Marisa Tomei Produced One of the Most Soulful Movies at SXSW 2024 - High Tide Interview

what's up everyone welcome back to the collider interview Studio it's South by Southwest 2014 did I say 2014 you did Marine is mush it's 2024 was America better in 2014 2014 was the year I was hired full-time a collider so I feel like congratulations that's the good angle back to the beginning I'm just going to roll with that because that's how things go at this Festival um huge congratulations on high tide I have seen the movie I love the movie our audience will not know what your movie is just yet so Marco I must give you these duties would you mind giving everyone a brief description of high tide uh high tide is uh uh my first feature film and it's about it's a story of um an undocumented Brazilian immigrant who uh finds himself lost in the queer of provinc toown he is waiting for this lost American lover to return to the town he cannot go back to Brazil his Visa is about to expire he's really in a limbo and stuck and in this limbo he meets an African-American nurse Maurice who also feels lost in today's America for other reasons and they connect they Embrace each other bodies and souls and they together they reconcile their past and their uncertain futures that connection the cast chemistry there is through the roof I'm gonna come back to that markco I want to stick with you for another minute though because I was reading you have a you have a theater background two-part question about going from theater to making your first feature what is something about your theater experience that you found coming in handy on a film set but then also what is a learning curve you experience adjusting to a new medium I have to say my the first time that I realized I wanted to be a Storyteller uh for my rest of my lives my life I was in a movie theater and I was 11 years old I was watching Janee campions the piano I don't know if I fully understand what was going on on that big screen but I was like that's what I wanted to do so but theater was really more accessible for a lot of reason for an 11 years old kid so I just started doing theater as an actor first and then I started to write and directing Etc and that was my life I love the stage I love the craft of writing of playw writing but movies has always been my inspiration so when I was offered the opportunity to turn a short play into a short film I immediately jumped on it and uh I don't know I was it was an incredible experience I immediately felt that it was a complete new toy I could play with I had a whole the old visual aspect of it that it was a it wasn't scaring me at all it was actually an added language to my voice and at the same time I could see and still can while I have so many things to learn still you know I'm just a beginner in in the film industry but I can see how my theater background especially with the actors why it's it's it's what I really love the most in to to work I think if you don't have if you don't have a script you don't have a film but if you don't have the performances you don't have you don't have anything and and I really I think the the patience of the rehearsals in a theater really is really a functional for me as a director in on set so I assume you had rehearsal opportunity no you didn't oh God no that's that's exactly why we shot it in 17 days it were supposed to be in 18 but then you know bad weather and then so much 17 18 like I don't think either option sounds very good wow but that's what I mean like no rehearsals but I I the the patience of the rehearsal that I used to have in theater now is giving me the the the quickness to to stand and to find like the right spot the right moment the right language to to be with my actors to get the best out of them and and you know doing what's best for them too I'm gonna I'm going to come to you too in a minute but Marissa I wanted to start start with you as far as the cast goes and also you're an executive producer on this right you didn't mention that earlier that's something to be very proud of I was reading that you knew Marco before getting involved in high tide so what was it about him as a creator that gave you the confidence that not only should you get involved in his first feature as an actor but as an executive producer as well well we when we knew each other from the theater we met in the theater so we've had a collaborative artistic relationship for a long time and um are best friends and we just have a great time together and we and so there was no question uh and I love the role I mean we're talking about him as a a director but he produced this film and he wrote this film so he did all of those things and so um and I had done so little a little voiceover and things in some of his in his a short that he did his shorts are incredible you should go back and see his short films too I love when people give me homework during these interviews genuinely yes it's Wonder wonderful so it you know even if so we had hands-on experience and um we had a an easy conversation but we I also seen his shorts I mean there's there's there was no reason to not I mean not even but anyway want to spend time with him so so you go into the project having having a lot of faith in his skill set is there anything you remember him doing on set that made even you go like my God I knew you were good but never realized you were capable of that well I knew he was capable of a lot but there were definitely there there were a few times where I mean both of us and they know each other better than I and we still would say that each other oh my God he's such a great director and he's the the space and the concentration and the understanding of the characters what the character needs to do in that moment uh and and you know what we what we need for the overall it's just that he has it in his hands and then gives you a lot of space without rushing and the attention the attentive the Deep listening I think is also such a it's such a comfort and it's it's the key to a lot of things oh absolutely so now for the two of you one of my favorite things in the world is talking about the value of a good scene partner can you each tell me about something the other did for you as a scene partner that either helped you through a tough scene or maybe helped you access something in your own character that you wouldn't have been able to reach without him oh that's a good question that's beautiful actually that you say this cuz it's just you you cannot do it by yourself there would be absolutely no Lorenzo if there was no Maris from the moment we met um James and he's kind mind soul and heart was immediately I felt immediately safe and connected to him in that sense and and these were stories that we both wanted to tell very much you know I identify a lot with my character he said he does to so we we was we wanted to tell that story so bad and make it so real and make it so beautiful and James was I can say that by far the best seen partner I've had in that sense he's he was amazing from the beginning and having Marco guiding us and and so much trust between the three of us I mean I can't imagine for him but jumping in this where I'm I was with the script for two years together with this directing you know his scene partner where I'm sure he wasn't easy and he was so gentle and so kind and and the appreciation and the respect he has for the craft is beyond so it was the most beautiful experience to having this one he's my friend for life now I love this guy you know I uh the thing about Marco is of course there's so much to love about him physically uh and you know look at him he's gorgeous and uh you know as an actor I knew I had to fall in love with him and so immediately I was searching him and looking at him and finding things that I could fall in love with his eyes his eyebrows the way his lips look like I wanted to connect to certain things that I could look at to remind myself like why are you attracted to this you know guy as a character but then of course as I got to know uh Marco the person uh I was able to uh pull things just in our interaction when we first met when we started rehearsal uh how how gentle how kind all of those things he were and I was able to apply those things also to Lorenzo and so when we were in scenes I would remind myself the reasons why I was attracted you know to him and uh and then also his eyes are so kind whenever I would feel a bit ungrounded or uh a bit uh maybe not present all I had to do was look into his eyes and it was a sea of there's a line Marco please tell me at the very beginning of this script when you describe him when you describe Lorenzo there's a very specific uh description of him and it was something behind his eyes do you remember it I remember that it was about his eyes but I don't really it was a description of the character I think it was loneliness in his eyes I think that's where was loneliness in his eyes and that was the thing that I also connected with in terms of oh we see each other because also the character Maurice has a loneliness in terms of uh in this country as an African-American in terms of this feeling of unbelonging then also in Province Town in terms of looking around and not seeing people that look like him and so I could look into his eyes and think to myself oh we we see each other like we connect we identify and that was always helpful in grounding you know myself in the scene beautiful answers this wasn't enough time to do your movie justice so I apologize for the South by Southwest right now but seriously exceptional work here and I'll just like turn this into A Brief Review quickly one of my favorite parts of your movie is that you're a stellar act you're a stellar anchor for the story and I love how it almost has like a little vignette kind of feel with all the important people that come into his life and then it's supporting characters who still feel whole and like they have history behind them feel like that's such a beautiful accomplishment so congratulations on that and the movie overall thank you so much