenábar when I was making this," Noriega said in our interview, something his colleague Óscar Jaenada also strongly agreed with.
"The characterization was a coincidence, because the design was done in the United States, although Jesús is my makeup artist, Jesús García, who does my makeup every day. And it's a wonderful makeup that defines the character not only physically, but internally. He carries his illness and his wound on his face, but he also carries it internally."
Eduardo Noriega calls for a reform of filming subsidies in all regional governments
Noriega also addressed the benefits this shooting has brought to Spain, as they have had teams of 400 people working for months in many locations, providing a significant investment to the villages, some big, some small, they've worked on.
"I think it's unfair that some territories have certain tax benefits over others. I think it's difficult to change the law, but it's true that right now the Canary Islands and the Basque Country benefit more than other territories, which I don't understand. Why can't all Spanish territories have these benefits and attract foreign productions?"
Below you can watch our full interview with Eduardo Noriega, Óscar Jaenada, and Candela Saitta, the young Argentine actress who compared her character in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon to that of Queen Máxima of the Netherlands.
