Marisa Tomei & Max Minghella Interview For ‘The Ides of March’

Directed and starring George Clooney, ‘The Ides of March’ takes place during the frantic last days before a heavily contested Ohio presidential primary, where an up-and-coming campaign press secretary (Ryan Gosling) finds himself involved in a political scandal that threatens to upend his candidate’s shot at the presidency. Alongside Ryan Gosling and George Clooney the film stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, Max Minghella, Jeffrey Wright and Evan Rachel Wood. ‘The Ides Of March’ opens in cinemas October 7th in the US and October 28th in the UK. The movie will be Clooney’s fourth film as director after ‘Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,’ ‘Good Night and Good Luck’ and ‘Leatherheads.’ Check out what Marisa Tomei and Max Mingella had to say about the film below.

The cast for this film is stellar, portraying some amazing characters…

Marisa Tomei: Yeah, my character Ida, she’s the top dog in her department at the New York Times, she’s super alpha (laughs). She’s really great at her job, she’s done it for many years and she enjoys it, she really loves the game. She really loves the game and using her intellect, she likes outfoxing people – she’s an adrenaline junky, really they’re all adrenaline junkies, she just needs it. With that, the line blurs between the altruistic part of herself that feels an obligation to the public with delivering them the real news, and then the part of her that is really in it for her (laughs). She’s intelligent enough to enjoy sparring, the game of egging them on, a lot of it is gamesmanship.

How did you find working with George Clooney, as both director and actor?

Max Minghella: He’s just an amazing person, he’s a renaissance man. He’s also been doing this for a tremendously long time, he’s worked with some incredible filmmakers, and he really just understands this medium at the highest level. That makes you feel so safe as an actor, that you have a director who you know has great tastes but also great authority over his craft. He makes you feel super safe, which is what you want – because you don’t have much control as an actor, he’s aware of that, he really understands that, he understands how hopeless and helpless you can feel (laughs). It’s nice to have a friend there holding your hand, leading you through.

Marisa Tomei: It was so exciting to go to work everyday, he’s just a great director. The proof is in the pudding, the films he makes are wonderful. Te experience you come away with…it was one of the highlights of my career for sure.

What originally drew you to ‘The Ides of March’?

Max Minghella: Firstly it was a play I was obsessed with, I saw the play four times. I got a hold of the screenplay and I thought it was even better. It’s a dream group of actors to be apart of, it’s a dream filmmaker to get to work with. If I hadn’t gotten a job on this movie I would have shown up anyway, just to work craft service or something. I’d be lying to say that it was something specific about this character that drew me to the material – but I love the character, that was a great silver lining. I had a wonderful role to play, and a real role to play, one that was tough to explore, had an arc….it was total fairy tale situation (laughs).

There’s so many levels this film works on…..

Marisa Tomei: I think it has a lot of different aspects to it, it works on an entertainment level, a thriller, it has very compelling characters, handsome men (laughs). There’s a lot of food for thought, it’s about ideas, it’s a conversation starter. We’re really proud of it.