Christina Ricci has been a pillar of the genre since she burst onto the scene in 1991 with her role as Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family. Since then, she’s appeared in films such as Cursed and Sleepy Hollow, as well as series like Yellowjackets. Now, her most recent horror outing, Monstrous, has hit VOD. We sat down with her to chat about the new film, as well as her love of sci-fi, her Matrix cameo, and more.
Christina Ricci: I really liked it. I loved the connection between horror and extreme emotional duress. Because of that, I love the reveal and the twist, as well as the psychological kind of element of the script.
CR: I’ve done a lot of period pieces over the years. You’re right. And I love doing period because I feel like it’s just another mental distance from your own reality. It kinda allows even more sort of creative freedom, I think.
CR: Well, it is great because when you tend to be comfortable with the person you spend 12 hours day with every day. Then it is easier to do the more emotional scenes and the more taxing performances.
CR: I dunno. I mean, I don’t actually think I’ve been in that many horror films.
CR: Well, I mean, compared to all the other things I’ve been in, I would say that I think I’ve done more comedy than horror. I would say probably the scariest one I was in would be Sleepy Hollow. I guess the other one was Cursed and I don’t know if that’s one so scary.
CR: I mean, great. It’s really, it’s always nice when people love work that you pour blood, sweat, and tears into. It was so wonderful for everyone involved in the show that it’s been such a success. It’s been really fun.
CR: I don’t have a favorite one. I am completely bewildered by the one where Shauna’s daughter in the present is the child she was pregnant with. I don’t that’s possible. But I think it’s grounded enough in reality that for some reason it like fascinates me. I can’t get past it. Yeah. Cause I don’t think it’s real.
CR: I’m a really big Stephen King fan. I love him. But I wouldn’t say that there’s any other kind of tie into horror for me. I like horror movies. I think they’re fun. But I’m not like obsessed.
CR: Pet Sematary, I think.
CR: I think I was like 10 or 11.
CR: Yeah, because he does tie in the human pathos to the horror element..
CR: I don’t know if I have a favorite one. I know people ask me that, but I dunno. I don’t think I have a favorite one. I love them all. And what’s fun too, is that I read so much of his stuff when I was so young that now as an adult, I can go back and read them again because I’ve forgotten the details. So that’s a fun experience also.
CR: The most recent one I revisited was I think ‘Salem’s Lot. I was excited to reread that one because I hadn’t read it since I was like, I think 11 years old. Oh my God. Um, and so I wanted to read it again and I did and it was great.
CR: That’s a good question. Oh my, I dunno.
CR: My brain has just turned into literally foggy white right now.
I can’t even remember titles. I have no idea what’s happening right now. Yeah, I can’t tell you/
CR: I like movies that have a concept and artfully go about executing that concept. I think I do like things that are a bit trickier and hot, more high concepts than just straightforward storytelling. I really love sci-fi, it’s maybe my favorite genre. They’re generally more complex technically.
CR: My favorite sci-fi movie of all time is 12 Monkeys.
CR: I did. When I was younger, I read a lot of sci-fi. I was a sci-fi fantasy geek.
CR: It really is when you’re a child. Absolutely. Like, I mean there are like seven books per story. So it’s just the greatest thing that’s ever happened
CR: And that’s what’s so great. You’re like great, I got 12 books to go.
CR: It’s never-ending. It’s amazing. It’ll take a whole summer.
CR: No, I’m not have really any time to do anything.
CR: It was really fun. I was really hoping at first when Lana called that I was gonna get to do some fighting, but I didn’t. But it was really exciting to be there. And just to be on The Matrix set and Keanu is right there? It’s just like, ‘this is amazing.’
CR: Yes. Like ‘Hi, Keanu, I wanna be in John Wick.’ That was basically me.
CR: I mean, I like to do different kinds of stuff all the time. Yeah. The scripts for me stand on their own merits, regardless of the genre that they’re in or that they represent. I would do more horror, but I have to say it’s not necessarily my favorite. I think I’m really bad at playing scared.
CR: Yeah. I think that I come off as a little blasé sometimes when I’m supposed to be scared. So, it’s harder for me to play fear. So I mean, it’s not my favorite to be in a movie where I have to be scared.
CR: I dunno. <laugh> I dunno. I have no idea. I can’t commit to it sometimes in the same way that I can commit to other things. It’s an unpleasant feeling, you know what I mean?
CR: Right. And I don’t like playing vulnerable people. I’d always rather be the protagonist in any kind of scene or situation instead of reacting.
CR: I would say Wednesday.
Yeah. it was so formative to me. You know, to have the first thing I did as a child, well, not the first, but one of the first things I did as a child that I achieved the most kind of recognition, to have it be something that was so specific, it really just gave me permission to do things that were really offkey and not as normal or socially accepted.
CR: It’s bewildering. I mean, I feel like I’m only outside of it, just on the edges. I live a pretty normal day-to-day life. I don’t feel like I’m like in it to know everything that’s happening. So for me, and having done this for so long, it really changes so fast. It’s just like a moving, changing, evolving animal.
CR: No idea. I dunno what’s happening for the second season. I have no idea.
I really like playing this version of rage. I like the way she expresses anger and rage. I like that it’s not so obvious. I love passive aggression. I find it so interesting. And what needs to happen to create a person who can only express their anger in a specific way is really fascinating. I like playing a character that expresses herself the way that Misty does.