Christina Ricci Squeals About 'Penelope,' Accelerates into 'Speed Racer'
By Emily Christianson, Hollywood.com Staff
|
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Life on the set of Penelope was a little bit of life imitating art, says star Christina Ricci. Liker her character, she kept behind closed doors and only stepped out disguised with a scarf.
Why all the secrecy? Filmmakers feared the public and paparazzi would catch a glimpse of Ricci’s prosthetic pig snout before they were ready to reveal it.
“I'd want to go to Starbucks, or something, and they would just panic,” Ricci explains. “I'd walk out of the trailer and you'd see the P.A.'s panic and say, ‘Does she have her scarf on her face?’”
In the film, it is Penelope’s parents who are fighting to keep her in hiding, tucked away in their mansion until they can find “one of her own kind” to fall for her and lift the family curse. Fed up, Penelope takes off on her own, with only a scarf to protect her identity.
Hollywood.com caught up with the child actress-turned-movie star to find out more about Penelope, her upcoming film Speed Racer, and more.
Hollywood.com: This film is rated PG; what message do you hope young people take away from it?
Christina Ricci: I really hope that the strongest message that's taken away is self-acceptance and self-love, and that you have to learn to love yourself and you have to accept who you are…A lot of our society is based on, "I'll be happy once I have the right man," or changing yourself a little bit, or a lot, depending on who you're with. The things women do to be with different men is just ridiculous. So, I think it's important that we have young girls that are growing up learn to be really strong and independent and have the right sort of priorities.
HW: What was your biggest insecurity growing up?
CR: My sister and I have two insecurities, which are pretty funny. You know how everyone has something?...Whenever we go out, me and my sister always ask each other, "Do I look butch?," and "Do I look crazy?" [Laughs] Those are the two things we're both terrified of. We're terrified that we look crazy, and then on other days that we look like boys.
HW: What about putting on the pig nose, any insecurity there?
CR: The first one they put on me was a little bit too hideous and scary and kind of nasty looking…and then, all the girls in the room were like, "Uh uh. We want that one that looks like Miss Piggy and is cute." And so, somewhere in the middle, we found it. It just looked like me with a fake nose on. It didn't really disturb me, in any way.
HW: Did it take a long time to put it on every day? Was it uncomfortable?
CR: It took about an hour and a half. It's not fun to have something glued to your face. It just isn't…I had a rule that I wasn't allowed to really acknowledge how irritating it was or touch it or scratch it or complain until we only had like three hours left of the day because I knew that if I started in the beginning, I would just be irritated all day long and want to rip it off my face. So, I felt that, if I started late in the day then I could tolerate three hours of being really irritated.