Christina Ricci in Penelope Courtesy of Summit Entertainment

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Having most recently played a brutalized nymphomaniac put under a form of house arrest by Samuel L. Jackson in last year's Black Snake Moan, Christina Ricci abandons the chains and the torn tank-top to take on a very different role. In an adaptation of a Marylin Kaye fairy tale produced by Reese Witherspoon, she plays the titular role in Penelope, the story of a girl who shies away from the outside world because she has been cursed with the snout of a pig. Penelope must learn the lesson of self-acceptance, and come to love herself and celebrate being different in order to overcome her affliction. The offbeat indie queen who as a child charmed audiences as Wednesday in 1991's The Addams Family and as a teenager played provocative roles in films like The Opposite of Sex and Buffalo '66 has transformed from dark and brooding moon-faced kid to voluptuousness pin-up. Taking on a role that addresses the struggle of self-image and finding security in individuality, Ricci found importance in the film's message and here talks about [the lack of] importance of stereotypical beauty, how young women allow their insecurities to cripple them, and how she has learned to overcome her deep-seated shyness.

You told Premiere magazine in 2006 that your "openness is just part of the job" and you would let people do whatever they need to you in order to achieve the image or visuals required for the film. I think many Hollywood actresses might have hesitated to wear a pig's snout. Did you have any hesitations when you considered a role like this one?
I am willing to let people do to me whatever they need to get across a specific message in a film. I won't do just anything I am told. But if it has merit and if it has value to the story and what we are actually doing to the character, then I am very, very open. So I don't want it to sound like I am the good-time girl who will do anything. But it never crossed my mind that playing a girl wearing a pig nose would be not a good thing. It just never occurred to think that that could be at all detrimental.

You have said that you still have to audition for movies. Did you have to audition for this film and I was wondering what it was like to work with Mark [Palansky], who is actually a first time director? And also to work with Reese [Witherspoon], who's both a costar and producer.
This movie I didn't have to audition for. This movie Reese submitted directly to me. So that was great, and very flattering. I have a lot of respect for Reese. I'd known her for a couple years, and we've had over the years many conversations about the business and women's issues. How her views of the world have sort of changed ever since she had a daughter. So I was very flattered that she chose me. She's great to work with. She was a great producer for this movie to have because she was just so strong in making sure that this film always stayed true to its initial intention.

Mark is an incredibly talented director. Technically, he's so incredibly proficient, having been a Second Unit Director for so long. But also artistically, the visuals he comes up with, what he sees in his head and is able to manifest are just really beautiful. I think the biggest challenge for him and what might have scared him the most on this movie is that it would be the first time he'd be dealing with actors that much. He had a wonderful sort of collaborative, non-overly authoritative, approach to it.