If anyone was going to take Halloween seriously, it’s Christina Ricci. The actor has spent decades as the reigning queen of spooky season: Casper, The Addams Family, Sleepy Hollow, Cursed, Wednesday. So, it tracks that she’d have a few tricks up her sleeve when it comes to pulling off the holiday as a mom.
Now, Ricci is putting all of that Halloween acumen to work as part of the Reese’s Halloween Council, a group of absurdly qualified icons tasked with crowning Reese’s Trick-or-Treatiest Street in America. (Hocus Pocus star Kathy Najimy is also on the council!)
Ricci spoke with Scary Mommy about her family’s go-to spooky season traditions and hacks, as well as the pile of Yellowjackets mementos sitting in her ADHD doom pile.
Scary Mommy: You're on the Reese's Halloween Council, which sounds like a dream job.
Christina Ricci: It really is. There were so many Reese's Pieces and Peanut Butter Cups in front of us. It was dreamy.
SM: Jealous! What makes a street worthy of the "Trick-or-Treatiest" title in your mind?
CR: For me, I love really big decorations, like the big skeleton climbing over the back of a garage or the giant spider overwhelming the front door. I love that kind of stuff. And I like lights. All the lights. The little orange twinkly lights and the little lit-up pumpkins. I also love carving jack-o'-lanterns. For me, that really says Halloween. I like to see a lot of jack-o'-lanterns out.
SM: I was curious whether you were a pumpkin painter or a pumpkin carver, but I guess that answers it.
CR: Oh, I carve them and then I spray them with spray paint. My favorite is when you do gold metallic or a silver metallic, because if you spray the inside too, when you put the candle in there, the whole thing is lit up and metallic-y and super fun. And glitter. I love glitter. I sprayed one with a glitter spray paint the other year, and that was really amazing too. In California, if you carve them too early, they collapse and squirrels eat them. But if you spray them with spray paint, squirrels don't eat them and they get preserved.
SM: This is so smart. I love the idea that “Halloween is bigger than the candy bucket.” What's a tradition in your house that has nothing to do with candy?
CR: I always make my kids decide what their costume's going to be, and we get it all together pretty early. I've learned from the past, we don't want any tears on Halloween night. We do a dry run, and then if there needs to be any fixes, we have enough time to fix them. That's one of my traditions: early costume decisions and procurement. Then we decorate the house. And when I was pre-children, I would spend my Halloween giving out candy and watching horror films, but now we trick-or-treat. So yeah, I'm out there.
SM: I've never really even thought about doing a dry run for Halloween costumes, but that is genius.
CR: I have a lot of anxiety, so I troubleshoot things. The worst thing is your kid crying on the night because they hate their costume and they have nothing else to go as. That's just the worst. And it happened one year, and so I will never have that happen again.
SM: I have a high-anxiety kid, so I totally understand. Thanks to your roles, you're kind of like the patron saint of spooky season. Have you always had a heart for Halloween?
CR: I think Halloween is super fun. When I was a kid, I loved that we got to go out at nighttime. Running around the streets at night felt completely unhinged and insane when I was a child. The night is so fun and everybody's out and everybody's trick-or-treating; I've always loved it.
And also candy was such a huge thing when I was a kid because we weren't allowed to have candy except for on holidays. Halloween was the night where we got all the candy, and that was always super exciting and fun for me.
SM: Your kids are at an age where they might have discovered Casper or The Addams Family. What’s been their review so far of your stuff they’ve watched?
CR: My son saw my stuff young, and I think he's kind of over me now, but my daughter hasn't seen any of my movies or anything yet, so I don't know what she'll think. My son thinks it's very cool that I am an actress and that I have been in so many things, and he loved both Addams Family movies, and he also loved Wednesday, the series, the first season. I think he's proud of me.
SM: He's a fan! But yeah, kids love to keep you humble too.
CR: He does like to ask me questions like, "Have you ever met Rihanna?" Shit like that, which is kind of funny. The other day he was like, "Mom, were you alive when Tupac was around?" And I was like, "Yes, yes, I was. Yes, I was, sir."
SM: Oh my God, that's amazing. We have to talk a little teensy bit about Yellowjackets because the final season comes out soon. What was it like for you to say goodbye to Misty, and did you take anything from set?
CR: I am not a nostalgic person at all. Well, certain things, but not about the things that people would think, and I never keep anything. But on this show, I guess because people had known me for so long, they forced me to keep stuff. Literally, I didn't take anything, and then the prop department put together a care package and FedExed it to me, so I can't avoid having stuff.
Some of the wardrobe was mine — the leather jacket is mine — so I have one of those still. And then I have one of my wigs because the hair department sent it to me, and I have some other props.
SM: That's so funny they sent it to you.
CR: No, I know. It's really interesting. People were so uncomfortable. I also am someone who doesn't take pictures, and people forced a lot of this on me at the end. I'm actually looking at the pile of stuff that's still in my bedroom, because of course I have an ADHD doom pile in the corner, and there's a lot of stuff from Yellowjackets in it. Yep.
SM: You're an Aquarius, right? You sound so much like my husband, also an Aquarius.
CR: Ha! We’re supposed to be real weirdos as Aquarians.
SM: All the best ones are. It’s funny about you not being nostalgic because I was going to say Hollywood has an endless appetite for a nostalgic IP, and I know you have spoken fondly about working on Mermaids. Is there any world in which you see some sort of reboot there? Where do you think Kate would be as an adult?
CR: That's a fun question. I guess Kate would be my age. No, no, it was the ‘60s. Sorry. Well, that's that whole other thing; it'd have to be period. But yeah, I don't really know. I mean, it would be so fun for there to be some sort of reboot. I see Noni [Winona Ryder] every once in a while, but I haven't seen Cher since I was 13 years old, so that would be something else.
SM: OK, two quick rapid-fire questions to finish. Wednesday Addams or Misty Quigley, who survives a haunted house longer?
CR: I think they both would do fine.
SM: The grand finale… are you a Reese's OG cup purist or are you a Reese's Pumpkins person?
CR: I love the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup holiday shapes. It's one of my favorite things. The pumpkins at Halloween, the trees at Christmas, the bunnies at Easter — they really make me happy. Frozen in the freezer, grab them out, throw them in your purse, eat them later. I'm a very big fan of the shapes.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
source https://www.scarymommy.com/entertainment/christina-ricci-interview-halloween-traditions
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