--- title: Christina Ricci on Zelda Fitzgerald Role description: Addams Family actress Christina Ricci will play Zelda Fitzgerald this year, but it wasn't easy to land the role. canonical: https://time.com/4648485/christina-ricci-zelda-fitzgerald-misogyny/ author: Megan Lasher article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-25T18:03:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:04:31.471Z og:title: Why Christina Ricci Has to Fight to Be Taken Seriously og:description: The star of 'Z: The Beginning of Everything' opens up about Hollywood’s misogyny og:url: https://time.com/4648485/christina-ricci-zelda-fitzgerald-misogyny/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1fb84301a45d8f10/6988b727cf40a8525cc46302/christina-ricci-zelda-misogyny.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Celebrities Visit SiriusXM - January 24, 2017 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Christina Ricci Has to Fight to Be Taken Seriously twitter:description: The star of 'Z: The Beginning of Everything' opens up about Hollywood’s misogyny twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1fb84301a45d8f10/6988b727cf40a8525cc46302/christina-ricci-zelda-misogyny.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Christina Ricci Has to Fight to Be Taken Seriously by [Megan Lasher](https://time.com/author/megan-lasher/) ## Megan Lasher Jan 25, 2017 6:03 PM UTC  Christina Ricci visits at SiriusXM Studios on January 24, 2017 in New York City. Christina Ricci visits at SiriusXM Studios on January 24, 2017 in New York City.Robin Marchant—Getty Images by [Megan Lasher](https://time.com/author/megan-lasher/) ## Megan Lasher Jan 25, 2017 6:03 PM UTC [Christina Ricci](http://ew.com/article/2015/09/22/christina-ricci-morticia-addams-addams-family/) will be the first of three women to play [Zelda Fitzgerald](http://time.com/4036984/f-scott-fitzgerald-snark/) in upcoming roles, but the _Addams Family_ actress said it wasn’t easy to [take on the role](http://ew.com/article/2016/12/07/z-beginning-everything-zelda-fitzgerald-trailer-amazon/). Not only did she need weeks of intensive ballet classes and a complete style change, but she also had trouble convincing others that she was a good fit for the role. “I do have to fight to be taken seriously. Being very small and young-looking and an actress? Oh my god. People are just like, ‘Well, this one’s an idiot. Clearly,'”[she told ELLE](http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/interviews/a42395/christina-ricci-z-beginning-everything/).”I’m not a traditional leading lady. I don’t look like one. I don’t act like one. I’ve never in my life been cast in this sort of romantic lead. But you have to fight for yourself, nobody is going to do it for me. I’ll do it myself.” Ricci, who stars in and is an executive producer of _Z: The Beginning of Everything,_ said it [wasn’t just men](http://motto.time.com/4594334/tina-fey-post-election-misogyny/) making the presumptions. “The sad truth is that it’s usually the other women who are not taking you seriously,” she said. “The reason misogyny doesn’t really seem to lessen as much over time as other social problems is because I think women really buy into it and perpetuate it in a lot of ways. I’m excited about this next generation coming up because they don’t seem to have those issues.” [Read more at ELLE.com](http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/interviews/a42395/christina-ricci-z-beginning-everything/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4648485/christina-ricci-zelda-fitzgerald-misogyny/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4648485/christina-ricci-zelda-fitzgerald-misogyny/"},"headline":"Why Christina Ricci Has to Fight to Be Taken Seriously","datePublished":"2017-01-25T18:03:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:04:31.471Z","description":"The star of Z: The Beginning of Everything opens up about Hollywood’s misogyny","url":"https://time.com/4648485/christina-ricci-zelda-fitzgerald-misogyny/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1fb84301a45d8f10/6988b727cf40a8525cc46302/christina-ricci-zelda-misogyny.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan Lasher","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-lasher/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1fb84301a45d8f10/6988b727cf40a8525cc46302/christina-ricci-zelda-misogyny.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Celebrities Visit SiriusXM - January 24, 2017","caption":"Christina Ricci visits at SiriusXM Studios on January 24, 2017 in New York City.","creditText":"Robin Marchant—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4648485/christina-ricci-zelda-fitzgerald-misogyny/","name":"Why Christina Ricci Has to Fight to Be Taken Seriously"}}]}] ```