Marisa Tomei; she is the study of a career in reverse: early on, she won an Academy Award and widespread recognition. Now she's showing everyone what she can do

Interview, May, 2003 by Patrick Giles

PG: I've never thought of you as a Broadway musical-comedy star. How'd you get the part in Sweet Charity?

MT: After In the Bedroom opened, I did an interview with Diane Sawyer, and she got wind of my taking singing lessons and asked, "So which musical would you like to do?" I said "Sweet Charity!"--and one of the producers of Sweet Charity was watching, and their actress had just dropped out, so they called me. It was like a mitzvah!

PG: It's one of the richest female characters in a Broadway show.

MT: Yes! The role has a lot of heartbreak, a lot of pain, in it. Here is this whore who's talking about love and who wants to have a voice in the world.

PG: Speaking of pain, how are your dancing skills?

MT: [laughs] My tap needs a lot of brushing up. Let's say I'm pacing myself--I have to get on a really strong schedule, like I'm training for the Olympics. Charity was written for a dancer [Gwen Verdon]; actually, that's another good thing about the part, because it has great songs but not a huge vocal range.

PG: What else are you still hoping to get out of acting?

MT: There are some other plays on my mind to do, but what I'm still looking for is that really witty, wiseass, sexy role in film. I just don't see that around. In a way, "the broad," the Barbara Stanwyck role, has been lost--like Stanwyck in Ball of Fire [1941], this woman who's really lived!

PG: I wonder if that's what Nicole Kidman was asking for when she appealed for better parts for women in her acceptance speech at this year's Golden Globe Awards. It seems like half the world--the women's world--is barely visible in movies nowadays.

MT: Exactly. Bring back the broad! Please!

RELATED ARTICLE: Marisa Tomei wears a dress by TOM FORD FOR YVES SAINT LAURENT RIVE GAUCHE. Ring by LE BAISER DU DRAGON BY CARTIER.

Patrick Giles is Interview's Associate Editor. Dress by ROSSELLA TARABINI FOR ANNA MOLINARI. Shoes by CESARE PACIOTTI. In this story: Cosmetic colors by LANCOME. Styling: J. ERRICO. Hair: CEMAL/Sally Harlor. Makeup: FULVIA FAROLFI. Special thanks: STUDIO ONE, New York; Digital Capture and Retouching by Shootdigital.