Marisa Tomei, who is attending the Red Sea Film Festival in Saudi Arabia this week, is looking for film and stage roles that address the themes confronting women in the post #MeToo era, she tells Variety.
Tomei, who won the 1993 Oscar for best actress in a supporting role for “My Cousin Vinny” and received Oscar nominations in the same category for “In the Bedroom” in 2002 and “The Wrestler” in 2009, plays an outspoken psychologist in Ann Marie Allison’s debut feature “You’re Dating a Narcissist!” The film will hit the festival circuit early next year. Allison recently wrote the screenplay for Jocelyn Moorhouse’s “The Fabulous Four,” starring Susan Sarandon and Bette Midler.
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Tomei explains that the story for “You’re Dating a Narcissist!” revolves around a mother-daughter relationship. “My character is a psychologist who is trying to warn her daughter about this prevalent syndrome. She’s a pop writer whose book has really taken off, appearing on talk shows. It’s like one of those zeitgeist moments, where people focus on a particular mental illness and at present it happens to be narcissism.”
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Tomei is also in discussions with Italian filmmaker Marco Calvani to put together a new project after executive producing and starring in his queer immigrant drama “High Tide,” about a Brazilian tourist in legal limbo.
Tomei was previously an executive producer on the documentaries “Lakota Nation vs. United States” (2022) and “Seed: The Untold Story” (2016).
“Working as an executive producer is quite natural for me, because these are projects that I really believe in and want to support. It gives me more hands-on control of the projects,” she says. “When it’s a narrative film, it also gives me a lot more voice in the process. For example, when playing a character in the film I’m able to keep an eye on her in a different way.”
In terms of possible roles on her radar, Tomei explains that she’s interested in key issues confronting women’s lives at present. She’s currently performing in Jessica Goldberg’s “Babe” at New York’s Pershing Square Signature Center, in which she plays record producer Abby, who works with a senior producer (Arliss Howard) whose values are challenged by the new A&R hire (Gracie McGraw).
“It’s basically about how three different generations approach post #MeToo feminism, or how women are treated in the workplace and what kind of credit they get,” she says. “It’s basically a primal scream — it’s like one long primal scream!”
She explains that McGraw’s character is confronting themes of artistic value versus commercial value, and feels that Tomei’s character hasn’t gotten due credit for her achievements.
“At one point she says, ‘I want to burn the place down.’ Her character makes many good points and I’m actually on her side. But she forgets what it took for a character from my generation to even get into the position that she’s in,” Tomei says. “Then there’s the boss, who is so privileged but is really charming and has championed some women but has also taken all the credit and not paid them properly.”
Talking about her visit to Jeddah for the Red Sea festival, she says that it’s been an eye-opener for her: “I’ve learned about how a lot of the old buildings are being restored in a very elegant manner, with a lot of integrity, and also the 40% tax rebate scheme for film projects, which I think will attract more projects here. It’s a very exciting place where just under 65% of the population is under 30 — which gives it great energy!”
