Christina happy to be a bit kooky

Jan 28 2008 by Katie Campling, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

CHRISTINA Ricci has always been a little different. From her first most memorable role as sadistic Wednesday in the Addam’s family at age 11, her choice of parts have more often than not, been left field and off the Hollywood blockbuster radar.

So it’s no surprise then that the 27-year-old self-assured actress – today sporting a razor-sharp, light-brown bob instead of her usual long, dark tresses – is appearing in yet another ‘kooky’ role. In next week’s release Penelope, she is a girl who ended up with a pig’s nose and ears as the result of a family curse in the fairytale movie produced by Reese Witherspoon’s Type A production company.

“What I really loved about Penelope is the character,” explains the diminutive star. “When I started reading it, I liked the idea of a fairytale, as it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. I really liked her character. I thought it was great that she was able to find humour in a situation that other people would be devastated by.”

Penelope’s wealthy parents Jessica (Catherine O’Hara) and Franklin Wilhern (Richard E Grant) keep her locked away in their mansion for her own protection – scared that her freaky face will create fear and panic among the general public. In a bid to try to reverse the curse which can only be broken when she finds love, they regularly invite blue-blooded suitors into the family home to try to marry off Penelope. All the men react in shock and horror when they see her face, all except one, Max played by James McAvoy, “an amazing and consummate professional,” according to Christina.

“I thought it was just going to be a sort of traditional romance about finding Prince Charming,” she admits. “Then when it wasn’t, I was totally surprised. It really caught me off guard.

“I was just so excited because it was just such a great message and so succinctly presented, that I thought, I want to try this.”

Clearly, Penelope is a movie with a message which Christina thinks will resonate with audiences in a beauty-obsessed era.

“She’s trapped in a house and I think people are similarly crippled by their insecurities,” says Christina.

“In spite of how she looks or how other people might view her, she’s going to go and see the world and live a life and that’s the choice you have to make yourself, too.

“I’m not going to let my insecurities keep me from having a good time.

“If you don’t lose your self consciousness, you can’t really be present in a situation. For example, if you’re at the Louvre in Paris, and thinking about how much you hate your jeans, you’re really not at the Louvre.

“It’s a really important thing for people to realise,” she adds earnestly. “You have a choice to be happy in this life. The clearest message is her self acceptance. That’s such a great place for someone to get to, where they think, ‘I really don’t hate myself and I’m really kind of okay. I deserve all the good things in life and I don’t have to look like this person or that person’. So for me this movie teaches you a lot about self acceptance and how perception is everything.”

Having been under the Hollywood spotlight since she was a child and admitting to suffering from a brief eating disorder in her teens, growing up in Tinseltown can’t have been easy. Although Christina confesses she feels more at ease with herself nowadays.

“It’s difficult, but I think I’m a lot more comfortable in my skin than I used to be and a lot less insecure,” she says. “I’m not completely there – I don’t think anybody is. But I’m a lot more accepting of the fact that I am the way I am and it might mean certain situations might arise or my personality sometimes might get in my way, but I am who I am and that’s it and I actually kind of like myself.”

Christina credits growing up with learning how to accept herself more. “It has a lot to do with getting older,” she says. “I also think it has a lot to do with being an actress as well. There’s a certain point where if you really want to be good, if you really want to play a part, there’s no room for self consciousness.

“You can see self consciousness in people’s performances. That’s what happens when you start thinking about how you look.”