Christina Ricci: Nouveau Ricci

Two decades after making her film debut as Cher's youngest daughter in Mermaids, Christina Ricci takes her first Broadway bow opposite Laura Linney as naive event planner Mandy -- a role Alicia Silverstone played earlier this year -- in Donald Margulies's Iraq war-themed drama Time Stands Still, which reopens October 7 at the Cort Theatre. At the risk of alienating the gay fans she attracted with her portrayal of Aileen Wuornos's lover in Monster and her Golden Globe-nominated performance as a devious teen in Don Roos's The Opposite of Sex, the 30-year-old actress explains why she'd never revisit Wednesday in the Addams Family musical.

The Advocate: Christina Ricci is replacing Alicia Silverstone in a Broadway play. I never thought I'd hear myself say those words.
Christina Ricci: I know it sounds weird because you don't think of she and I playing the same roles, but those who know me personally can understand it. I am the one who, like this character, gets very intimidated by really artistic, respected people and ends up saying silly things. People sometimes think of me as very dark and without levity, but I am the person who's always cutting out heart shapes and trying to put glitter on shit.

Was Broadway always part of your plan?
No, I had terrible stage fright, so people eventually stopped bringing it up. But when I was coming back from making Bel Ami with Robert Pattinson, my agent, who also represents Laura Linney, asked me if I wanted to read for Time Stands Still, and I completely forgot I had stage fright. Literally, walking home from the audition, I was like, Oh, shit, I just remembered I hate acting in front of people. So now I'm sort of ignoring it.

I love how casually you just namedropped R-Patz. Are you a Twilight fan?
OK, first of all, publicists train you to say your credits along with your costars. You can't be shy about self-promotion; it's like Kathy Griffin or something. [Laughs] I'm a very lazy pop culture fan -- if it involves leaving my living room, I'm pretty clueless -- so I've never seen a single Twilight movie, and I guess I missed it when it was on Starz. But Rob's a lovely individual.

Do you two share a love scene in Bel Ami?
We do. But he's like your best friend's little brother, so we would just laugh and make fun of each other the entire time. He thought it was outrageous how comfortable I was being naked. I was like, "That's because I'm 20 years older than you." Seriously, I've never felt so old in my entire life.