IN CONVERSATION WITH CHRISTINA RICCI

Interview by Jana Letonja

Golden Globe, SAG and Emmy nominee Christina Ricci is one of Hollywood’s most respected actors.Recently, Christina was seen in Tim Burton’s ‘Wednesday’, which quickly became Netflix’s second most watched English language series of all time. Next, she will be seen reprising her fan favorite role as Misty Quigley in Showtime’s critically acclaimed ‘Yellowjackets’, which premiered its second season on 26th March.

Christina, you’re one of the main stars in Showtime’s ‘Yellowjackets’, which has been nominated for multiple Emmy Awards. How would you sum up the second season, which we’ll be able to see very soon?

I’d say the second season reveals more about what happened to the girls when they were lost in the wilderness. It also poses more questions in the adult storyline. We see the adult survivors on paths to reuniting. In this second season we really see all of the characters struggling with their identities. Are they good or bad and also is what they are experiencing real or is it a result of their trauma.

Your character Misty Quigley is the former equipment manager of the Yellowjackets soccer team who is eager to please and easy to overlook, but whose abundance of team spirit belies a hidden dark side. What attracted you to portraying Misty and how do you connect with her?

I love the character of Misty. She’s so much fun to play. I’m always interested in deviance or other human behavior, so I was fascinated by the character of Misty as soon as I read the pilot script. I don’t necessarily identify with her, but I love playing a character who is so socially inept and emotionally immature, yet so intensely driven and able to enjoy her life and have fun and grab what she wants all the time in spite of people rejecting her. 

For your performance in ‘Yellowjackets’ you’ve been nominated for an Emmy as the ‘Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series’. How does receiving such acclaim, including for many other awards for various roles, make you feel?

It was so fun to be nominated for an Emmy for Misty and ‘Yellowjackets’. The show is really such a complete surprise and how successful it was and everyone’s response to Misty and how much they loved her, which was also an incredible surprise to me. Being nominated is always wonderful. It’s great to be recognized and that night was just such a celebration and such a good time. 

You got discovered by a local theater critic at the age of seven, who suggested your parents you consider a career as an actress. A year later you then made your acting debut in ‘Mermaids’. How would you say you changed as an actress through all those years in the business?

Oddly enough, I think I’m still a very similar actress to the one I was when I was a child. I still take it all very seriously and want to do my best at all times. I feel really grateful to be in this industry and to be working on interesting, complicated material. The only main difference is that as you get older, it is a little bit different and I think I know how to navigate that a bit better. 

As a child actor, you won over both the audience and critis with your winning portrayal of Wednesday Addams in ‘The Addams Family’. How has this role changed your life?

That role completely changed my life. It made me very successful, pretty well known and I have never stopped talking about the character of  Wednesday since I played her.

At the end of 2022, you also appeared in Netflix’s highly succesful and popular ‘Wednesday’, in a completely different role. What are your thoughts on this series by Tim Burton and Jenna Ortega as Wednesday?

I thought Tim and Jenna and the rest of the writing staff, directors and cast did such an amazing job with ‘Wednesday’. I was really excited to be asked to join the show. I was thrilled to work with Tim again. Jenna is such a perfect Wednesday and it was so fun to watch her bring that character to life.

You are known for playing unusual characters with a dark edge. What makes you love portraying these darker characters?

I am truly fascinated with human behavior. I love playing complicated characters. A lot of them end up being on the darker side and I can’t really explain it.

Who helped you most traverse your career when you were young? And do you now feel confident in your choices?

I had a lot of questioning of my instincts and personal choices when I was younger and I often folded and didn’t follow my instincts. Ultimately, that didn’t work out so great for me and my career. Seeing how following my gut and personal taste has been rewarded in the past few years has really helped me see that I should have been doing that the whole time, so I feel much more confident now.

As a mom of two, how important it is to balance personal life and work?

As a mom, it is very important and also very difficult to balance work and personal life. I’m still kind of figuring out how to do it, especially as my career continues to get busier and busier.

What project will we be seeing you in next? Can you share with us a bit about it?

In the next year, I’ll continue to produce as I have always done. I do plan on directing and I’ll be doing the third season of ‘Yellowjackets’.

talent CHRISTINA RICCI @riccigrams
photographer NINO MUÑOS @ninomunoz
stylist SARAH GORE REEVES @sarahgorereeves
set designer ISAAC AARON @itsisaacaaron
production ALEJANDRO RESTREPO
hair STEPHEN BEAVER @stephenbeaver81
make-up ALLAN AVENDANO @allanface
nails ERI ISHIZU @eriishizu
styling assistants MIA RAPOPORT, CRAIG REYNOLDS & ADARA WHITNEY @miarapoport @craigreyno @adara.a.w
photography assistants KURT MANGUM, BRANDO PAVAN, BRIAN KENDALL @kurtmangum @brandon.pavan @brianskendall
studio STUDIO STROPA @studiostropa
editor TIMOTEJ LETONJA @timiletonja