Interview: Christina Ricci talks SPEED RACER

The IESB sat down with a group of journalists and talked with Christina Ricci about SPEED RACER and her role as loyal girlfriend TRIXIE!


Read the interview in its entirety below! SPEED RACER opens in theaters May 9th!

Q: Beautiful dress.

Christina Ricci: Thanks. It's Yves Saint Laurent.
Q: How did you like Trixie's fashion sense?

CR: I enjoyed it immensely. A lot of pink. Pink and red which is kind of awesome. I liked her clips and her makeup. It was really fun. It's fun to play someone who's a little bit cartoonish. They dressed me up like a doll, but then they let me go and fight people and race cars and fly a helicopter so it was fun.

Q: You've played a character that was a comic strip creation with 'The Addams Family'. Did you have to think twice on this or were you really eager to work with the Wachowskis?

CR: No, I didn't think twice. That didn't even occur to me. That was so long ago. I was like ten years old. So, no. I was just really excited. I wanted to work with the Wachowskis and I've been hearing about 'Speed Racer' for the past ten years and people have said for a really long time that I should play Trixie and that I look like Trixie. So I thought, 'Awesome. I'll go in and read for this.'

Q: Did you see the resemblance when you finally saw the source material?

CR: Well, people have told me that I looked like anime for a long time and so after a while you're like, 'Okay, fine.'

Q: What does that mean?

CR: I have big eyes and a small chin, I would imagine. You don't see it?

Q: I don't watch a lot of anime.

CR: Me neither.

Q: Can you talk about what it is in a script that makes you want to do a film? Can you talk about that process?

CR: Well, I think it's different with every movie. With this movie it was like, 'Oh, wow. A "Speed Racer" movie. That's exciting. It's exciting that I'm being called in to read for that. Oh, it's the Wachowski Brothers directing? I've always wanted to work with them.' So then you read it and make sure that there's nothing offensive in it and then it's kind of like a no brainer really. Of course I'd want to be in this movie. But with other scripts, it's like, 'Does anything in this movie seem like it'll be fun? Is there anything about this character that's challenging for me or something that I've never done before?' I think you're constantly looking for something new and different unless it's, as I said, a director that you've always wanted to work with or an actor that you've always wanted to work with or a genre that you're not often thought of for.