Christina Ricci first hit screens at age 9, playing Cher's daughter in 1990's Mermaids. Since then, she's worked steadily in Hollywood productions and an increasing number of offbeat indie films, joining the likes of Jodie Foster and Kurt Russell in making a smooth transition from kids' roles to adult roles. After a relatively quiet period following her acclaimed supporting role in the 2003 film Monster, Ricci has three high-profile projects set for release in the next year: She plays a promiscuous young woman opposite Samuel L. Jackson in Black Snake Moan, from Hustle & Flow writer-director Craig Brewer; a literally pig-faced girl in the children's film Penelope; and the wife of a soldier in Irwin Winkler's Iraq war drama Home of the Brave.
Ricci's only 26, but this year CineVegas is honoring her with its Half-Life Award, which doesn't seem so odd when you realize she's appeared in nearly 40 films. She'll participate in a discussion before a screening of her 1998 film The Opposite of Sex on June 17 at 4 p.m.
How do you feel about honors like this?
This is really my first one. It's totally new, and it's very exciting. It's very flattering, and I don't really know how I'm supposed to behave. I guess just graciously and genuinely. Because I am genuinely flattered. Other than that, I don't really know what's expected of me. This is really my first honor, as it were.
Does it inspire you to look back on your career and think about what's led you to this point?
It did, sort of, because we had to pick a movie to screen and for me to talk about. I feel like as I get older, the movies I'm making are just getting better. Certainly in the past year, I think that I've done a lot higher-quality work than I have in the past. So, yeah, it did make me sort of take a look back and just see that I paid my dues. I worked hard to get to where I am, and I definitely paid my dues. My career isn't all glowy gem films and winners. That's what paying your dues is.
Why did you choose The Opposite of Sex to show at the festival?
It's really well-written. It's very funny. I think people across the board respond really well to it. There were a couple that we were thinking about, and I think ultimately ... It also marks a change in my career. It marks a time in my career when things started to really change for me. So we thought it was apropos.
You're often cited as an example of a successful transition from a child actor to an adult actor. Was there any secret to that?
I think that I was just lucky. I think also I was always sort of a semi-disturbing little kid. Because I was really cute and everything, but I said things that I think disturbed people. I had a presence of mind and will and perspective that was much more adult than I really should have. So I think that once I grew into that presence of mind, people were more than happy to cast me in more mature roles. They're like, "Thank God she fits somewhere."
You've got a reputation for being "dark." Do you think that's a misconception?
It's taken me a long time to just accept the fact that people use the term "dark" to define any kind of emotional turmoil, or emotional angst. Dark, to me, is like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Marilyn Manson, and I've never been that. But, yeah, if you're talking about somebody who understands the human condition and enjoys that—I mean, I don't understand completely the human condition, because of course I'm 26 and kind of a moron, but if that's what you're talking about, yeah, I guess my interests are on the darker side. I'm not sweetness and light.
Having grown up in the spotlight and dealt with those pressures, do you look at people like Lindsay Lohan and wish that you could take them aside and offer them advice?
No, but it's funny how I can sort of spot the ones that are going to be okay. I sort of recognize the behavior in a weird way. I sort of recognize the look in certain people's eyes. It's really interesting.
Do you ever look back at interviews and things you did when you were young and cringe?
Yes. Who wants things that they said when they were 15 to be quoted when they're 26—quoted back to them? It's crazy. That's like hell on Earth for most people. Most people I mention the fact that that happens to me to, they're like, "Oh my God, I can't imagine pictures of me when I was 15 and then the idiotic things I had to say being brought up every single time I do an interview." It's hell on Earth. It's horrible. I was a fucking idiot when I was 17. I was retarded. I was like up on my stupid soapbox. I thought I was a rebel punk, and somebody gave me a microphone. That was just not smart.