Maybe there is something that you’re able to take away from the nightmare, he tellsVogue.
I came here in pursuit of being a filmmaker, says Torres.
I used the tools that I had at my disposalnot a ton of money and not very good grades.
Julio Torres inProblemista.
So I screwed up.
We first met in 2010 as writing majors and student workers at the universitys Welcome Center.
I thought, I dont know how, but I intend to make the best of this.
Tilda Swinton and Torres inProblemista
I meet Torres again in early March for a Friday-night screening ofProblemistaat an AMC in Los Angeles.
What, if anything, did you pull from that experience in writing this movie?
Julio Torres:When we met, I very much wanted to be a film or TV writer.
You have to want to know how.
I was a miserable tour guide.
I didnt hate it, but I was just not good at it.
That became a pattern for my postcollege years.
When I graduated, I was begging them to keep me on staff.
They needed international students for the gigit made them seem very cosmopolitan.
Can I tell people you gave Sofia Vergara a tour?
She wont remember it.
International students were a population they were trying to attract.
But there is a narrow window of jobs that you are allowed to take as an international student.
You could not take any off-campus job, but you could only take three kinds of jobs.
So even though I was bad at it, I was very grateful to have it.
I thought, At least Im in the right place.
Im in New York.
How did that become a cornerstone of your writing?
The New School is definitely an island of misfit toys!
I remember telling my roommate, God, were all just a bunch of dented cans on sale here.
Protagonists who are unusual protagonists.
Despite what American studios consider the most marketable immigrant storiesi.e.
feel-good storiesreal immigrant stories are not one-size-fits-all.
But if theres anything that connects immigrants here, it is the Kafka-esque bureaucracy of staying in the US.
How did you come to find levity in something that can be so devastating to others?
Thats just how I see life!
Its how I process it.
I think I made something that feels emotionally honest and isnt righteous or didactic.
Its just life as I experience it.
That gave it the twists and turns.
You could see that that character was just so torn [about charging an overdraft fee].
So its either her or him.
But we meet her as the problemista, or someone who makes trouble.
Sheisthe problemista referenced in the films title, right?
Theyre both the problem!
Alejandro is choosing the hardest route.
And he could always say, What am I doing?
But he doesnt want that.
They both have this addiction to problems.
I do like that theyre both the problem!
I think Alejandro finds some valuable things to learn from her.
What can the rest of us learn from the prickly people in the world?
In Elizabeth, Alejandro sees a challenge.
Hes drawn to it.
And I think you’re able to learn from someone without taking their totality.
Im not saying she isnt a nightmare; she definitely is a nightmare!
But maybe there is something that you could take away from the nightmare.
Eventually, thats how Alejandro gets what he needs.
In working on this film, you and Tilda developed this beautiful friendship.
At what point did you feel really connected with her as a person?
It was really our first Zoom.
It was just so funny.
Working with her felt as comfortable as working with my friends.
I kept seeing red for her.
And I know that shes spiky.
And then Tilda brought up the texture.
Its like the worst of all worlds.
This lady chose the hardest thing and is also the least equipped to handle it.
Thats how deeply you develop your charactershers just rips through every moment onscreen.
Did you write some of these gags as you were shooting?
I wrote her in as pecking manically at an iPad.
So production design asked, What kind of pictures would this lady have on an iPad?
I was like, Surprise me.
And so they really, really nailed itshe has a bunch of pictures from a museum.
And maybe a parrot she saw once in a garden.
And she is…an exotic bird of a person.
Shes an exotic bird!
I do want to talk about shifting into a director role.
Youve come up as a very skilled writer and comedian.
You played the blue-haired heir to a chocolate fortune inLos Espookys.
What made you decide to take the roles of both lead actoranddirector in your first feature film?
I knew I wanted to be a director, but I thought, Maybe its too soon.
For [Problemista], we were having a hard time thinking of an appropriate directorial choice.
Tilda was one of the main motivatorsshe told me the most exciting choice would be if I did it.
That choice helped the movie [become] its truest self.
I dont know if its thebestmovie, but its the most honest movie that way.
This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
