Why Playing Wednesday Addams Came Naturally To Christina Ricci

It's easy to forget while watching Misty's frazzled and slightly duplicitous demeanor in "Yellowjackets" that Emmy-nominated star Christina Ricci is hiding underneath. It's been a consistently brilliant turn from the actress in the mystery thriller series that follows a girl's high school soccer team that survives a plane crash and the ones who live to talk about the subsequent horrors. However, while Misty might be a character that fans will be fond of, there's one from the beginning of her career that she'll always be linked to. That little girl with a glare that could kill from "The Addams Family," Wednesday Addams. 

Taking on the role in 1991's "The Addams Family" and again in 1993's "The Addams Family Values," Ricci had it down as the dead-eyed daughter of Gomez and Morticia Addams (Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston, respectively) at only ten years old. Now, while acting at a young age might seem demanding, particularly for a character as deadpan as Wednesday, according to Ricci, getting into the role was simple. All she had to do was absolutely nothing.

Speaking to The New Yorker about "Yellowjackets" and her previous roles, the career-defining gig as Wednesday naturally came up, leading the star to reveal how her early part was actually something of a personal release. "Wednesday to me felt like who I could be when I didn't have to put it on for other people," she explained. "When fights broke out in the house, I would do something crazy and make everyone laugh. I knew when I had to be charming and happy and when other people needed to be cheered up."

For Wednesday, Ricci simply needed to take the opposite approach, which she was all for. "There was no emotion, no nothing, and for me, that was great because it felt like I could just relax and not do any work at all." How fitting, then, that the role Ricci was most comfortable in also became one of her most iconic. 30 years later, it would finally be matched by Jenna Ortega's turn as the character in Netflix's "Wednesday," where the passing of the terrifying torch was something Ricci got to see firsthand, appearing on the show in the role of Marilyn Thornhill. Speaking to Elle Magazine about her co-star's performance as the morbid teen, she said, "She is so brave, so cool, and really doing the part justice. Wednesday is her part now." Well, it is a brand new day, after all.