Marisa Tomei Jokes It Was ‘Fun’ Shaving Legs ‘Randomly’ While Bossing Around an Assistant in Upgraded

Marisa Tomei “had a lot of fun” getting to boss around her onscreen assistant in her latest movie.

In Prime Video’s romantic comedy Upgraded, Tomei, 59, plays demanding gallery owner Claire Dupont, who hires aspiring art industry professional Ana Santos (Camila Mendes). As Ana tries to impress her new boss, she meets the charming Englishman Will Laroche (Archie Renaux) on a work trip. When Will mistakes her for Claire, it initiates a chain of lies that slowly unravels, threatening Ana’s budding romance and career.

At the film’s Feb. 7 premiere at IPIC Downtown, Tomei revealed to PEOPLE on the red carpet that she enjoyed her scenes with “Rachel [Matthews] and the other girls.”
“I think when I got to shave my legs randomly in the middle of bossing my assistant around, I thought that was pretty hard to do because we had to time out the props,” the My Cousin Vinny actress said of her favorite scene in the film.

Appearing on Today with Hoda & Jenna ahead of the movie’s release, Tomei was confronted with a photo of her hair on the ‘80s sitcom A Different World. She called the auburn shag cut “unforgivable,” and said she was unable to look at it.

“It was not my fault! I just was like, a babe in the woods and they were like, ‘We’re going to do this to you.’ And I was like, ‘Okay…’ ” she recalled.
Directed by Carlson Young (The Blazing World), Upgraded sees Mendes in her first film role since her run on The CW’s Riverdale ended after seven seasons. Lena Olin, Anthony Head, Saoirse-Monica Jackson and Andrew Schulz also star in the movie.