“Hail”: the most interesting facts about the Argentine film that recently premiered on Netflix

Hail was released on March 30 and within 24 hours managed to position itself as the most watched film in Argentina. The story follows a meteorologist, Miguel Flores (Guillermo Francella), who fails to issue a forecast. This man goes from being the most loved by the audience to the most hated, since people don't forgive him for not warning about the hail that was going to hit Buenos Aires.

Hail also becomes the first science fiction film to be released in Argentina and that gives interesting facts about its production. Hail is clearly a great protagonist of the film and it was quite a challenge to recreate this on Avenida 9 de Julio and Corrientes in the city of Buenos Aires.

As they were so crowded avenues, they did not provide the possibility of cutting the streets for full days for filming. But during the middle of the shoot, due to issues associated with the pandemic, where circulation was reduced, they could be used in its full dimension and recreate the hail without affecting traffic.

Precisely, the creation of the hail was very challenging: they were balls of different sizes, which were developed in the most credible way through post-production work. It was then that digital pieces such as those that collide with the Congress of the Nation and the Obelisk were added. On the set, a base of rain and falling hail was used as a reference, and then finished completing at a later stage with the digital hail and generating the sensation of a single storm.

Perhaps the most laborious part of this process was that, after each scene, it was necessary to sweep or put together ball by ball, and dry the ground as best as possible to make it rain or hail again for the next shot.

Another protagonist of Hail is undoubtedly the little fish, Osvaldo. In total, 8 fish were used in filming in Buenos Aires and 4 when the action moved to Córdoba. Although they all received the same name (Osvaldo), they were mentioned with a number that accompanied them from 1 to 12. They also had a special animal care and training team, which in turn took care of the dogs Kiko and Simon.

While the pre-production of the film lasted approximately 4 months, editing and post-production reached 10 months. The film had 650 extras and more than 10,000 hailstones of different sizes were used. In the middle, filming took place, which lasted 36 days, and was shot in more than 25 real outdoor locations that included Ciudad de Buenos, Córdoba and many other real interior spaces, while the only set set for the film was the set of “El show del tiempo”, the program that Flores conducts.

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