Marisa Tomei Hula-Hoops To Stripper Stardom

I'll never look at a Hula Hoop the same way again after interviewing Marisa Tomei earlier this week for her new film, The Wrestler.

The Oscar-winning actress plays a stripper in the new film, and hardly wears a thing in many scenes, that include performing a lap dance for star Mickey Rourke, an all-but-washed-up Hulk Hogan-type '80s relic.

Some actresses limber up with yoga and Pilates. The My Cousin Vinny star turned to a children's toy.

"The hula hoop really opens everything up, especially the hips," she told me. "I'd start hooping in my trailer, then go on set."

The actress took her first topless role last year in Before The Devil Knows You're Dead, and to prepare for this film, she interviewed several strippers.

"The girls will tell you, it's empowering to strip," she says. "You don't realize it until you see the guys with the I'm-gonna-give-you-money look."

Tomei might turn Hula-Hoop training into the next rage. She laughed when I suggested a line of workout tapes.

"I kind of want to go on QVC and make the kind of money I never make on these independent movies," she said.

But don't count on The Wrestler to disappear. Mark my words, this movie is Oscar material, and the Mickey Rourke Renaissance has officially begun. Don't rule out a John Travolta comeback.

Related:
• Holly-weird
• Photos Hightlights From The Wrestler
• Rebecca Murray Interviews Marisa Tomei
• All Time Worst Wrestling Movies

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