Though Christina Ricci’s film debut in Mermaids was generally liked, she made an even deeper impression on audiences with her work in the two Addams Family films, as the gleefully morose Wednesday Addams. She followed that with a handful of roles in films largely aimed at younger audiences, including Now And Then and Gold Diggers: The Secret Of Bear Mountain. She transitioned to more adult roles in the late ’90s, with acclaimed indies like The Opposite Of Sex, Buffalo ’66, and The Ice Storm. Since then, she’s starred in films both mainstream (Speed Racer, Sleepy Hollow) and off the beaten path (Monster, Penelope). Ricci has had a few TV guest spots over the years, and she recently took her first starring role in ABC’s promising new stewardesses-in-the-’60s series, Pan Am, where she plays the politically aware, rebellious Maggie. Ricci recently talked to The A.V. Club about the misogyny of the ’60s vs. the misogyny of now, what she likes best about the show’s opulent sets, and what it’s like adjusting to TV work.
The A.V. Club: Your character is a window into the era’s politics and international strife. Did that interest you before you read the script?
Christina Ricci: Yeah. I like that she has more of a worldview than some of the other girls. She has more of an interest in politically what’s going on at the time.
AVC: What about that era intrigued you?
CR: The history of that time is really fascinating. It’s incredible how much our country changed in such a short period of time. It’s really… When you think about how much went on… What’s great about our show is that it’s poised to tackle all that stuff, should the show go on for a couple of years. It’s just so amazing. The civil-rights movement. All that stuff. It’s just incredible.
AVC: In the pilot, your character is on leave after breaking a wardrobe restriction at work. Having grown up in an era where women have more traditional freedoms, how do you feel about portraying a more restrictive era?
CR: It’s interesting. We’re portraying women who are navigating a blatantly misogynistic world, time, and society. And we live in a society that is a thinly veiled misogynistic society. And we are women trying to navigate that. It’s interesting, because in some ways, while it’s nice that everyone pretends the world today is not misogynistic, in other ways, at least before, when it was blatantly misogynistic, it was a little bit more honest. Things were called what they were called, and the rules were set, and people knew what things they had to meet, and what things they had to check off the checklist. And once they abided by certain things, they could then kind of go and run free and avoid things that needed to be avoided. It was, in some ways, less confusing, and in some ways, less dangerous. I struggle with which is better.
AVC: What are the parallels between then and now?
CR: They actually wrote down, “You have to be this weight. You have to look like this. You have to blah blah blah.” These are unwritten rules we have now, but they certainly are rules that we have now. And certainly being an actress, I know that these are unwritten rules. There’s still physical requirements and guidelines. There were mandated behaviors for women that are now not mandated, but certainly expected. There’s different treatment for men and women. Back then, it was expected and probably openly talked about. Now, you know the same things still go on, but now we just pretend they don’t.