From the moment she first snapped her fingers in time to The Addams Family theme song, Christina
Ricci was a star.
But despite making it to adulthood free of scandal or addiction, it seems like Christina
Ricci just doesn't get the roles she deserves.
Here's a look at why Hollywood won't cast Christina Ricci anymore.
Typecast
Christina Ricci was just nine years old when she scored her first feature film role in
Mermaids, where she all but stole the show from her co-stars, Winona Ryder and Cher.
The following year, she snagged the role of Wednesday Addams in the first Addams Family
movie, and her status as a pint-sized pre-teen Hollywood icon was complete.
But that role was actually a little too iconic.
Even now, it's hard to shake the image of her with that scowl and those twin black braids.
And she hasn't been helped by the fact that she apparently doesn't age.
So even though it's been a quarter of a century since Addams Family came out, fans and filmmakers
alike continue to think of her as that precocious kid.
And that kind of typecasting can be a death sentence in Hollywood.
Overcompensating
In the same way certain Disney stars hit the scandal circuit a little too hard in an effort
to shed their family-friendly images, Christina Ricci went through a period in her late teens
and early twenties where she really tried to push the envelope and establish herself
as a grownup actress.
The Opposite of Sex, 200 Cigarettes, Buffalo 66, and a turn in John Waters' Pecker all
proved that she could hang tough in dirty, sexy, sleazy, limit-pushing roles — but
it also may have been a little too much at once.
Eclipsed by a Monster
In 2003, Christina Ricci scored what should have been the role that catapulted her onto
the A-list: playing Selby, the girlfriend of serial killer Aileen Wuornos, in the terrifying
biopic Monster.
Only instead of earning mass accolades for her nuanced, heartbreaking performance, Ricci
went virtually unnoticed in the film — because the performance by an almost unrecognizable
Charlize Theron soaked up the entire spotlight.
"My incredible, incredible leading lady, Christina Ricci, Who I couldn't have done this film
without.
You are truly the unsung hero of this film."
To her credit, Ricci was gracious about it, telling The Advocate, "I like to think I also
made a dramatic physical transformation, so it would hurt me a little bit when people
said that…but from the very beginning I understood it was Charlize's passion project.
I took the part of Selby knowing that I was going to be a supporting part of that experience,
so it never seemed weird to me at the time."
She lost confidence
Many actresses struggle with body image, and Ricci is sadly no different, telling Premiere
Magazine about her struggles with anorexia, "I know that had I been thinner at the time
my indie movies were hitting, I could've been in a much better position in my career."
And she's also had issues with her height, saying "I'm five-one first thing in the morning,
and I tend to look really small on camera.
I can probably go as far as Holly Hunter went, then I think that's going to be it.
I have a feeling I am way too small."
Well, when you're shorter than a Smurf...
Time off
After her 2012 comeback film Bel Ami flopped, Ricci took some time off from the industry
to start a family.
The move didn't exactly help keep her in the Hollywood spotlight, but Ricci says it's done
wonders for her outlook on her career and life.
"Having a child changed everything.
It's made everything in my life actually important and matter.
I now have to take things seriously, and I never did before.
I want to succeed for him.
My choices matter more."
Second chance
Now that she's stopped fighting against her public image, Ricci has begun what may be
a major comeback by embracing it instead, with roles in Lizzie Borden and the TV series
Z: The Beginning of Everything.
And her new Zen attitude shows.
"I've always sort of trusted my instincts.
If you do the things that you naturally gravitate towards then there's going to be a through
line through your career and all your choices are going to reflect really who you are and
your tastes."
At this point in her life — as a wife, mother, and showbiz professional with nearly three
decades of experience under her belt — Ricci knows exactly what her taste is, and what
kind of roles she intends to play from now on.
As she put it:
"I really love a crazy person."
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