Chapter 1: What experiences shaped Julio Torres' immigrant journey?
On NPR's Wildcard podcast, Julio Torres says he doesn't need to prove himself to anyone.
When someone makes me feel like I have to prove something to them, I just walk away.
Really?
I'm like, seek help.
Watch or listen to that Wildcard conversation on the NPR app or on YouTube at NPR Wildcard.
This is Fresh Air. I'm David Bianculli. Today's guest, Julio Torres, is a comic actor, director, and writer. You may have encountered him in several different venues. His comedy specials on HBO and Comedy Central, the short films he used to do on Saturday Night Live, his bits as a correspondent on The Tonight Show, and as a writer and actor on the HBO series Los Espookys.
In 2023, he made his debut as a movie director with Problemista, the satirical film he also wrote and in which he starred. In 2024, Julio Torres wrote, directed, and starred in Phantasmas, an absurdist comedy series on HBO Max. And now, Torres has a new TV special called Color Theories, which premiered last week on HBO Max.
In the fall of 2025, Torres performed Color Theories as a one-man off-Broadway show. The Hollywood Reporter called it a TED Talk masquerading as absurdist stand-up. Here's an early scene from Color Theories in which Torres defines a particular shade of the primary color blue.
Navy blue is the color of law and order. Navy blue is the color of having to create an account. Navy blue is the color of people that demand that you RSVP through the website, even though verbally you already told them that you're coming. It's like, well, are you coming? Yeah, I told you I'm coming. Well, you know, you have to create an account and do it through the website.
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Chapter 2: How did Julio Torres transition from a student visa to a work visa?
$43. Again, that's the policy, Mr. Martinez. That makes absolutely no sense. I distinctly recall making a cash deposit. And that deposit was flagged as potentially fraudulent, so it's on hold now. For your protection. Right. But then that hold made me overdraw. For your protection. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but do I seem protected right now? Why would he let this happen?
Why not just have my card get declined? That's not the way things work. But that is the way things should work. Otherwise, the bank is just benefiting from my misfortune. From the misfortune of people who can't afford to make any mistakes. From people who have no margin of error. It's policy. It is what it is. No. No. Look at me. Just look at me. I know that you can hear me.
I know that you can hear my voice when I tell you that I know that this is not your fault. You didn't do this. The bank did this. And there is no reason for you to be defending them to me. Please, please, at this point, I'm not even asking for my money back. I'm just asking for you to tell me that you agree with me, because I know that you do.
I know that there's still a person in there, and I know that she can hear me. Please. I stand with Bank of America.
Okay. Julio Torres, welcome to Fresh Air. I love the movie. Thank you for being here.
Thank you so much for having me.
You like magic realism. And what's happening in the scene, the scene kind of switches from reality to what's happening in his mind, like how he's experiencing the scene. And he's actually being kind of choked between the arms of a monster. while she's telling him that it's the bank policy and then finally shoots him.
So your film keeps kind of alternating between what's happening in reality and what Alejandro is actually experiencing. So I take it you like magic realism or fairy tales because it's also like a fairy tale, the kind of fairy tale where there's horrible things happening.
Yeah, I mean, it just happens to be the way that I am – comfortable and feel able to explain feeling and just sort of get to the truth of my experience. I don't sit down and think, oh, I want to write something that's fantastical. In fact, I tend to want to write something that's very grounded in reality. And these flourishes just sort of come out as a way of explaining that.
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Chapter 3: What challenges did Julio face in the immigration system?
In my experience, around $6,000, which includes the government fees, but also the fees for the lawyer that because it's such a complex system, you don't want to get rejected because you failed something wrong. And they certainly make it so you're dependent on lawyers. Yeah. So the film takes place during the time of me transitioning from a student visa to a work visa.
But even when I was moving on from a work visa to an artist visa, which is the last visa I had, part of the requirement was to show that I had a established career in the U.S. that warranted an artist visa.
But at the same time, I had to throw the needle of not making it seem like I had been working and making money as an artist because that would have been illegal because I didn't have an artist visa yet.
You had a student visa?
Originally, I came to the U.S. with a student visa, and then I had a work visa, and then I had to go from a work visa to an artist visa because under the work visa, I wasn't able to earn money as a stand-up comedian or writer or anything creative because that's not what the work visa is for.
Well, that does seem to be a catch-22. How did you get around that?
By showing a wealth of experience that had come for free, that had come from earning no money, which is sort of like the only way that you can thread that needle.
What'd you do for no money?
Oh, I mean, the irony of that is that it's not hard to establish a... a reputable career as an artist for no money.
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Chapter 4: How does Julio Torres define the term 'Problemista'?
And that is what I think makes the story very specific.
So I want to get to the title of your movie, which is Problemista. And I thought, like, I'm not sure if that's a real word or if it's a word that you made up, because it's a great word. So I actually looked it up in a few places, and... What it said was that it's a word for somebody who creates problems or solves problems, and it's especially used in chess.
But I was talking to you about this right before the interview started, and you said you didn't even know it was a word. You kind of made it up because it sounded like this is something that would be a word, and it described a lot of your movie. So tell me about Problemista from your perspective.
Yeah, I mean, to preface it, the road to finding a title for the movie was long. It had many titles during many different points, and none of them felt completely right. And then at one point, we were toying with the idea of calling it Problema. which is just literally means problem.
And then I just, I don't know, I just felt dread calling this movie problem because it just felt so dreary and that's not the tone of the movie at all. So then I was trying to find something a little bit more playful and I was thinking of what you would call someone in an artistic movement in Spanish, like a surrealist, this surrealista.
And then I thought, well, then maybe someone who creates art from problems is a problemista. So I just sort of made it up. And it sounds like, it almost sounds like the kind of thing that you'd make up in slang in El Salvador, sort of in the way that like, You know, you hear about people being fashionistas or maximistas.
It's like, oh, a problemista is someone who is attracted to problems or thrives within problems.
So Alejandro is both a problem creator and a problem solver. Though there's a whole lot he doesn't know how to do and he just kind of fakes his way through. Since this movie is about problem solvers and problem creators and people who make art out of problems, where are you on that spectrum?
I am someone who is certainly attracted to problems and ends up making work inspired by those problems.
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Chapter 5: What role does magic realism play in Julio's storytelling?
So continuing with the theme of Problemista, the Tilda Swinton character is a real problem creator. Her only way of relating is through arguing and making accusation. Her approach to life is to get what you want, become a problem. And part of her philosophy is always send back the food, right? So I want to play a scene where your character is in a restaurant with her.
And this is at the point where she's throwing all these problems at him to get a show for her late husband's paintings. And these are often insurmountable problems. So they're meeting at a restaurant. She's not going to sponsor him until he succeeds. So meanwhile, the waiter comes in and you both order salads. It's a goat cheese salad and you ask for it without the cheese.
And then you're finishing your salads when the waiter comes back. And that's where we pick up. And here's Tilda Swinton starting off.
Was there something wrong with your salad, Alejandro?
Oh, no. No, no, it's fine.
It's just I can't help noticing that they neglected to hold the cheese as we specifically asked them to.
Oh, I don't think you said no cheese. I'm sorry.
We did, and this young gentleman cannot eat cheese.
It's fine.
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Chapter 6: Why is Julio attracted to difficult people?
I think that it's almost like the artist's rite of passage in New York City, at least to wind up being... the assistant to so many people who are just so flustered by the fact that they haven't figured out so much. And I was a short-term assistant for so many people. Okay, so another part of me also identifying as a problemista is that I am very attracted to difficult people.
I don't see difficult people as nightmares to escape. I'm really drawn to them like a moth to a flame. And then there are more than a few that I came to really, really, really empathize with and appreciate. And I think that Tilda's character is rooted in that. And also...
To be completely fair about it, whenever I was an assistant, it was in the receiving end of the wrath of these art world egos. I also acknowledge that I was a very incompetent assistant. I have zero attention to detail and I can barely keep my own life on track. So the fact that I was ever... tasked with doing that for someone else is just a recipe for disaster.
Why do you think you're attracted to difficult people?
I don't know the why yet. I haven't gotten that far in therapy.
Julio Torres speaking to Terry Gross about his 2023 film Problemista. He has a new special on HBO Max called Color Theories, adapted from his one-man off-Broadway show. After a break, we'll continue their conversation. And film critic Justin Chang reviews the new film The Drama, starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson. I'm David Bianculli, and this is Fresh Air.
When we left off, Torres admitted to being attracted to difficult people like those in his film Problemista, and he said maybe because he's a bit difficult himself. That made me think of this clip from his 2017 Comedy Central stand-up special.
I'm sorry if I seem a little bit distracted. I just got my lab results back, and just as every doctor suspected... I'm simply too much.
I think that's hilarious.
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Chapter 7: How did Julio's upbringing influence his creative process?
So what was your inspiration for her look? Because Tilda Swinton usually looks kind of ethereal on screen. There's something almost like translucent about her.
The hair was one of the very first conversations we had. Talking about her hair was almost like... the icebreaker between Tilda and I and just became the road to becoming friends, like discussing the hair. First we talked color and we decided that she should have the kind of red hair that you see in the streets, but you rarely see in film because it's not a shade of red that anyone aims to get.
It's the shade of red that something wrong And then you ended up with that shade of red. It's almost like a little purpley. And then her haircut, the idea was that her haircut would be at odds with her hair texture. so that her hair was just constantly in a fight with itself.
And that really gave Tilda the fuel for the character of just imagining that every time that Elizabeth sees her reflection in the mirror, she's adjusting her bangs, she's adjusting the size of her fringes, and she gets so angry about the hairdresser who promised her that she would look exactly like the photo she showed her in a magazine.
We made this whole fantasy of like she walked away from the hair salon with all these products that she's supposed to use every day, but of course she doesn't. And then the look, we really wanted to capture that woman in the art scene, Lower East Side, with a hint of like groupie, who has good taste, but there's always something that's like a little off.
The mother in the film seems just like wonderful. She and the Alejandro character, your character, live in the countryside in El Salvador. And she builds like a fort for him. I should mention here that your actual mother is a designer and architect. So you grew up probably in a very visual world, which certainly serves you well as a filmmaker and as a comic.
Yeah, so early in the film, we see that the mother and son character have a bond and a relationship they're creating. And she creates this... little castle, which is interesting that you use the word fort because that is sort of the intention of it, is to keep him safe and sound and away from danger.
And this sort of magical little structure that's in the movie was designed by my mother, by my real mother.
Wow.
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Chapter 8: What themes are explored in Julio's film 'Problemista'?
And the very first time I did it was sort of like means to an end. The end being being a professional TV and film writer. And then I fell in love with performance. I fell in love with the world I accidentally wandered into. And I made a lot of friends in that world. And then the stand-up became a calling card for what I do now.
Julio Torres speaking to Terry Gross in 2024. More after a break. This is Fresh Air.
You know, I think that maybe not having a template for comedy, because you didn't really grow up with stand-up, helped you find a very original voice. Because it's not like you were imitating somebody since... Yeah.
I will say that the very, very first time I did an open mic in New York City. So one thing that I think that people who have never done a comedy open mic don't realize is that the audience in the open mic is just other comedians waiting to go up. There's no real audience. It's almost like a workshop.
And at the good open mics, everyone is very engaged in listening to each other and cheering each other on. At the very bleak ones, everyone's on their phone just killing time till they get to go up and be ignored. And the latter is the first ones I ever did. And in waiting to go up, I was just sort of like observing how people did it.
And I was like, okay, okay, you have six more people before you have to go up. You better learn how to make this fast. And then the first time I performed, I was sort of doing my impression of what I thought a stand-up comedian should be. And that didn't feel right. So then I just decided to ignore it after that.
And I think there's a learning curve with any discipline that you pick up where like the first couple of attempts, at least in my case, are crude impersonations of what you think that medium should be. And then I quickly give that up and just do the thing that I feel more comfortable in doing.
A lot of your stand-up comedy is based on giving personalities to objects and talking about colors and shapes. This is not your standard stand-up material. It's not about sex. It's not about neurosis. You impersonate a Brita filter in one of your bits. And I actually want to play another clip. And in this, you're talking about toys and stuff.
And I'm going to give away one of the punchlines because I think it's going to be a little hard to hear and you're not seeing it. So I'm just going to help out a little bit by saying this is about one of the Happy Meal toys that you saw and how it makes no sense to you. So here's a clip from my guest, Julio Torres, doing stand-up.
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