Cannes Film Festival 2013

'Beautiful Creatures' star Emmy Rossum discusses Ridley's new style, future

'Shameless' star enjoyed playing the bad girl


In Richard LaGravenese's "Beautiful Creatures," Emmy Rossum's Ridley Duchannes captures the essence of the character from Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl's bestselling YA novel, while making dramatic and effective external changes. 
 
Gone is the lollypop-sucking Lolita with the pink streaks in her hair and the cosplay wardrobe. Instead, the character has a still-sexy Old Hollywood glamour that makes the linkage between Ridley's dark caster powers as a man-luring siren and the fact that retro movie starlets were also called sirens. 
 
I sat down with Rossum last weekend and we discussed Ridley's big screen makeover and her inspirations, as well as a new scene that explores Ridley's Claiming, the moment she became a dark caster.
 
I was a bit less successful in getting Rossum to go along with my attempted thematic linkage between Ridley and Fiona, her character on Showtime's "Shameless." Not all reportorial tangents can be successful and I still insist this one makes sense.
 
Finally, Rossum seems excited about exploring Ridley's progression in potential sequels, though she gives away a plot point from the new book in Garcia and Stohl's saga. She does, however, offer a helpful "spoiler warning."
 
Check out the full interview above.
 
Stay tuned over the next week for more interests with the stars of "Beautiful Creatures," including Jeremy Irons and Viola Davis.
 
"Beautiful Creatures" opens on February 14.
Dan-feinberg-sm
Daniel Fienberg
Executive Editor
A long-time member of the TCA Board and a longer-time blogger of "American Idol," Dan Fienberg writes about TV, except for when he writes about movies or sometimes writes about the Red Sox. But never music. He would sound stupid talking about music.

Comments

  • Option 1

    Comment instantly as a guest Guest
  • Option 2

    Connect
  • Option 3

    Login or create a HitFix account Login Signup
  • Default-avatar

    pria

    I'm here for any and all interaction between you and Emmy Rossum.

    I agree more with her that Fiona and Ridley don't have much in common, except maybe they're both promiscuous. Fiona made a selfless choice in taking care of her siblings, Ridley made a selfish one.

    February 8, 2013 at 4:57AM EST Reply to Comment
    • Gizmo_bigger_talkback_profile

      dan Pria - That's why I said they were different sides of the same coin! I didn't say they were the same people, but they're definitely young women thrust into circumstances out of their choosing and forced prematurely into very different kinds false maturity. She seemed to think I was saying they were the same people, which I totally wasn't.

      But I, too, am a big supporter of Emmy/Dan interaction.

      -Daniel

      February 8, 2013 at 1:29PM EST
  • Default-avatar

    pria

    I think she understood what you meant, but while Ridley was thrust into a circunstance, Fiona chose her circunstance, and it wasn't like from one point forward, Fiona always had those parents and surely had to pick up the slack from a very young age, she made a choice to take care of her siblings and stick around, so you have to really stretch to see similarity in their situations, which is what Emmy ended up relaying. I like that she didn't act like she agreed with you and made up a response in agreement, because it was obvious she had never thought about it in those terms and didn't really see it (which I don't either, but I appreciate you bringing Shameless into the interview anyway). =)

    Dan, did you enjoy the movie? I've seen mixed reviews.

    February 8, 2013 at 5:55PM EST Reply to Comment
    • Gizmo_bigger_talkback_profile

      dan Pria - The movie's a mixed bag. Parts work very well -- including every second Emmy happens to be in -- and then parts work much less well... I like a lot of the performances and a lot of the tone of the movie.

      -Daniel

      February 8, 2013 at 5:59PM EST
    • Default-avatar

      pria Thanks Dan, i'm excited mostly for Emmy playing a fun bag girl role, and looking glamorous and hot doing it.

      February 8, 2013 at 6:07PM EST

Get Instant Alerts on Breaking News

Latest Posts
More Posts
Recent Activity on Facebook
Most Popular on Facebook
Top Stories From Around the Web