| Marisa Tomei Makes Sure We Know She's There In Sidney Lumet's Latest |
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| Written by Brad Balfour | |
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 Marisa Tomei as Gina in "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" has a love affiar with both brothers (Hoffman and Hawke) must be really hard on a girl Q: If you could write the ending to your character's life story, perhaps a few months into the future, what would you write? MT: I don't know. I think if Phil was alive, she would end up back with him. I don't think she has a lot of fortitude or discipline or strength of character. She'll probably leech onto some other guy. Q: Do you enjoy having that challenge of getting into a character that you might not like? MT: Yeah, actually, I prefer her rather than the saccharine things that have come my way. That's usually the big challenge, to play those cutie pies that repulse me. Q: It’s easier to play the bad girl? MT: Yes. Q: Can you see yourself doing that in real life? MT: (laughs) Which? I've already commented on that. Q: How does Sidney work in terms of you guys, with rehearsals? MT: He just kind of sets the table. He likes us to be together. We didn't do things like go to dinner, but we had the rehearsal time. We had two weeks in a room together, and we got to hang out. A lot of work gets done that way. It's nice that he brought that aspect of theater stuff into his filmmaking. We felt kind of at ease with that because we were used to rehearsal rooms, we like rehearsal rooms...I don't smoke, but I would go out with them when they would smoke because I know that's when most of the best conversation happens. The bonding [laughs]. Q: It's a good thing they don't do drugs. MT: Yeah [laughs]. Q: What intrigued you about Sidney's direction? MT: I think his passion is the most dominant thing. His intelligence, his wisdom, his natural inspiration, is all wrapped up in this very passionate man who loves what he does. He loves the characters; he's intrigued with every character. I really felt like he put himself into my character's shoes. It's really rare for a male director or any director to think about "What's inside her?" He was just taking on my character. He loves actors, he's known for that. But he takes it to that level where he puts himself in every character. He writes the history, and takes care of the character. Q: Do you have a favorite Sidney Lumet film? MT: This one! (laughs) But if I had to chose, I'll go with "Dog Day Afternoon." Q: You're doing a play now right? MT: Yeah, I'm doing a new Will Eno play, I'm really excited about it. He did "Tom Paine" two years ago and now he's doing this one called "Oh, the Humanity." © Brad Balfour 2007 |
