Marisa Tomei on 'The Wrestler' and The Stripper

The Oscar buzz is heady for the newest film from Darren Aronofsky, The Wrestler, which stars Mickey Rourke as Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a broken-down wrestler staging one last comeback that could kill him. Marisa Tomei, who has already been nominated for a Golden Globe for her role, plays Cassidy, a stripper and a working mother that tries to reject Randy's romantic advances. She talks to Premiere about researching her role in strip clubs, fake nipple rings, and people who make their living with their bodies.

Could you talk about your research and talking to strippers?

I talked to a bunch of different girls and a bunch of different dancers. It wasn't like I sat and had big interviews with them or anything; we just went out, had some drinks, went to a bunch of clubs, watched a lot of dances, got some dances, brought some guy friends with me, brought some girl friends with me… It's like anything, any subculture. You get in there, and it's all individuals.

You had a lot to do with the costuming and the design of her clothes and the tattoos.

[There were] so many layers of having to find just the right thing because the script called for certain points where the Ram has to put money in my G-string, so I definitely had to be wearing a G-string -- I couldn't be wearing boy shorts. And I didn't really want to be topless in every single dance number because you wouldn't be anyway, because you start off with your bra on and even your little dress on sometimes, so I didn't see why I needed to do that, but there were certain things called for in the plot, and then I wanted to feel comfortable as her and I wanted it to be flattering…

The nipple rings were the most fun to settle on, actually.

Was that your idea or was that in the script?

No, that was my idea… They were clip-on. They were stuck on with eyelash glue and then kind of pinched on. It hurt a little bit.

And the tattoos, were those your idea too?

I don't remember. Darren and I definitely talked about it and at some point landed on that he wanted [her] to have a little bit of a harder look. He sent me a bunch of Suicide Girl magazines and they look great – the girls look great there – but they're like really punky and from kind of a different aesthetic than [Pam/Cassidy].

Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler

Courtesy of Fox Searchlight

Do you think the media, people who have interviewed you about this or about Before the Devil Knows You're Dead have been inordinately interested in the nudity that you've been doing?

Actually, I've been pleasantly surprised that it's all been treated really respectfully, and if anything, I've maybe noticed some of the women feeling kind of… empowered is too strong a word, but they feel connected somehow… It's just surprising to me, and it's a nice surprise. I mean, Mickey's character is nude, practically, the whole time, too. [laughs] Maybe it's just… that's the very essence of this whole thing, is that it's people who use their bodies for a living, and that's the theme…

I mean, dancing is like the most primal amazing creative expression that human beings have always done, so I think there's just something really beautiful about that idea, that the dancing itself is not tawdry to the dancer and there's a lot more complexity there than you'd think.

And it's really hard.

And it's really physically hard! Don't discount that. Really physically hard. That pole work is crazy hard; to be really good on that pole you have to be really strong.

It interesting that you say that a lot of the women you talked to feel empowered and interested and good about that, especially when you have gyms teaching strip classes.

I know! It's really successful for a reason.

Maybe because it's a good workout?

I think partly because it's a good workout and partly because it's 'cause your sexuality is powerful and it's been bastardized. The female body has just been objectified to a point of it not having its own power any more. And it gives you the power back.