-Our next guest is an Academy Award-winning actress
you know from films such as "My Cousin Vinny,"
"The Wrestler," and "In The Bedroom."
She returns as Aunt May in "Spider-Man: No Way Home,"
which premieres exclusively in theaters and IMAX
this Friday, December 17th.
Let's take a look.
-I just feel so dumb. I didn't realize you were miserable.
-No, it was really fun.
You know, that's why they call it a fling.
And we flung. -It was fun.
I could have been more fun. I can be fun.
-We'll hang out again. -Wait. When do you think?
[ Rattling ]
I should see what that is. -No.
No, no, no, no, no, no. -This is what I do.
-He's always coming and going. It's not --
-Peter? -Peter?
-Oh, no. Oh, no! -Oh, God. Peter?
-I don't know what to do! -Peter?
-Please welcome to the show Marisa Tomei.
♪♪ [ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
That was a very teasing clip.
-It was, on many levels.
-Yeah, on many levels.
Now, I -- You just came back from L.A.
You were at the premiere. -Mm-hmm.
-It must be, I mean, always exciting to be at a premiere,
but a premiere for a movie this big, this anticipated,
was it just a -- What was the scene like?
-It was the best kind of mayhem. It was wonderful.
It was like a -- more like a rock concert than a premiere.
It was so -- There was so palpably --
Everyone was so excited. There were so many fans.
Everyone was tested and vaccinated.
But it had this charge in it,
like some kind of old-fashioned, like,
when I was a little girl would I dream, like, a big premiere
would be like -- It's like, "The talkies are in!"
-But, yeah, the, like, old, like, flashbulbs.
-Yeah, yeah.
-But I also heard you do not like watching yourself on film.
-No, no, I do not. -So does that mean you don't
even sit in the audience for a premiere?
-This one I didn't, and I kind of regret it
because it was a -- it was that epic.
And it will be something I'll see in the movie theaters,
because it needs to be.
It's just a really, really giant film.
-So, if you were in a movie theater and your scenes come on,
do you have to, like, do this or can you sort of tough it out?
-Well, I don't watch like, you know, just half of --
[ Laughter ]
No, I just do this. -Yeah, just move around? Yeah.
-No. [ Laughs ]
-Do you watch -- When you're watching TV and old films
of yours come on, do you ever, like, spend time with it
or do you just flip right by?
-I don't -- Yeah, I flip on by.
I haven't caught any.
That hasn't ensnared me yet really.
-Oh, interesting. Alright.
-Yeah. -Okay, that's good to know.
I want to ask about another film you were in
because we've talked about it a lot on this show,
"King of Staten Island,"
the Pete Davidson -- -Yes, with Pete, with Pete.
-Which you were absolutely wonderful.
[ Cheers and applause ]
And, you know, we talked about the fact you played his mother.
I'm lucky enough to know his mother in real life.
And we talked about the fact, how excited she was that you,
you know, played a fictionalized version of her.
Did you get a chance to meet her?
-I did. I did get to meet her, because I --
because she's so forgiving a person.
[ Laughter ]
And she's incredibly loving.
She's a nurse, so already, in my mind, those are the best people.
-Yes. And they have to be very patient and forgiving, yeah.
[ Applause ] Yeah, give it up for nurses.
-Yeah. [ Applause ]
But then, on top of it, she's got Pete as a son.
-Yeah. So you're a little forgiving there, yeah.
[ Laughter ]
-So I needed to understand, what's that mind-set?
How do you get there? I didn't really catch it.
I played a much better person than myself.
-There you go.
Also, this rarely happens, but it happened tonight.
You and Matthew McConaughey were in a film together 10 years ago.
-I know. I wanted to come out and surprise him.
-But it must be nice to see someone, because obviously
you do films and you sort of -- your lives cross for
a very short period of time and then you move on.
It must have been nice to see each other again.
-Yeah, it was wonderful to see him. Yeah, yeah.
We had a great time on that movie.
But I didn't realize he's not running for governor anymore.
-He's not running for governor,
so it's open if you want to do it.
-Yeah. -You can jump in right now.
-This is just the serendipitous moment I needed to announce it.
Yes. [ Laughter ]
-I want to talk because I didn't realize
he gave you your first role.
We've talked very lovingly about Garry Marshall
on this show before, who was a wonderful director,
who passed away in 2016.
I was lucky enough to get to work with him.
And I love talking to people who worked with him because he was
the kind of person that I feel like is so rare in Hollywood --
genuinely a loving, giving person.
-Yes, yes. -What did you work with him on?
And how did you find your way in front of him to begin with?
-I worked with him on "Flamingo Kid."
-Alright. A classic.
-Yes! I think so. -Yeah.
-And Matt Dillon stars in that.
And it was a great job.
That was -- I mean, I came to it -- it was --
I was, like, fresh-off-the-boat kind of thing.
I was really, like -- I looked through Backstage
and I saw an ad for go in and audition.
And somehow I made it through a bunch of rounds,
and then he chose me to have just one line, which was great.
Actually, I was promoted to have one line.
I was just chosen to be there.
-Do you remember your one line? -Yes.
It was, "Oh, you're so drunk!"
-Great. [ Laughter ]
-I mean, it's kind of a great first line.
-It's a great first line, yeah.
-Yeah, but he I loved working with.
It was one of the best jobs, really, I've ever had.
It kind of spoiled me.
It was at a beach club all summer.
Just got to wear a bikini and hang out at the beach club
and be with the wonderful Garry Marshall.
-So you had one line, but you were there
the whole summer? -Yeah, yeah.
-Oh, that's the best kind of gig.
-Just floating around.
Yeah, that's the best kind, right?
-You must have thought in later gigs like, "What's this?"
-A little. Yes.
Too much heavy lifting. -Yeah.
What I liked about Garry is he was lovingly honest.
I don't know if you felt this.
The first time I met with him
was about this movie,
and we were talking about it.
And then it was just lovely, and then he goes,
"There's not a part for you in this movie."
And I was like, "What --"
He goes, "Maybe my next movie. It was great meeting you."
And I was like, "I can't believe I spent this whole time
talking with him about a movie that he knew
the minute I walked in there wasn't a part for me."
-That you weren't the right person.
-But then the next movie, he did give me a call,
so that was very loving. -A man of his word.
-A man of his word. -Yes.
-Is it true, also -- You grew up in Brooklyn,
and we were talking about the fact that you're in L.A. now.
But I meant to ask this
when we were talking about "King of Staten Island."
You had never been to Staten Island
despite being a New Yorker.
-I think I was there at some point, yes.
Probably was a little toddler, and something, you know,
in the '70s, I was there at some point.
-Gotcha. -I hadn't been there in years.
-And in your return to it, was it nice to have Pete
as sort of a tour guide to the finer points of --
-He is the mayor.
He is the mayor of Staten Island.
That is for sure, yes.
-Are people really happy to see him?
-Oh, yeah. Yeah, people were really happy to see him,
and he knows all the right pizza places
and he knows where to eat.
And, yeah, it's his home turf.
I loved being there with him. -That's great.
What about holiday plans? What are you gonna do?
-I'm gonna eat a lot. -Okay, great.
And you get to come back here for it.
-Gonna loaf around a lot. -Okay.
Are your East Coast family so happy when you come back?
-Yes, and I'm so happy to see them.
My brother's in L.A. I'm in L.A. as of now.
But everyone else is here, so -- -That's great.
-And we didn't have Christmas last year.
-No. Last year was a huge dud, so I'm really hoping --
This has got to be good enough for two Christmases.
-Yes. And we almost have two Christmases,
'cause we have Christmas Eve we celebrate with the Seven Fishes,
and then we still have the next day.
-So you do the whole thing. -So we do the whole thing.
-Alright! The Seven Fishes. How about that?
That's authentic right there.
-Not easy to pull off anymore.
-Thank you so much for being here. Congrats on the movie.
-Thank you for having me. Happy holidays.
-Happy holidays to you. You guys, that's Marisa Tomei.
"Spider-Man: No Way Home" is in theaters and IMAX this Friday.