Entertainment, Movies - Army Times

Oscar winner Marisa Tomei tackles a challenging role in “The Wrestler’

Marisa Tomei won an Oscar for her role as Joe Pesci’s sassy, streetwise fiancee in “My Cousin Vinny.” But she’s been making more of a name for herself in smaller, independent movies of late, such as “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead,” “War, Inc.” and “The Wrestler,” which opened recently.

She plays Cassidy, an aging stripper, and yes, she strips — her performance includes a lap dance and a lengthy dance sequence in which she leaves little to the imagination. She talked about that recently, as well as working with co-star Mickey Rourke, who plays an aging wrestler.

Question: Cassidy is a tricky role, not only because you have to take off your clothes but because you have to play an aging woman as well. Any hesitation on your part?

Answer: That was something I was really interested in. I felt like I could bring the experience of my actual life, just my years, more to bear. I didn’t have to do things that were going to try to make me look younger. Not even look, that’s not the point — act younger, act less worldly. I kind of was into that part of it.

Q: You weren’t worried about being cast as “aging?” You’re only 44.

A: I thought about it. But I also knew that there was a strong parallel between my character and Mickey’s character, which was that we both love what we’re doing when we’re doing it, the wrestling and the dancing. Maybe the rest of it is not so good for our souls, but there’s something in the actual thing that we’re doing that we’re good at. ... I also knew that it was still a role with dignity and not just about being decrepit, which would have been interesting anyway but it wasn’t what I was being asked to do.

Q: Were you comfortable with the nudity?

A: I had asked (director Darren Aronofsky) a lot of questions ahead of time — how much nudity do we really need? I wanted it to be as minimal as possible. We talked about that. He just assured me over and over, anything that you need to feel comfortable I will do. I did not want to be nude in the very first scene, because I didn’t think it was necessary. You give a lap dance, a lot of times you have your bra and panties on anyway. So it didn’t have to be that I was at that point at the lap dance. But he felt like we have to establish it out of the gate, so that the world is real. We don’t want it to be like, “OK, it’s a movie.” I just thought, “But why?”

We shot it both ways. He said I’ll leave the decision to you. And that was very wise of him because at that point, by the time that we had finished shooting, I never even thought about, “Oh, let me decide.” The trust was established. But what he did by giving me that freedom was to make me not feel pressured into doing something that I did not want to do.

Q: Aronofsky shot the film with hand-held cameras. Was that awkward or hard to get used to?

A: No. There’s nothing that physical, except in the dancing and wrestling scenes. That did take some getting used to, and that’s why we did that dance 26 times, because it had to be so precision perfect. It wasn’t just that (the cameraman) was only with me. I’m going around, I’m spinning, I’m on the floor, I’m up, I’m halfway up, on this side of the stage, on that side of the stage. He had to become familiar with the layout. We had to do it in a way that I wasn’t going to crash into him when I was about to swing my leg or anything. ... There were times when he’d sweat on the floor and then I’d go down and do a move on the floor and I was basically rolling around in the sweat. It was kind of ... (laughs).

Q: There is a lot of talk about this being a big comeback role for Rourke. How was he to work with?

A: He was a sweetheart. We just got to work, did our jobs. He’s funny, he’s charming, he’s loose. He’s in his skin. It’s great to be around him.

Q: You’ve gotten a lot of interesting roles at a time when — it sounds almost silly to say this — a lot of women your age can’t. You’re not exactly ...

A: One-hundred? Methuselah? I’m happy that I got to be in this film and the last couple of films. I’m happy that I’ve gotten to do a lot of great plays over the years. I just think it’s an annoying pabulum that has circulated, that people, like, die at a certain age. I’m irritated hearing it. What is the big deal? I’m not that old, and people are very, very, very creative way late into their life. Hopefully we all can continue to grow, keep ourselves challenged, keep looking for new things.