Penelope is a modern fairy tale but it doesn't go overboard with the fairy tale images. The world of the girl with the pig nose is just slightly heightened and colorful with sets and costumes. That made it easy for Christina Ricci to get into character.
Ricci is Penelope
"It was really fun," she said. "I loved any of the stuff that we did on the stages, when we were inside their house. It was so great to just be around that kind of stuff, and it really set a tone for everybody. I think production design is a great way to very succinctly inform a whole group of actors and crew as to what the tone of the film’s going to be, and how to fall in line and make themselves make sense within the environment that’s been created. Sometimes it’s harder to do that because you don’t have a common language yet with the director. So, I feel like, if you have such strong production design, like that, it’s really inspirational."
The pig nose was practical makeup, no CGI here. "It took about an hour and a half. It’s not fun to have something glued to your face. It just isn’t. It wasn’t really that bad. It didn’t take that long. And, I had a rule that I wasn’t allowed to really acknowledge how irritating it was or touch it or scratch it or complain until we only had like three hours left of the day because I knew that if I started in the beginning, I would just be irritated all day long and want to rip it off my face. So, I felt that, if I started late in the day then I could tolerate three hours of being really irritated."
Penelope
The appliance was such a surprise that the filmmakers would not even let Ricci leave the set wearing their prized effect. "They were very sensitive about me being seen with the nose, so I couldn’t walk. We would be on the streets of London and I’d want to go to Starbucks, or something, and they would just panic. I’d walk out of the trailer and you’d see the P.A.’s panic and say, 'Does she have her scarf on her face?'”
Of course, going out with a scarf wrapped around your face isn't very cool either. "[That] also made me look like a freak. So, really, I just stayed inside."
There were days, however, when Penelope covers up, so Ricci did not have to nose up every day. "Oh, yeah, I didn’t have to put the nose on underneath the scarf."
Add to Heffee!
