Christina Ricci was only 9 when she made her movie debut opposite Cher in “Mermaids.”
Now at 25, the petite actress has almost 40 movies under her belt. And when Charlize Theron won her Oscar for “Monster” last year, she thanked Ricci, who played her troubled teenage lover in the true-life story of a serial killer.
Now Ricci bares her fangs and goes to the dark side again in “Cursed,” a straight-up shocker from horror-meister director Wes Craven, opening Friday.
This chiller, set in Los Angeles, tells the story of siblings Jimmie (Jesse Eisenberg) and Ellie (Ricci), who are attacked by a werewolf after crashing their car. They survive to discover they are cursed and now have werewolf powers–and that the only way to get back to normal is to hunt down and kill their attacker.
How was it working with West Craven?
He’s great because he’s just Wes Craven. He’s incredibly experienced, and this is what he does best. He’s really laid-back and smart and very sarcastic and dry. He doesn’t let anything really upset him too much.
Your character develops some werewolf-like powers and heightened senses after being attacked. Are there any of those you’d want to keep?
I have a horrible sense of smell. So I’d like to be able to keep that. I’d also like to be able to climb up walls. That might be fun.
What was it like going from “Monster” to a film about werewolf monsters?
That’s one of the reasons I took “Cursed”–because “Monster” was so heavy and so emotionally draining. “Monster” was a great experience because I loved working with Charlize, and I loved the director, Patty [Jenkins]. But at the same time, when you’re working with material that is that dark, eventually you’re just going to feel a little bit heavy.
So you were looking for a change of pace?
Right. I literally landed in L.A. after filming [“Monster”] in Orlando, and my agent said, “You need to meet Wes Craven tomorrow, and you could start in two weeks if you want to.” I was like, “Yeah, that sounds good–something lighter.”
Are you a fan of horror films?
I like a scary movie. My favorite of all times is the original “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” That was pretty incredible stuff. And “When A Stranger Calls”–oh my God, it’s the scariest movie that I’ve ever seen in my entire life. It’s like two hours of pure anxiety attack.
Did you get lots of film offers after the success of “Monster”?
Not really. It’s always a great thing to have been in a movie that was so good and that affected so many people. But I can’t say that it changed my career that much, although I’m happy to have done it.
How difficult is it to take the crazy stuff in “Cursed” seriously when you’re acting in it?
That was more sort of Wes’ decision. A lot of that stuff wasn’t something we saw shooting the scene. We knew about it, but we didn’t see it because you get the movie tone by the way it’s edited. We just knew that it was a scary movie, and we went for it. Of course some things were meant to be funny, and we did them in a comedic way.
