Yellowjackets' Christina Ricci Reveals The Sad Thing Her Managers Worried About In The '90s
Christina Ricci started working regularly as a teenager in the '90s, and has maintained her Hollywood career over the course of the decades that have passed since. Ricci's TV and movie highlights span her breakout portrayal of Wednesday Addams in the two '90s "Addams Family" films, working with edgy independent director Vincent Gallo on "Buffalo '66," starring opposite Charlize Theron in "Monster," and most recently joining the adult cast of acclaimed Showtime drama "Yellowjackets."
In spite of so many memorable roles, however, Hollywood oftentimes won't cast Ricci anymore, seemingly due to a confluence of reasons including the extent to which she's associated with Wednesday Addams, and her affinity for grittier projects. Of course, while these factors may preclude her from certain major, mainstream films and TV shows, Ricci has remained a staple of maybe-just-slightly-left-of-center productions still eager to work with her, including "Yellowjackets."
During a group interview alongside her fellow adult "Yellowjackets" cast members, Ricci delved further into one particular struggle she experienced in her early days as an actor that sheds some new light on the trajectory of her career leading into the present day.
Ricci's manager in the '90s wanted her to avoid becoming a character actor
In a wide-ranging interview alongside her "Yellowjackets" co-leads Tawny Cypress, Juliette Lewis, and Melanie Lynskey with The Hollywood Reporter, Christina Ricci discussed, among a number of other topics, some disheartening guidance she received from her agents in the '90s.
Ricci opened up about this after THR interviewer Rebecca Keegan brought up the fact that she, Cypress, Lewis, and Lynskey all fall under what could be considered the character actor umbrella. "'Character actress' used to be something they used to describe an ugly woman," Ricci said. She then recounted how her agents specifically cautioned her against becoming like "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" star Jennifer Jason Leigh. "I was like, 'I like her.' They were so afraid of me not being a leading lady, of me not being sexually attractive to people. It was really the last thing I ever wanted, was for anyone to be attracted to me," Ricci continued.
Of course, in the late '90s, when Ricci's agents gave her this so-called guidance, she was still a teenager, arguably compounding its inappropriateness. Fortunately, Ricci seems to be thriving today, and capable of speaking nonchalantly about what was most likely at the time a difficult experience that may well have negatively impacted her acting career in its wake.