Christina Ricci Reveals The Awful Reason Why Her 12-Year-Old Self Lost A Major Role To Natalie Portman

Christina Ricci talks about how she lost a major role to Natalie Portman. The Yellowjackets star started her career as a child star, featuring in the 1990 movie, Mermaids, and scored her big break portraying Wednesday Addams in the 1991 movie The Addams Family. She transitioned into more adult-themed roles in 200 Cigarettes, The Ice Storm, Buffalo ’66, and many more. In the Tim Burton-directed Netflix series Wednesday, she appeared as Marilyn Thornhill, a teacher at Nevermore Academy.

Most recently, Ricci played a sadistic healthcare worker in the hit show Yellowjackets. The show follows a group of girls who are stranded in the wilderness after a plane crash, taking place in dual timelines. Ricci’s character, Misty, is one of the survivors in the present timeline who is still haunted by what happened to them in the woods. While promoting the show’s season 3, Ricci reflects on her childhood career, where she admits to being bummed about losing a role to Portman.

Christina Ricci Lost Leon: The Professional Role To Natalie Portman

She Auditioned For Matilda

Leon: The Professional is a 1994 crime thriller directed by Luc Besson. In the movie, Portman plays a 12-year-old Matilda, who is taken by a professional assassin named Leon (Jean Reno) after her family is murdered. Despite controversies about Matilda’s age, the movie is considered a cult classic. Before Portman was cast as Matilda, Ricci was one of the child actors who auditioned for the role.

Why Luc Besson’s Leon: The Professional Sequel Was Cancelled

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While talking to Melanie Lynskey on First We Feast, Ricci revealed how she lost the role to Portman. The actor admits that she really wanted to be in the movie but recalls being too “healthy-looking” for the role. Check out what she said below:

Ricci: I really wanted to be in The Professional. I was too common and healthy-looking.

Lynskey: What a time.

Ricci: What a time to be 12.

Our Take On Ricci Losing The Role Of Matilda In Leon: The Professional

It May Have Worked Out The Best For Her

Misty burns a photo of her and the other survivors in Yellowjackets season 3, episode 3

In Leon: The Professional, Portman, who was a teenager, plays a young girl who develops a bond with the hitman and becomes infatuated with him. The actor has previously opened up about being sexualized as a child after appearing in the movie. As a cult classic, Matilda still follows Portman to some degree, despite having played many other iconic characters in blockbusters and critically acclaimed movies.

In retrospect, Ricci may have dodged a bullet by being cast as Matilda. In addition to commenting on the twisted nature of Matilda, her comments also offer a glimpse of the chilling reality of being a child actor in the 1990s. Ricci grew up in the business, and back then, being a child actor meant harsh criticism and being cast for roles that might sexualize them. Regardless, both Ricci and Portman have grown as actors and have solidified their careers in one way or another.

Source: First We Feast