Interview With "Problemista" Director, Writer, Producer & Star Julio Torres

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[00:00:30] You were listening to the next best picture podcast and this is Dan Bears interview with the writer, director, producer and star of problemista Julio Torres

[00:00:41] This is the story of Alejandro. His mother gave him everything but she had a recurring dream of Alejandro

[00:00:52] Leaving the safe world she created where it faced the dangers he tried so hard to keep him from

[00:01:12] Uh Alejandro Martinez. Yes, hi Mr. Killeal is ready for you. Thank you

[00:01:18] Okay, look you don't have a while. You have a month to find someone to co-sign your visa

[00:01:23] And if you don't you have to leave the US. I sort of feel happy for this lady

[00:01:26] I'm late. I know I'm late. I'm so late. I get over this menu. What is it with walnut?

[00:01:31] Walnuts, walnuts, walnuts, walnuts, it's like a cafe for squirrels

[00:01:34] Walnuts think are very nicely with the salad. Why do I look like I need educating on fine cuisine?

[00:01:38] You think this lady can sponsor you? I mean we'll see. We'll see

[00:01:45] Welcome everyone to the next Best Picture Podcast. We are talking with Julio Torres,

[00:01:50] the writer, director and star of the new film problemista Julio thank you so much for joining us

[00:01:57] Thank you so much for having me

[00:01:59] I'm very excited to be talking to you finally about this movie which I had the good fortune

[00:02:05] to see at the world premiere itself by Southwest a year ago

[00:02:09] which was incredible but I have to ask you know like it's finally coming out a year after

[00:02:16] you premiere your baby to the world. What does it feel like for that to be finally happening so

[00:02:23] long after you first premiered it? It feels like I haven't stopped premiering it

[00:02:28] yeah

[00:02:33] yeah I can imagine yeah I enjoy making work it is it is what makes me the happiest is creating something

[00:02:43] I did not anticipate that the showing of the creating of something was going to take longer

[00:02:49] than making it but I am glad people finally are getting access to it

[00:02:54] yeah myself as well when I first saw it there's just so much going on in it and it's so creative

[00:03:00] and different from anything I've seen and I'm so happy that people are finally getting to experience

[00:03:04] it for themselves. I wanted to rewind a bit in the wheels of your mind because there are so many

[00:03:13] ideas and themes and motifs at play in problemista and I was wondering what was the first image you got

[00:03:22] in your head when you were writing the scripts what where did this film come from?

[00:03:28] So the film is very rooted in experience but Elizabeth's way of speaking was one of the

[00:03:36] one of the earliest things that I was really holding on to and then the idea of Craigslist being

[00:03:43] an entity was when I really tapped into what became the the tone or the world of the movie.

[00:03:50] I love that you bring up Craigslist too because I keep thinking about that in the movie and like

[00:03:56] how do you go about casting the part of a conglomerate of electronics and ads?

[00:04:05] Well, I was like thinking of Craigslist and I was thinking of the ads and the sort of menacing

[00:04:13] spell like lyrical gibberish that they sound like and then it just felt sort of ominous

[00:04:19] and like sing songy and then immediately my friend Larry Owens popped into my head and he did such

[00:04:26] as a beautiful job at personifying Craigslist as this like see which kind of creature.

[00:04:36] Very much so you hear that siren call of Craigslist.

[00:04:43] I know that you created or co-created Los Espookees but this is your first time directing

[00:04:51] and it's your first feature film at all when you were writing the script did you always picture

[00:04:57] yourself directing it or did that come later? No, that came later. The script was

[00:05:02] obsessively done, was done and then starting to think of directors and that road seemed like it

[00:05:12] wasn't really leading anywhere and then people around he started suggesting directing it

[00:05:18] until the who was already on board to be in it was very excited about me directing it so

[00:05:26] yeah we'll just sort of went for it. I love that you specifically mentioned that that till the

[00:05:31] was very excited about you directing it because I was curious because she's obviously she's

[00:05:36] fantastic in the movie she's fantastic and pretty much everything she does but yeah how did

[00:05:42] you bring her on board? Did you write with her in mind for the part or was she always just like

[00:05:48] you know like the first person you had when you was finished? How did she come on board?

[00:05:52] Because she's so fantastic. I did not write the part with anyone in mind. I write with actors in

[00:06:00] mind a lot but it's only actors that I know that I have a relationship with like Larry.

[00:06:09] Because it might be presumptuous but I'm willing to assume that they'll do it but

[00:06:15] I didn't want to paint myself into a corner where I was like oh it has to be this incredible actress

[00:06:24] that I have never met in my life because then then you're making a garment to someone's

[00:06:32] body and then it's like then you have to squeeze someone else into it and then it's a breaking

[00:06:37] and so I just sort of left it loose and Hilda got a hold of the script and she was excited to talk

[00:06:44] about it and that unlocked so much that brought so much specificity. She became not American or

[00:06:51] original. She was supposed to be American and I think like made her so real and specific

[00:07:00] and I'm not like an idea of a person but an actual person and then the really interesting thing is

[00:07:07] that everything till the says in the movie is obsessively what's in the script it's just like

[00:07:13] the way that she's embodying it that like became fully a creation for the movie.

[00:07:19] Yeah she really comes alive and just pops right off that screen for everything.

[00:07:25] Yeah. I mean not just her way of speaking in the character work but also the look that

[00:07:31] brazeled like fruit punch color hair and the outfits that match and I especially love when she

[00:07:40] you know the fantasy sequences when she becomes this dragon like figure and I was curious about

[00:07:46] when in the writing process the sort of fairy tale tone to everything came because I fun when

[00:07:54] I was watching that was one of the keys to the film working as well as it does. It came pretty early

[00:08:01] I it was like when I decided to lean into that that I felt like I I have something

[00:08:10] that I was interested in making in my hands and it just sort of came from like different angles it

[00:08:15] was in oh what a Craigslist was a person would not just any person sort of like a sorceress which

[00:08:22] oh man thing and then it's like another idea of Elizabeth being a hydra was was very early in the

[00:08:30] movie so then that that was already like going towards fairy tale and then like the visa process

[00:08:37] being this like hero is charming really like brought it so it was like different parts of the

[00:08:44] movie were pointing to the same place and that was this this lens of seeing it through a fairy tale like

[00:08:52] first doctor. And then you got the perfect voice to narrate that is the Belarus Alini

[00:09:02] was that was that similar to Zelda where you just like oh let's see if we can let's

[00:09:06] send her the script and she was like yes absolutely 100 percent I love that yeah there are some

[00:09:14] so many little details in this movie that I absolutely love about Alejandro and yeah

[00:09:23] that like and the reason why they're both 100 percent yes to this like first time director

[00:09:30] I think it's because they're of the mindset that they don't like they don't graduate away from

[00:09:36] making small interesting risks that is why they are in the business you know it's not

[00:09:44] it's not like all they paid their dues with this kind of movie and now I work something else

[00:09:49] it's like no this is the kind of work that they they're interested in making. That's why they

[00:09:53] are the queens that they are and that we love them for. Yeah so much of Alejandro seems like it is

[00:10:02] you that it's really hard to envision someone else playing this part did you always see yourself

[00:10:09] playing Alej? Yes and no I definitely wrote it like asked if it were me but then when I started

[00:10:19] thinking about directing it I was like maybe it shouldn't be me but then it's like who would it

[00:10:23] be and it just felt easier for me to do it? Were you worried during prep for this and then shooting

[00:10:29] that this was just too much at all at any point or did you did you find that it actually did sort of

[00:10:36] work really smoothly because it was all coming from you anyway. Yeah the latter I felt like

[00:10:44] it was actually easier that way. So just like fully enter it and not have to like piecemeal it.

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[00:11:24] Yeah and there are so many little details that you have put into Aley as a character

[00:11:29] that feels so little and real and I have to know because especially the one piece of hair

[00:11:36] that always goes the wrong way. I felt so seen I had the amount of like shit that I put in my hair to go

[00:11:46] so I have to like I had to like was that just in there because it's your hair and that's what always

[00:11:51] happens. So with this like a styling choice. It happens a lot so then I felt like oh that is

[00:12:00] signature so we should lean into that. Wonderful I felt so seen thank you.

[00:12:11] The little poetry of other individuals living in the apartment with Aley you have obviously

[00:12:19] the actors you got to play them are so distinctive and I assume these were all people you knew

[00:12:26] but when you were writing them how many bad roommate stories from your own life did you leave out?

[00:12:34] I mean here's the thing I don't think of them as bad roommate stories my friend my friend Spike

[00:12:39] who plays the the roommate it was my roommate for like seven years in an apartment like that

[00:12:47] and I think that Spike is playing a version of themselves before we got close before we became

[00:12:56] the really really close friends that we are now when they were sort of like in their own world

[00:13:02] and I was in my own world and there was a wall dividing us but also just like you know adopted

[00:13:08] some caricature mannerisms from annoying people that we know. But I don't think that the

[00:13:17] roommate situation is annoying in fact like I to me the tragedy is that Alejandra doesn't feel

[00:13:26] like he can just sit on that couch and hang out with him that he feels like he has to put his life

[00:13:32] on hold that he can't go to that party that he can't like do all these things and there is actually

[00:13:38] a world for him they're ready to embrace him but he's just not in a place where he's ready to do that.

[00:13:46] Yeah and I think that that was one of the little the story be that really added something to the world

[00:13:52] of this film and you have a lot of things that you have him in the roommates and the situation

[00:13:57] there and the whole side story with his mother's art piece that is coming up and you have a lot

[00:14:04] of these things in there to flesh out Alejandra's world and the you know everything else that's

[00:14:10] going on. Did you ever worry that it was too much for one film or that you needed to expand something

[00:14:18] like how did you feel comfortable with where you were at? Not worried but maybe aware

[00:14:25] that that is my instinct is to like it's to be more and I think that that is a little bit has a

[00:14:35] little bit to do with not taking for granted the chance that I got to make the movie so it's sort

[00:14:41] of like it behooves me to put as much as I can because I don't know I don't know I'm not like

[00:14:49] the chances that I would be able to do something like this were so unlikely

[00:14:53] so I don't want to like blow this by playing it really safe. So yeah it is a lot and but that is

[00:15:04] that is the mindset of the spirit and the mood I wanted to have at the time. Yeah well I love

[00:15:09] that you said let's we got this one opportunity let's go for broke let's do everything. Yeah

[00:15:14] I wish more filmmakers would do that. You know I want to come back this is it's premiering a year

[00:15:23] after it's coming to theaters a year after you premiered it and over the course of that year

[00:15:30] the discussion about migrant issues and immigration I feel like has been coming increasingly

[00:15:37] loud over that year do you think that now that it turned out that now is actually a better time

[00:15:45] for this film to have been released. I mean I'm pretty uncomfortable thinking of like dire political

[00:15:54] the human toll of that being in any way a better time for a product to come out but I given

[00:16:06] that that is what happens given that those are sort of like the cards that we've being dealt I

[00:16:13] I hope to give some perspective and I hope to encourage curiosity and because I think the

[00:16:20] curiosity is the gateway to empathy and just guide people into thinking about the other and into

[00:16:28] questioning the rules and the systems that are keeping so many people suffering and not just

[00:16:34] want to like help people win the game and and in questioning the game to begin with which is I think

[00:16:39] we're all the hundred struggle is that he he doesn't just he starts out wanting to just like win the

[00:16:46] good board game but then halfway through playing he's like why is any of this here. Yeah it's how

[00:16:54] he sort of realizes that the game is if not exactly rigged is perhaps more difficult than any

[00:17:04] reasonable person. Well it's expected too. Big thing as much as if you play by the rules

[00:17:09] then you are bound to lose. Yeah and like you know when you're like a playing for like

[00:17:17] college in the US and there it's like oh like you have to like cobble together where you're

[00:17:23] going to get your various scholarships right this little lesson here right this and jump to

[00:17:27] tell the group right here do a little dance right here for like 100 bucks a thousand bucks and

[00:17:31] and then it's like why does it cost that much to begin with. Why do I have to find other places

[00:17:37] to pay for this why is it so expensive to begin with and I think that's that's the the state of mind

[00:17:42] that I'll find something. And it's a powerful one to and it's one that I think you put in

[00:17:49] you put the audience in his shoes really really well with these sequences and then even a year after

[00:17:57] the one visual from this that I remembered was those office doors that he kept having to climb through

[00:18:04] and I just think of that every time now whenever I think of specifically the issue of a United States

[00:18:10] visa but with any bureaucracy now like that is the image because that's what it feels like. Yeah

[00:18:17] yeah it's a wonderful thing we are coming up on the end of our time together soon but before

[00:18:24] we go I did have to ask you know like because again like there's so much time so many things have

[00:18:30] happened since you premiered this movie and I'm just wondering how upset were you that deceitful

[00:18:36] diva Barbie was not featured in credit girl wigs Barbie movie I think I think she was too much of a threat.

[00:18:44] Yes too much of a threat yeah yeah she's kind of she's kind of giving straight to DVDs equal to the

[00:18:53] Barbie movie. Bill and industry to DVDs equal yes I am here for that.

[00:19:04] Julia thank you so much again for joining us today what can we look forward to next from you

[00:19:11] what are you working on oh my god well I'm working on getting people to see this movie and

[00:19:18] I'm at the same time finishing post-production on a HBO special sketch show thing it's gonna

[00:19:30] I don't even know what to call it it's gonna come out this year so like truly the emails are

[00:19:35] partly not regarding me needing to get to back to work on that so yeah yeah you can't wait

[00:19:41] to see it thank you for your through a thank you Leo for the lunch thank you everyone thank you

[00:19:48] so much for listening to Dan Bares interview with the writer director producer and star of the film

[00:19:53] problemista who will tour us here on the next best picture podcast problemista is now playing

[00:19:59] in theaters from 824 you have been listening to the next best picture podcast we are proud to be

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[00:20:26] much for listening as always we will see you all next time

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