When Marisa Tomei was first cast as Aunt May, it was an unexpected choice. “Wait… isn’t she supposed to be old and gray?” The accomplished actress has brought a new hip, cool Aunt reputation to the comic book character for Jon Watts’ Spider-Man films, which has audiences either wanting to replicate her style or fall in love with her.
Marisa Tomei has now taken to Instagram to give us a behind-the-scenes look into the evolution of her Aunt May’s fashion sense before landing on the version found on the big screen. Take a look:
Gotta love how she Marisa Tomei not only posted these looks, but broke them down with videos as well! The first Aunt May we see is lovingly named “curly top” by Tomei with a “‘40s meets ‘70s thing” going on. She has big curly hair, a checkered shirt and high-waisted jeans. This one is definitely is less in with the times and a different kind of quirky then the May we know and love.
The second look is an older looking Aunt May that is more along the lines of Sally Field’s version in the Amazing Spider-Man movies lead by Andrew Garfield. It adds a few years on Tomei’s character with the streak of gray in her hair. The actress explained that this look was played with when they were trying to figure out what age this May would be.
Since they were trying to “reinvent” her, it makes sense they went with a younger look. The last three variations show Marisa Tomei trying out a few more hairdos including a curly afro, bangs and glasses and longer hair with bangs. Looks like it was a really fun process figuring out a fresh update for Aunt May and after seeing these funky ones, we’re happy with the final result.
When she was originally cast, she was willing to age up to fit the source material but they didn’t go with it. The typical silver-haired May was already done by Rosemary Harris in Sam Raimi’s trilogy and more recently Lily Tomlin brought a more badass elderly Aunt May to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Marisa Tomei’s younger May is refreshing and allowed her to differentiate herself from the many iterations.
It’s also allowed for some comedic moments as Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark and Jon Favreau’s Happy have shown a bit of flirtation toward her, much to Peter’s disdain. Also, at the end of Homecoming she actually learns of his secret, making for new territory for their relationship in Far From Home.
In Far From Home, May is dealing with coming back from the Snap along with supporting his hero endeavors with funny quips such as calling his Spidey Sense into the “Peter Tingle”.
You can give Marisa Tomei’s Aunt May some love by catching Spider-Man: Far From Home, in theaters now!
