Growing up on screen hasn't cursed Ricci

Christina Ricci's reputation as the Queen of Quirk can only be enhanced by her new film "Penelope." She plays a woman with a sow's snout. In the film, it's the result of a witch's curse, but in a recent interview, Ricci called it a visible manifestation of the shaky self-esteem that can plague anyone.

"I had the same sort of insecurity issues I think everybody goes through in adolescence," said Ricci, who has described her own appearance as "not mainstream-looking."

The movie's message is that those feelings are unnecessary. The plot reverses the typical fairy-tale solution, where the love of a good man lifts the curse.

"You have to learn to love yourself," Ricci said. "She's saving herself by not allowing any insecurity to keep her from living and loving her life."

The 28-year-old actress began working professionally at age 6 and made her breakthrough as the somber Wednesday in "The Addams Family" movie. While many actors who begin their careers as young as she did are tabloid regulars, there has never been a whiff of scandal about Ricci.

"When I was being a sort of rebellious teen or in my early 20s, and feeling and going through what everyone goes through at that age, there wasn't this paparazzi culture," she said. "There were a couple tabloids and you read them in line when you were at the grocery store and that's it.

"So I was able to mess up and do stupid things, but not have paparazzi waiting to document everything. And now that there is that kind of culture, I don't really do anything that's worthy of being talked about."

Ricci's résumé reads like a movie geek's wish list. She has worked with some of the most influential directors in America -- Woody Allen, Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, Ang Lee and John Waters. This summer she shifts gears to play the female lead in the Wachowskis' live-action adaptation of "Speed Racer." It's a dramatic leap from the kind of arthouse fare that has informed her career so far. For one thing, she had to perform with a chimpanzee who had a tendency to ad lib.

"On my first day of work, my first shot, my first take, he freaked out and grabbed my left breast. Would not let go. And I was trying to be very calm because I didn't want him to do anything else crazy. So I just quietly was saying, 'Help. Help. Ow. Ow.'

"The rest of the cast in the scene were turned away from me. So they looked back at me with this look of, 'Nobody's called "Cut," why is she talking?' And then I think they realized what was hanging off of my left breast. I can see how it's funny."

Making a popcorn blockbuster doesn't mean that the star of "Monster," "Black Snake Moan" and "The Ice Storm" has sold out, Ricci insisted.

"Most of us want a blockbuster and are prepared to sell out if necessary, reasoning that after you sell out, you will be able to do all these amazing dramatic films that you couldn't get to do before. But the thing is, I didn't have to sell out at all because the Wachowskis are awesome, and the movie's actually going to be really, really good and something to be proud of. I was completely prepared to sell out and I didn't have to. I couldn't feel luckier."

Colin Covert • 612-673-7186