Christina Ricci
by Erin Broadley for SuicideGirls (http://suicidegirls.com/)

Actress Christina Ricci has always been a bit obsessed with history’s Eleanor of Aquitaine. Rumor has it that the 12th Century Queen ran a cult of “courtly love” in France that practiced the “radical” ideology that a marriage without love was no marriage at all. Eleanor, naturally, was charged with heresy by the Catholic Church and spent 15 years wasting away in a prison cell.

It's no secret that Ricci likes complex characters; there is something awfully romantic about their intricacies. From her early roles in The Addams Family and The Ice Storm, to Prozac Nation and Black Snake Moan, to this year's Penelope, the self-taught actress has proved her mettle with characters that seem to challenge her as much as the audience.

However it’s Ricci’s newest role, Trixie in the Wachowski brothers’ Speed Racer, that she calls “ultimate feminist character.” For an actress who once told reporters her dream role was that of a psycho killer, playing a girl without any major internal drama might come as a surprise. “For drama, the people who do the most dramatic things are people with personal problems,” Ricci told SuicideGirls during a recent roundtable interview. “But recently I’ve kind of grown up and become less afraid of sincerity, and I have a real vested interest in women’s issues and the next generation of girls.”

Read on for the full reveal on Ricci's choice to play a girl whose affinity for red lipstick and cute dresses never gets in the way of her ability to kick some ass.

Speed Racer is in theaters this Friday, May 9.


Question: What attracted you to this? What did you see in it? Or see in her?

Christina Ricci: I loved the idea of working with the Wachowskis; I’d wanted to work for them for a while. And then Speed Racer was something that people had always mentioned to me, "Oh, they’re going to make Speed Racer, you’d be a good Trixie." I was familiar with all the hipster paraphernalia and the Geico commercial, but I’d never seen the cartoons. They sent me the script and I had to go and audition quickly after.

Q: What was your biggest challenge?

CR: There really weren’t any challenges. I didn’t enjoy my haircut but that was really the only challenge. When you have long hair and all of a sudden you get a really drastic haircut it’s, you know, us ladies, we cry. But other than that, she was a great character to play. She was amazing, and fun, and they dressed me up like a doll every day. And then I got to do all this actiony stuff and I had a really good time.

Q: You've said before about the characters that you choose, that you like people who are afraid and ashamed of who they are… this character seems to be the opposite.

CR: I don’t like characters who are ashamed of who they are; I like complex characters and, for drama, the people who do the most dramatic things are people with personal problems. But recently I’ve kind of grown up and become less afraid of sincerity, and I have a real vested interest in women’s issues and the next generation of girls. And also looking around a little bit more and seeing all the really negative images that are out therefore young girls—what are they supposed to grow up into if the only images they have out there are the Bratz? I mean, it’s crazy. So I really liked the fact that, to me, she’s the ultimate feminist character. She’s as girly as she wants to be but she does everything the boys do and there’s no commentary like, "Oh, it’s a girl flying a helicopter. Ooh." And the brothers are very much responsible for that kind of thing. They really have a strong sense of equality and interest in leaving the world a better place than they found it. So I was really excited about that.

Q: What was it like working with them?

CR: They’re great. They’re so much fun. Wonderful people. And so smart. Like at a party, the most interesting people to talk to. Working with them is great because they want to have a good time and they want everyone to be happy. So on a set it’s just like everyone hanging out, having fun, laughing, having a good time.

Q: The joys of green screen — John [Goodman] compared it to working in really low budget theater where there are no props or sets.

CR: I liked it because it immediately created a bond amongst all the actors. A lot of our stuff, especially in the beginning of shooting, was all family stuff so it was all ensemble and all of us together. Immediately you walk into this big green room and you look at everyone else dressed in various hilarious costumes and you go, "Oh, okay, what are we doing today? Oh, it’s snowing." It was ridiculous but we were committing to it. We don’t know what’s around us but we’re going to do what they tell us to. It creates a bond that’s really wonderful.

Q: I heard the script was quite long. Did any scenes of yours not make it in?

CR: No, the script was quite long but only because all of the action in the races was described, like, "He turns left, jumps over, and double triple jumps." Half of that stuff I didn’t read. Race, race, race, who wins? Okay, good. I read all of the stuff that wasn’t descriptive racing stuff.

Q: Was there time to have any fun off set in Berlin?

CR: Yeah, we had a great time. The brothers threw a lot of parties and different people on the crew threw parties. A lot of the actors went out and socialized among themselves. We were all staying in the same hotel so we went out in the evenings together. It was just really fun. It was summer in Berlin which didn’t necessarily make it warm, but there were some warm days that we went out and had a good time.

Q: Did you get to ride the [race car] gimbals, the more physical stuff?

CR: Yes, it was so much fun. I love doing that stuff. I was getting little battle injuries. Battle scars. You get banged around in the gimbal thing so much. I had bruises and at one point I had to get out and throw up because it’s a lot of shaking and craziness. But it was really fun. I had a good time.

Q: Any tricks you wish your car could do?

CR: I’d like to be able to jump over people, jump over other cars. That would be pretty good. Also that whole changing the tire thing by leaping up in the air, that would be great. I just learned to change a tire myself. It would be so much easier if I could leap up and press D.

Q: You had black Converse on when you met the guys and you were nervous, tell the story...

CR: I thought I gave a horrible audition and at one point I caught Andy’s eye and he looked at my sneakers and I looked at his and looked back up at him and smiled, "Maybe the Chuck Taylors will work?" but I thought I gave a horrible audition.

Q: What do you think of the visual style of the movie? Was it what you thought?

CR: I don’t think any of us could have known what was in their heads completely. What they have managed to create is so much bigger and more beautiful and engaging than anything I thought was going to be up there. It’s really incredible. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before so it’s sort of hard for me to explain it. I can’t wait to see people’s reactions to it.

Q: It takes some faith to stand there...

CR: Yeah, that’s the thing about the two directors, they inspire such confidence and trust because you can tell, they have this complete vision in their heads. And you’d be doing yourself a huge disservice to not trust them and just do what they tell you to because how are you going to possibly know whether what you’re doing is going to match what’s in their heads unless they tell you?

Q: Do they contextualize it for you?

CR: Yeah, completely, you can know as much about the production design and the effects as you want to. The art department was always open for us to go in, and they gave us storyboards and images. You could know as much as you wanted to or as little as you wanted to. But still, though, it’s their vision and their touch and who they are that makes the movie ultimately look the way it does.

Q: Did you have any input going in?

CR: Yeah, I mean you go in and you’re like, "I don’t like the way that looks on me" or "That I love," but I was really into all the designs. Kim Barrett was our wardrobe designer and I loved all of her stuff. It became really fun.

Q: Talk about working with Emile [Hirsch]...

CR: He’s really a sweet, sweet kid. We had such a good time together. When I read he already had the part and was reading with me and he was so helpful and really nice. I’ve read with a lot of people who are not necessarily so giving. They’ve already got the part so what do they care? Those people are not nice. But Emile was really helpful, really wonderful. Then working on the set with him was really fun. The whole cast had such a good time. Everyone was always laughing and making fun of each other. Just fun.

Q: Are you a fan of anime or manga comics?

CR: I think they’re pretty.

Q: You said you were interested in promoting girl power and feminist issues. Is there a character from history you’d like to portray?

CR: That’s a good question. I’ve always been obsessed with Eleanor of Aquitaine. But I don’t know if that’s because of any feminist belief I have. I have to go back and revisit the story.

Q: Do you get the sense at the end that [the Wachowski brothers] were still passionate and had more stories to tell in this universe?

CR: Oh yeah. Larry and Andy created a world that they love and created characters that they love and are attached to and when we were leaving we were all like, "Write the sequel! We want to come back!" They were like, "I know, I know, we’re going to, don’t worry." They were as sad for it to be over as we were.

Q: Do you think they’d want to jump right back in?

CR: Yeah, definitely. I do. That’s definitely the impression I got.

Q: Do you enjoy the audition process or is it just for bigger movies like this?

CR: I actually don’t mind auditioning. But you have to audition for movies like this. There’s a lot of money at stake and a lot of people have input.

Q: The little girl Trixie punches out a girl for dissing her man. Would you do that if somebody dissed your man?

CR: No.

Q: Would you yell at them?

CR: It depends on what they said. I’d probably strike back verbally, something snide and quiet.


For more information go to the official Speed Racer site.

web address: http://suicidegirls.com/interviews/Christina+Ricci/