"There's a New Chelsea in Town"

Chelsea Ricketts is best known for guest-starring in TV series like Lincoln Heights and 10 Things I Hate About You. But now the 22 year-old hopes to make her mark in film with a role as Nadie Logan in the sports drama Crooked Arrows. But while she has mostly done TV, Ricketts did tell us this is not her first feature film.

“I did have one film film that I did once before that I did when I was like 17 or something,” Chelsea reveals, “But this is definitely my first film that will be all theatres and all that, so it was really cool.”

Chelsea shared with us the experience of doing a feature film versus television.

“Not that I have a ton of films to compare it to, but I feel like it was so different from everything else,” Ricketts recalls, “Everybody was more passionate about it. It wasn’t just another movie because the whole cast, all the boys, are actual lacrosse players. They’re real Native American lacrosse players, so this movie meant so much more to everyone, which I found really, really cool.”

In the film, Ricketts plays the sister of a coach of a high school lacrosse team. Lacrosse is the oldest American sport invented by Native Americans and she says that this film is the first film to truly tackle it.

“That’s what first drew me to the script,” she says, “A lot of people are saying, ‘Why do you like the movie?’ Blah, blah, blah, but I always try to look for something that’s new and inventive. Like I love finding a script, reading it, and being like, I’ve never heard this before, I never seen it before, or I’ve never read this, and that’s what this was.”

“I’ve never seen any lacrosse movies and it was really unique to me to have Native Americans modern day portrayed in modern day,” Chelsea continues, “Every Native American film you see is mostly a period piece almost

"There's a New Chelsea in Town"

always or mythical like Twilight or something, but this one truly is. This is the boys’ lives, this is really how it is, it’s very, very true to the culture, which was cool.”

Chelsea says she herself has Native American ancestry in her blood.

“I wasn’t even raised in that and the boys were all mostly raised on reservations,” Ricketts says, “From birth, they were raised with that culture, I wasn’t and I have a very small part on my father’s side, so I didn’t grow up with all of that. It was just really cool to tap into it and learn about it.”

“The sport to them is so much more,” she adds, “It’s their medicine game, it’s a healing sport to them, and they relate it to every aspect to their life, which you hear that and you’re like, OK, but when you hear them talk about it, it’s crazy, it’s cool. They really do.”

Ricketts says that while this film focuses on the mostly unfamiliar sport of lacrosse, it still hits all the right beats of any good sports drama.

“The first time I saw it completed, I saw rough cuts, like a fake eagle, I saw the early versions,” Chelsea says, “But I just saw the final completed edited versions in Syracuse, which was like the first premiere they had done and it was so cool. Because when we’re filming it, it’s all choppy and we film out of order, but when you sit there, it’s like, oh, my gosh, this is so cool. So yes, obviously, I knew how it ended, but it was still really exciting.”

“And you feed off of everyone’s energy,” she adds, “Most of the people at the premiere, a ton of Native Americans came in just for the premiere, which was so cool, and that’s what we were most nervous to see, did we do the Native American culture right and did we do the lacrosse fans right? And the

"There's a New Chelsea in Town"

response was amazing, and that’s what made it even cooler for me, this feeding off of everybody’s energy was cool.”

We asked Chelsea if she had played lacrosse before.

“No. I’ve played other sports,” she replies, “\I was born and raised in Houston, TX and I was in school, it just wasn’t big yet. Now, it’s huge and it’s spreading over Texas. But no, they gave me a lacrosse test before I was cast.”

“They tested my athletic ability and they made me run in these little devices and all that kind of stuff,” Ricketts says, “I was athletic enough to get the part. And then, I went up two weeks early just to train in lacrosse. I can throw down. Those boys made sure of it. I can play lacrosse.”

Ricketts says that she feels that the release of Crooked Arrows is during a time when lacrosse is ripe for greater popularity in the U.S.

“I think lacrosse right now is the widest-growing sport out there right now,” Chelsea says, “I think this movie is hitting at the perfect time because lacrosse, like I said, when I was in school, it wasn’t there. My family still lives in Texas. I’ll go back and visit and literally, they’ll play it on my cul de sac, you’ll see them play it on all the fields.”

“Like I grew up in a town outside of Houston called Katy,” she continues, “But it’s crazy, it’s literally the perfect time. Like all the responses we’ve been getting from Twitter and everything, everybody’s so pumped. So I think lacrosse is a lot bigger than you know and this film can only help the sport.

Chelsea talks about the film’s premiere in Syracuse before a sizable portion of Native Americans in the audience.

“That was why it was so fun,” she says, “That was why I especially wanted to be at that premiere because I became really close to all these boys and these families and that’s who I

"There's a New Chelsea in Town"

really wanted to see.”

“That’s who I wanted to see this response from,” Ricketts adds, “Like I wanted to see them watch it and I wanted to see how they feel about it, because they were all there. Most of their families were there the entire time we filmed and they’re all from Syracuse or upstate New York.”

Ricketts says she was not intimidated at all by the fact that there were very few other girls on set.

“It was interesting,” she says, “They were great. We all have a brother/sister relationship. I have no problems dishing it right back. So they picked on me. I think I was the right girl for them for that because I have no problem.”

“No, it was so much fun and they were so nice,” Chelsea adds, “I still talk to them. It’s almost been a year since filming and a couple of them have come and visited me. We all stayed really close.”

Chelsea also talked about her co-star Brandon Routh, best known for his titular role in Superman Returns.

“Oh, my God. It’s ridiculous,” Ricketts says of him, “Nobody should be that nice and cool. He is literally the sweetest man I’ve ever met, so down to earth, so sweet, just genuine. When he talks to you, he is very engaging and wants to know what you have to say. I’ve learned so much from him on set especially. He is really cool. He’s a really cool guy. It’s nice, because that’s not always the case. It is with him. He is the sweetest man.”

We asked Ricketts if finishing Crooked Arrows whets her appetite for a certain kind of role.

“I’ve been lucky to play a couple of different types of roles, like Nadie is just this really great, cool girl,” Chelsea says, “I just finished working on AMC’s The Killing, which is a very different role. It’s very dark, very edgy, I have piercings all over my face, that’s fun. Now I’m

"There's a New Chelsea in Town"

working on The Secret Life Of The American Teenager, which I’m the new school meeting girl, that’s really fun. I have a lot to pull from high school, just kidding.”

“And then, the next thing I want to do is I want to find a really good horror film, like I just want to do a cool scary movie,” she adds, “I just saw Cabin In The Woods and I thought that was pretty sweet. I thought it was really new and cool. I’m terrified of scary movies. That’s why I really want to do it. It would be the easiest acting job, because I’d be genuinely terrified the entire time. I know I’d do that movie justice because I’d be literally scared. That’s what hard to find about horror movies. It’s hard to find a new idea.”