Julio Torres and Tilda Swinton in Problemista.
Courtesy of A24
It’s immediately evident that Problemista, the new feature from A24, certainly comes from the mind of Julio Torres, the writer and comedian who brought his surreal ideas to Saturday Night Live and the HBO series about horror lovers, Los Espookys. But unlike most of his other work, Problemista, gets personal.
Problemista — which Torres wrote, directed, and stars in — follows Alejandro, who, like Torres did at one point, needs a visa sponsorship to stay in the United States rather than returning home to El Salvador. Alejandro is desperate to work at Hasbro, but they never respond to his applications containing beautifully bizarre ideas for toys that are more philosophical than practical. (Think: Torres’ beloved SNL sketch “Wells for Boys.”) Instead, he works at a cryonics center where humans are frozen with the idea that they will be brought back to life in the future. He watches over the icy tomb painter named Bobby (RZA), which eventually brings him into contact with critic Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton), the artist’s demanding and crazed wife. Elizabeth promises Alejandro that she’ll sponsor him if he helps put on a show featuring Bobby’s work, which entirely consists of images of eggs.
Problemista features a physical maze representing the immigration process as well as a hallucinogenic personification of Craigslist, played by Larry Owens. was Torres spoke with THR over Zoom about meshing his own story with his most outlandish ideas.
Where did you start with this idea?
Well, the story of the film is very, very rooted in my experience. I, too, went through a visa application process, had to find a sponsor in a limited amount of time. So I felt like there could maybe be a story there in that journey. One thing that I kept hearing over and over again was the desire for me to make something personal as opposed to completely enveloped in metaphor, such as Los Espookys or my work on SNL or my standup. I’ve always had a hard time being personal and I found it so boring to make a movie about me and my experience or something. I found that so uninteresting. But the character of Elizabeth kept getting in my ear and I was like, “Well, she’s fun.” And then I started thinking of my mother and my relationship with my mother, and that felt like an interesting parallel. Then I started building these characters around this visa journey, and it still felt a little stagnant or something. But then it wasn’t until I realized that the character of Craigslist could be played by a person. It would be a character, not a website that I was like, “Okay, now we are off.” Now I sort of understand that I can be personal and vulnerable and do something completely rooted in feeling while still retaining what brings me joy and doing it in a way that I find emotionally honest to myself.
Why was the idea of doing something personal boring to you?
I don’t know. I lived it. I saw it. It doesn’t leave me room to wonder and imagine because I already know what happened. I had also, I think, also developed an allergy for doing the poor little immigrant story or the poor little queer, Latinx story. And I was just like, “I don’t want to be that sellout.” I don’t want to be a person who’s like, “Okay, what boxes do I check? Okay, great. This becomes my thing.” So constantly wrestling between that and the reality, which is lived experience makes for good, beautiful work. I wanted all these things to be natural and not shoved for the purpose of box office numbers or views. I didn’t want to be cynical about my experience.
When I first had moved to that echelon of having general meetings with executives and that kind of thing, they kept saying over and over and over and over again, “We are looking for a Broad City. Maybe it’s a Latino Broad City. Maybe it’s a queer Broad City. Maybe it’s an immigrant Broad City.” And I’m like, “Okay. I know for a fact that when those girls were pitching Broad City, all of you turned them down.”
But I’m very grateful that I have gotten to do things my way and have had allies in all these spaces. An A24, an HBO, even a Saturday Night Live have never been like, “Don’t do this, do that.” Have always been like, “Okay, he’s going to do his thing and we’ll see what happens.”
How did the character of Craigslist develop into what we see on screen?
I like to think that I’m very rooted in feeling, so “what did it feel like for me to navigate Craigslist?” It felt dangerous and it felt seductive, and it felt like I was going down a rabbit hole that was simultaneously scary and exhilarating and seedy and fun. Then when I was reading the Craigslist [listings] or whatever, it’s like, “Natural Light Minutes from Manhattan on the L Train.” It was something very nonsensical, but rhythmic about it. I started making these movements, and then it’s like, “Oh, that’s Larry.That’s Larry. Someone who can be musical without singing is Larry.”
How did Tilda come on board?
This script got to her through the machinations of Hollywood, and she was familiar with [comedy special] My Favorite Shapes. And before that she was familiar with Los Espookys. I think that was her entry point. She wanted to be in the movie immediately. I didn’t realize at the time that I was entering what feels like an alliance, with someone who thinks in the same ways that I do, and someone who’s been doing it beautifully and successfully for so long. And by that I mean this idea of working in community, this idea of being attracted to the work first and doing it with people who get you. She has a creative family in the way that I feel like I have a creative family. This very anti-Hollywood idea that actually you work with your friends and the people that you like and studios don’t dictate who you have chemistry with. Or who looks good next to whom on a poster: that doesn’t factor into our work. She’s such a giving and warm scene partner too. It was not the case of, “Oh, rookie director hires grand actress, uh-oh.” It’s just like, we got along really well.
Have you had Elizabeths in your life? Was she based on a real person?
She came from many, and then when Tilda started playing her she became this fully realized person inspired by so many people. And I think, yeah, everyone who’s seen it is like, “Oh, my former boss. Oh, my this. Oh, my that.” Even the wig was such an important part of the process because it’s a shade of red that you see in the wild a lot but you never see it in film because it’s not the shade of red that anyone intentionally gets. We also wanted a haircut that would fight her hair texture. She gave herself a problem with that hair, and she probably is trying to sue the hairdresser.
What was that like having your mom be represented on screen? Was she able to come on set at all?
No, she was not on set. But, well, it’s this thing that I really feel strongly that I see my mother not as a muse but a collaborator. We don’t do the roses for Mother’s Day thing. We co-create things, and that is how we show love and affection. And it only felt appropriate to do that. And I’ve always been around a very creative family. My father always fostered creativity, and he has always encouraged me and my mom and my sister to create things. And I like to think that I bring that to my work. It’s something that I really, really, really pleases me to hear is that people seem to have enjoyed working on this movie in all the departments, they feel like they could bring their own ideas, and creating a playpen where we’re all building the sandcastle together.
Was there any thought that you didn’t want to play Alejandro?
Yeah, completely. No, I entertained every scenario. The directing came last. When I was writing it, I was not thinking about directing it, and I was reticent about playing Alejandro. Because I’m just such a green actor. But I’m glad I did it all. I’m really happy I did it all and I’m happy that people tolerate it.