Julio Torres’s New Queer Comedy Problemista, Starring Tilda Swinton, To Premiere This Month
Image: Screengrab and Instagram
Queer comedian, actor, and filmmaker Julio Torres’s feature film directorial debut Problemista will be released in theatres on March 22.
‘Aspiring Toy Designer From El Salvador, Struggling To Bring His Unusual Ideas To Life’
Starring Torres and Tilda Swinton, the official synopsis for Problemista reads, “Alejandro [Torres] is an aspiring toy designer from El Salvador, struggling to bring his unusual ideas to life in New York City. As time on his work visa runs out, a job assisting an erratic art-world outcast [Swinton] becomes his only hope to stay in the country and realise his dream.”
Problemista also stars RZA (The Dead Don’t Die), Isabella Rossellini (Death Becomes Her), Larry Owens (Abbott Elementary), Catalina Saavedra (The Maid), Greta Lee (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse), James Scully (You).
‘I Hate Seeing How Glossy New York City Can Be Sometimes On TV. Give Me Stains!’
Speaking to the Associated Press about filming in New York, Torres said, “I just really wanted to stay true to my lived experience in New York, not New York as backdrop, not New York as might as well be any other place, but the specifics of living here because it just really, really, really contextualizes the way that people behave in the every-man-for-himself attitude that a lot of the characters have.”
In an interview with the W Magazine, Torres said he told “wardrobe, hair, and makeup during Problemista, I was like, ‘No perfect foundation, no blowouts, no hair gel, unless we’re making a comment about someone wearing too much hair gel’. I wanted wrinkly clothes, everything as real as possible. I hate seeing how glossy New York City can be sometimes on TV. Give me stains! Please, just make it feel natural!”
Former Writer On ‘Saturday Night Live’
Torres wrote for sketch comedy and variety show Saturday Night Live from 2016 to 2019.
While there he wrote many sketches with cast member Bowen Yang.
One of the more notable was the Sara Lee sketch starring Harry Styles. Other sketches written by Torres include, ‘Papyrus’ and ‘Wells for Boys’.
In 2019, Torres, alongside Ana Fabrega and Fred Armisen, co-created and starred in the Spanish-language horror comedy series Los Espookys on HBO.
In December, after two seasons, Los Espookys was cancelled.
Problemista will be released on March 22.
