By Gary M. Kramer–
In writer/director Amalia Ulman’s deadpan, shaggy dog comedy, Magic Farm, opening May 2 in the Bay Area, bisexual actor Joe Apollonio charms as Justin, a sound man for a documentary series. The producer, Jeff (Alex Wolff), mistakenly sends the team—which includes Justin as well as the show’s host Edna (Chloë Sevigny) and cinematographer Elena (Ulman)—to San Cristóbal, Argentina, when the story the crew is chasing is actually elsewhere in Latin America. To compensate for their error, they decide to fake a documentary using the locals they encounter, which creates its own challenges. Meanwhile, they ignore a more serious issue affecting the town.
Apollonio, who has mostly appeared in various short films and episodic TV, is an engaging screen presence in Magic Farm. Watching the not-too-bright Justin get taken advantage of by a local store owner, or flirt with the unnamed hotel receptionist (Guillermo Jacubowicz), is amusing. And he rocks his vintage costumes.
I recently chatted with the actor for the San Francisco Bay Times about his career and making Magic Farm.
Gary M. Kramer: What appealed to you about this project, and playing Justin?
Joe Apollonio: I was attached to this film from the get-go. Amalia had seen my skits on Instagram, and she thought I was funny and pitched Magic Farm to me. This was in late 2020. It wasn’t an instance of getting the script before shooting and mulling it over. I helped her create my character. I can relate to Justin in that I’ve been in these flirtations and relationships that are ultimately star-crossed. Love can feel so intense when you can’t have it. I relate to Justin’s situation where he is flirting with a man he can’t have because of these miscommunications, from the language barrier to the receptionist not knowing that Justin is gay. That hasn’t happened to me specifically, though.
Gary M. Kramer: What backstory did you give Justin?
Joe Apollonio: It wasn’t too far from my real life—absent dad, dominating, strong-willed mom. I envisioned him feeling like he’s on the outside looking in in almost every social circle in his life, especially at his current job. His friendship with Elena is a reprieve from that. He dropped out of college, but I graduated.
Gary M. Kramer: I understand there was very little improvisation, but you get a running joke about using the bathroom, and some other deadpan comic exchanges. Can you talk about your comic timing and creating the dynamic you had with your ensemble costars?
Joe Apollonio: Everyone really brought their own thing. I just honed in on what the other actors were doing, and I listened to them and just reacted. I wanted to be authentic in front of the camera. I stuck to the script about 90% of the time. There were a few scenes, the ensemble scenes, where we got to play around a bit more and get off script. The dynamics you saw on screen were reflective of the dynamics off-screen. Amalia is one of my closest friends. I met Simon [Rex, who plays Dave, the series’ producer] and Alex [Wolff] and the three of us hit it off immediately. We are all 12-year-old-boys stuck in adult men’s bodies. Chloe and I got along, but I had admired her from afar for so long. There’s a timidness with my approach with her character than other members of the ensemble. The first time I met Chloë, I was bar backing at a restaurant in 2013, and I had to serve her hot water for tea. I was so star struck my hands were shaking as I was pouring hot water.
Gary M. Kramer: Justin and the documentary crew are consistently encountering problems in San Cristobal. He is not always bright, but he seems to maintain a mostly sunny disposition. How do you think Justin handles chaos, and how would you behave in a similar situation?
Joe Apollonio: I was reading some initial reviews, and everyone wrote, “Justin is kind of dumb but charming.” Justin and I have some similarities. I’m a bit more cynical than he is. How would I handle this situation? I would probably be a bit panicked and pissed off at whomever was responsible for us traveling that far for no reason, but ultimately, I would think, “Well, I am here, we only live once, let’s try to have a good time and make the most of it,” which is not far off from Justin. It’s such a long flight, I would not want to go back to New York right away. Let me chill out and have a good time before I go home.
Gary M. Kramer: Magic Farm is about embracing difference and being weird as well as cultural appropriation. Justin does both with his wardrobe, which provides him with a cultural identity, and the series. What observations do you have about Justin’s appropriating culture?
Joe Apollonio: He is definitely inspired by the ‘70s in how he dresses. Appropriating fashions from the past and being nostalgic aren’t problematic. It’s different than going overseas and fetishizing a trend from different races. Then there is that whole discussion of classism. Magic Farm gets into that in how these Westerners are so much more privileged than the people who live in this Argentine town.
Gary M. Kramer: Is the documentary show celebrating or satirizing these cultures they are filming?
Joe Apollonio: I think these characters probably thought they were celebrating these other cultures until they were in this situation where they had to fabricate a story. That uncovers their deep, satirical viewpoint of other cultures. It’s a spotlight on American ignorance as a whole. The other part of it is that the joke—and what makes it sad—is that there is a pressing real life environment issue in front of them, but they are so focused on fabricating a stupid, fake fashion trend that they ignore it.
Gary M. Kramer: Justin tries to woo the hotel receptionist, putting a mic on him in one scene and helping him wash dishes shirtless. What are your thoughts about Justin’s attraction to the receptionist? Why does he go after him?
Joe Apollonio: I’m bi, and I have always been attracted to people who are a different type—whether they are older, or with men, a little bigger. I have never been attracted to people who are my mirror image. Justin is looking for the antithesis of himself aesthetically and visually. That can be really sexy. There is a real beauty to Guillermo, the actor who plays the receptionist. He has the most childlike, beautiful eyes. There is a kindness and a warmth to him. Justin, not having a proper father figure in his life, would find a man like that attractive, especially seeing how much the receptionist loves and treats his son. He is not getting validation from Edna or Dave.
Gary M. Kramer: You have mostly made short films and episodic TV. This is your second feature. Do you find you are drawn to playing queer roles, or do you fear being pigeonholed, which is often a concern for gay actors?
Joe Apollonio: Even the stuff I’ve done on TV has been gay or queer-coded. I don’t have any issue being pigeonholed as a queer actor as long as there are roles that challenge the way that we think and navigate our world. I wouldn’t want to play a character who is heteronormatively gay unless it’s super funny and spotlighted on his shortcomings. I would love to play roles that are much different than who I am in real life. It’s easy to get cast in roles that are extensions of who you are. If you are lucky, you can become someone else. I like roles that are departures from who I am. I did a guest star on FBI, where I played the CEO of a tech company with a wife and two kids. It was easier when you have nothing in common with the character, because you can start everything from scratch.
© 2025 Gary M. Kramer
Gary M. Kramer is the author of “Independent Queer Cinema: Reviews and Interviews,” and the co-editor of “Directory of World Cinema: Argentina.” He teaches Short Attention Span Cinema at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute and is the moderator for Cinema Salon, a weekly film discussion group. Follow him on X @garymkramer
Film
Published on April 24, 2025
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