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Comedian-writer-actor-director Julio Torres has created some of the most visually identifiable comedies of the past five years.
Torress creations are full of fantastical set pieces, but the worlds somehow remain both grounded and tactile.
The show is a work in progress, but even just the idea makes sense within Torress larger worldview.
Whats black and white and read all over?
This Q&A, found below.
What is your first color memory?Can I rephrase the question?
However you want.What is the first color that made an impression on me?
That is a beautiful question.
Thank you for asking that question in that way.
Two colors come to mind.
One, I had a T-shirt that was purple that my mother painted a little silver train on.
Another color that I remember was my Barbies dress.
We made her a sort of risque, translucent, red little number and pasties.
She was very empowered.
What stood out to you about the T-shirt and the dress?They were very deliberate.
They were very non-passive colors.
They are both connected to something that I explored inProblemista: my lifelong visual collaborations with my mom.
This set was designed by my real mother.
Shes an architect by trade, and shes always been a designer.
She makes the clothes that she wears.
She used to make the clothes that I wore, the furniture in our house.
When I meet someone who I really like, I want to make something with them.
Sometimes my brain doesnt compute when I meet someone who I really like whos a lawyer.
How did you dress?I started doing stand-up during the time period that I basedProblemistaon.
At that time this is not in the movie I decided that I should only wear black.
The way I phrased it to my friends was I havent earned color yet.
If I start wearing color, Ill just be coasting.
It felt like using a credit card when I dont have enough money.
How do you think that affected audiences perception of you?I dont think it did, actually.
I dont think that people thought much about it.
It is New York, you know?
Many people wear black.Many people wear black.
What color was your hair at the time?My natural hair, which is black.
I was this utilitarian little robot.
Thats when I started being vegan, which I still am.
Now I want to reflect.Then, I bleached my hair to almost white.
Why was that the palette?I only ever wrote atSNL, but its where I shadowed directors.
I worked almost exclusively with Dave McCary, who ended up producingProblemistaalong with Emma Stone.
He was excited to work with me because I was a visual writer.
This sketch is an anomaly in that Dave did not direct it; this was Oz Rodriguez.
The premise is that Emma plays a very emotionally raw actress who feels deeply for all her characters.
and then she walks away while the men keep having sex.
In the sketch, she keeps trying to find her footing as her character.
She gives her a name, Dierdre, and she keeps adding lines.
And here, she gets teary-eyed catching her husband and godson, and she says, I forgive you.
In terms of the color, its very sad, right?
Because were seeing the world through her eyes.
I love finding actors who are not mannequins.
TV likes brunettes, blondes, and redheads, right?
Because thats a way of quickly defining a character.
This is so real and you’ve got the option to imagine that she did her hair.
Theres something very sad about her.
That same year, you releasedMy Favorite Shapes.
This is the first time we saw you with dyed hair.
Is there a line between what youre interested in artistically and how you are physically?Oh, no.
I had a lot of clear furniture at the time.
Theres no off-duty me.
Then, inLos Espookys, blues and greens come up a lot.
Hes sort of princely, but theres an edge to him.
They buy Gucci loafers.
Ana and I arent really drawn to gore.
Were more drawn to this campy, mystery,Death Becomes Heraesthetic.
It became theatrical and campy and a sandbox for us to play with ideas.
I saw it as Anas, Freds, and my little sandcastle that we were building together.
So we brought in our interests and we plugged them into this world that we had created.
I didnt really bring in my artistic agenda.
It felt freeing to inhabit spaces that I would really not like to be in.
In 2023, you directed, wrote, and starred inProblemista.
What were the defining colors to you for that movie?I almost think ofProblemistaas a live-action anime.
Hes doneThe SquareandTriangle of Sadness, and his lens is a little cold, which I liked.
I actually went to Gothenburg, Sweden, to work on the color correction in person.
What were you trying to amp up?The shiny quality.
We kept sitting together and wed talk.
Im like, More shiny.
What does more shiny mean?Oh, its beautiful.
We did that to my eyes in that scene.
Can we make my eyes sparkle when I see her?
The sparkle goes up and then down when he sees her.
Alejandro wears a lot of blue because hes desperately trying to project order.
Hes desperately trying to project that I got my act together.
And shes wearing red because shes danger, shes the predator.
Is the red meant to be her characters natural hair color?No, no.
No one wants to be a burgundy red.
So its very manic.
We talked about haira lot.
It was one of the first collaborative conversations we had.
The color and the silhouettes of her clothes were inspired by medieval dragons.
Theres scales on that coat that we saw.Shes very reptilian.
Hes very wide-eyed and very optimistic, and he has a very can-do attitude.
Something weird happened with what I was doing and I started evoking a lot of Tildas character in mine.
Hes a very disordered, disorganized, cacophonous version of me, which Ive been leaning into, honestly!
I cant wait to be a senile curmudgeon artist.
I feel like I will wear that very well.
Heres a gorgeous shot fromFantasma, but its a little overwhelming.
They feel hazy, like theyre dreams or something.
And, obviously, color and the cinematography was a big part of that.
I do want to get toColor Theories.Youre currently touring it.
Its such a work in progress,sucha work in progress.
Its seeds of ideas and thoughts on colors, and Im seeing where, if anywhere, that goes.
What do you wear to talk about colors?I know, yeah.
I see Ive hit a nerve!No, no.
I havent reached the perfect answer to that question because I dont want to be biased.
I think Im just gonna find all-black clothes, which is a very imperfect answer to that question.
Theres a lot I dont know.
