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# Marisa Tomei shows her bad girl side in ‘Alfie’
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/marisa-tomei-shows-her-bad-girl-side-in-alfie/
- Published: 2004-11-05T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T05:26:07.000Z
- Author: Dan Dunn
- Tags: Entertainment, Santa Monica, #archive-import

Having starred in films such as “My Cousin Vinny” and “In the Bedroom,” Marisa Tomei is no stranger to the feisty girlfriend role. This time around, she stars as one of the many women in “Alfie’s” harem. Not surprisingly, the Oscar winner is as spirited and opinionated off-camera. We chat with the Brooklyn-native about the joys of doing “naughty things” and America’s sexual revolution.

QUESTION: Do women really prefer bad boys over good guys?

MARISA TOMEI: Bad boys, probably, yeah. I personally have encountered that a bunch of times. Every woman does, at some point, encounter some kind of rogue who drives you mad. I think the bad boy thing allows the woman to be the bad girl that she really is inside. I don’t mean in a rogue kind of way, but just to be free or wild or go on adventures and do naughty things.

Q: Alfie asks your character, Julie, for a second chance, but she doesn’t give him one. Why not?

MT: He’s kind of an ass. He’s kind of revealed himself to be not very deep.

Q: Could you envision anyone besides Jude Law playing Alfie?

MT: I can’t, actually. He gets away with a lot with those eyes.

Q: Why remake “Alfie?” Wasn’t the first one good enough?

MT: It’s a fantastic movie. A perfect movie. I’m sure (the remake) is a little head-scratching, like, “Alfie? Why are they doing it again? It was a great movie.” But this is a different take on it. The culture has changed, there’s been a sexual revolution — that’s what interesting about it, revisiting this character in these times. It honors the classic that the original “Alfie” is, and yet it invents its own thing, too.

Q: You’re from Brooklyn, which in recent years has become quite the hot spot. What’s your take on the hip quotient of your old neighborhood?

MT: It’s very fascinating to me that Brooklyn has become, like, THE cool place. It was a great place to grow up, and I’m glad I’ve got that Brooklyn blood in me. But it’s great for me now, because if there’s some happening party off of Smith Street or someplace, I know how to get there.

Q: What haven’t you tried yet on film that you’d like to?

MT: I’d like to do something about the women’s liberation movement in the ’60s, or even about the suffragettes. They did something recently on HBO, but I think there’s still a lot of characters (from that movement) that are pretty fascinating.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/110504-15_01.jpg)

(Photo: Special to the Daily Press)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 5, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/110504.pdf?ref=smdp.com)