Christina Ricci Tells Sydney Sweeney How She Managed Nude Scenes: ‘I Just Stayed Naked’
Veteran actor Christina Ricci talked nude scenes with Euphoria’s Sydney Sweeney recently when the pair appeared together on Variety’s Actors on Actors. Both actors have slam-dunk series that are expected to be headed for the 2022 Primetime Emmys. In the interview, Ricci and Sweeney talk about their series, playing dark female Hollywood roles, and how sex scenes have changed for the better.
Christina Ricci and Sydney Sweeney talk sex scenes on Variety’s Actors on Actors
When discussing sex scenes with Sweeney, Yellowjackets’ Ricci recalled a role that required her to be naked “pretty much the entire time.” Remember the experience, Ricci told Sweeney (via Variety) “The thing that made me more uncomfortable was other people being uncomfortable with me being naked.” Ricci continued:
“So … I just stayed naked. I was like, ‘Don’t make me feel weird, like I’m the person who has to be ashamed’ … I wanted everybody around me to stop reacting to it, because then I would forget that I was naked. And it worked.”
Christina Ricci’s movies and her alternative Hollywood roles
Known for being a bit of a rebel, Ricci has a long history of avoiding typical Hollywood roles. The actor’s breakout role came from playing the sardonic and death-obsessed Wednesday Addams in 1991’s The Addams Family and 1993’s The Addams Family Values. Ricci then played young teenager, Kat, in 1995’s Casper in which her best friend is the friendly ghost. That same year, she played tomboy Roberta in Now and Then.
Ricci’s adult career has been similarly peppered with un-Hollywood roles like Layla in Buffalo ’66, Deedee Truitt in The Opposite of Sex, and Lucy in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. “I’m a bit of a contrarian,” the actor tells Sweeney (via Variety), “so I’ve always enjoyed — almost in an immature, rebellious way — playing people that you are supposed to hate. And that’s of course just me being a jerk.”
However, Ricci’s rebellion has led to some of her greatest roles, like Katrina Van Tassel in Sleepy Hollow, Elizabeth in Prozac Nation, Selby in Monster, and, most recently the sociopathic Misty in Showtime’s Yellowjackets. Ricci will also be starring in the upcoming Netflix series Wednesday which is based on the character that started it all for her. Ricci will not be playing Wednesday Addams, however (Jenna Ortega is heading the series), but Ricci’s inclusion in the series has been highly publicized (and kept top-secret).
Sydney Sweeney’s sex scenes in Euphoria
Sweeney is very much a rebel in her own right. Her previous roles include Eden Spencer in The Handmaid’s Tale and Alice in Sharp Objects, but Sweeney is likely best known now for her role on HBO’s Euphoria. Starring alongside Zendaya, Sweeney plays Cassie Howard, a beautiful, popular girl with a desperate need to be loved. Falling in and out of relationships, Cassie gains a bad reputation fueled by leaked nude photos and sex tapes her exes spread after they leave her.
On her character’s many sex scenes, Sweeney tells Ricci, “It’s a very safe environment. I’m very fortunate that I am coming up during a time where there is so much thought in this process, and we now have intimacy coordinators.”
But the actor also points out that many have sexualized her in a similar way as they do Euphoria’s Cassie by constantly talking about her sex scenes in the show. “I see that happening to me in real life, even though everyone watched Euphoria. I go, ‘Did you not learn?’”
Both Sweeney and Ricci are expected to earn nominations at the upcoming 2022 Primetime Emmy Awards. Nominations are expected to be announced on July 13th.
