Reese Witherspoon and Christina Ricci in Penelope Courtesy of Summit Entertainment

It seems to me what is interesting was other than one said feature, the film had Penelope be a normal attractive woman that sort of had to be hidden for fear of being ostracized. What do you think that says about the beauty culture? And was that a conscious decision to not make her a complete ogre, just an attractive woman with one thing that made her stand out?
Well, I'm not so sure that was a conscious decision. I kind of feel like having an animal part on your face as a human is sort of a big deal. I don't think we need to add insult to injury in a way. I do think that one of the things we're trying to say with this movie is that there's nothing wrong with beauty culture, there's nothing wrong with celebrating beauty. In the movie, her looks become so secondary to who she is and what is charming and endearing about her, and her personality and talents is her strength. I think what the movie is saying is that it sort of takes away the importance of stereotypical beauty.

What was it about the script that originally appealed to you?
It was the message and the way the message was framed and presented. [Screenwriter Leslie Caveny] uses the fairy tale structure, which is something that we're all so familiar with that we assume we know what's coming next. And [then] she flips it on its head, and by doing that drives a very important message home in a way that is not preachy or patronizing or manipulative. And so that, to me, was great because I felt like: "Here is a chance to actually say something that is really important but not in a way that is going to feel insulting to people.

What fairy tales or movies with messages did you feel strongly about growing up that impacted you?
When I was a little kid, I feel like every book had a message to it. I feel like even Disney movies had morals to teach us. But I was really enamored by all of the Hans Christian Andersen books. The Ugly Duckling, I love, and the Hans Christian Andersen Little Mermaid was my favorite.

This movie was shot couple of years ago. I was wondering if the delay between the production and its release has given you any different perspective when you see it now or think about your experience when you were playing Penelope?
To play a part, you have to sort of get lost a little bit in their emotions. So I certainly was existing in a place of a lot of not self-hate but maybe a little self-loathing because she has to have that. At the time we were shooting, I was experiencing a lot of self-loathing [as part of the character.] But now that I have had so much time away from it and have some perspective, I can now just watch it and feel good about myself and have fun watching the movie. Whereas when I was doing it, it was fun but there was always this element of having to have self-loathing.

This is not the first time you've taken on a role that has some fantastical or supernatural elements. What about that type of film intrigues you?
I've always loved fantasy. I was a big sci-fi/fantasy geek when I was a teenager, secretly in my room. So I have always wanted to do a fairy tale. I've always wanted to be in a fantasy kind of film or a science fiction. I am naturally sort of attracted to things that are a little bit out of this world.