Christina Ricci Grows Up Fast in "The Ice Storm"

LOS ANGELES - Christina Ricci is all grown up. In place of the wide-eyed child from "Casper" and "The Addams Family," a young woman in a low-cut black slip dress sashays into the room. With perfectly coiffed hair and full make-up, the self-possessed 17-year-old discusses her first R-rated film. "The Ice Storm" definitively answers the question of whether Ricci can survive child stardom. "People would always ask me about it, what do you think, do you think you're going to survive and be an adult actress? Do you think you'll make the transition?" she said. "I would always just shove that away from my thinking, because I don't think it's right to do every movie thinking about where it will get you, to do a movie and think okay, this is going to help my career, and this will help me be an adult actress. I never thought about that. I have agents who think about that, so I know that I don't need to really deal with that."

Her agents could not have picked a better role to segue Ricci into the rigors of adulthood. In "The Ice Storm," Ricci plays Wendy, a sexually precocious 14-year-old. On the edge between girlhood and womanhood, Wendy is discovering sexuality in a spirit of innocent curiosity. Complicating matters is the tense relationship between her parents, Ben (Kevin Kline) and Elena Hood (Joan Allen) when Elena suspects her husband is having an affair with sultry neighbor Janey (Sigourney Weaver).

Although the adult themes of the film impressed Ricci, she was nervous about her first sex scenes, in which she seduces on-screen brothers Elijah Wood and Adam Hann-Byrd one after the other. Since all three teenagers are underage, their parents had to be present on the set.

"It's more intense when you watch it than doing it," she said. "It didn't feel that tense. We were both kind of nervous, just because it's awkward. You know, your mothers are there, and we were doing this whole thing, and I'm showing my underwear. My underwear -- it's a really big deal to show my underwear, that can be harmful later on in life."

The emotional impact of "The Ice Storm" appealed to Ricci from the moment she read the script. The screenplay by James Schamus is based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Rick Moody, about his parents' lives in the affluent suburb of New Canaan, Connecticut. A dangerous ice storm serves as a metaphor for the emotional numbness of the main characters, struggling with the free-wheeling spirit of the 1970s.

"There's so much stuff in this movie that you never see addressed," she said. "When I read the script, the thing that I was struck by is there are feelings and emotions that the younger characters go through involved with sex and experimentation, and all that stuff, and shame, that you never, that you can't even talk about to anyone."

Although the success of children's films like "That Darn Cat" built her image as a star, Ricci said she no longer is interested in acting in family films. At times, Ricci seems a worldly sophisticate, at other moments a typical high school girl.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with family films, I don't think there's anything wrong with kids' films," she said. "Making movies for kids is not bad, I think the kinds of movies they do make for kids are annoying, and I wouldn't want to be in one of those movies ever again."

Her next films include "Opposite of Sex," where she stars as a confused young woman who moves in with her gay half-brother and seduces his lover. Written and directed by Don Roos, the modern romantic comedy slated for release next year also stars Lisa Kudrow and Lyle Lovett. She also co-stars in the drama "Buffalo 66" with Vincent Gallo and Anjelica Huston coming out later this year.


Real Audio clips of this interview are available here







LinkExchange Member