American actress Christina Ricci, who stars in the series Z: The Beginning of Everything — based on the life of novelist Zelda Fitzgerald and F. Scott Fitzgerald — says she went through extensive reading to understand her character as Zelda.
Z: The Beginning of Everything has been described as a telling of the “passionate, turbulent love affair and marriage” of the two novelists, and shows the alcoholism, adultery and struggle with dashed dreams and mental illness that leads to Zelda’s tragic, untimely end.
Ricci, known for her work in Sleepy Hollow and Grey’s Anatomy, was speaking in an interview from New York about the role.
“I read everything I could really about her. These books based my introduction to her once we had the setup at Amazon. I started reading both of her biographies by Sally Cline and Nancy Milford. I also read a biography of him [Scott Fitzgerald]... I read all his novels, and I read her novel as well. I just did tonnes and tonnes of reading,” he said.
David Hoflin plays Scott Fitzgerald in the series, which has been told from Zelda’s point of view.
Ricci said: “It’s an interesting point of view. The story has never been told from Zelda’s point of view before. In addition, even the fact that Zelda’s life has never been told on camera before [is interesting]. I hope people see it and learn a little bit more about her.”
Starting her career as a child actor, Ricci starred in various television shows and films and bagged various awards, including Young Artist Awards, Satellite Awards, and Florida Film Critics Circle Awards.
With Z: The Beginning of Everything releasing on a digital medium, Ricci was asked to comment on the consumption of digital content, which is increasingly used the world over.
“I think that new media and the digitalisation of television and film in entertainment will really have a global effect,” she said.
