Ricci is not. Rice's Interview With The Vampire (Tom Cruise's 18th film) might have costarred Ricci as the child vamp had Kirsten Dunst not beaten her out for the part. "The Garden District is really wonderful," says Ricci, who was born in Southern California but grew up in New Jersey and Long Island. "I haven't spent that much time in the South, but every time I go, I can't get over how beautiful it is. The homes in the Garden District are really stunning."

Tip Two: Pick Your Spot Well And See If You Can Find A Drink
Some 8.5 million people visit New Orleans every year. So there's no shortage of hotels to choose from. If you're a couple of young movie stars, you pick a nice, central spot with good literary connections. "We stayed at the Omni Royal Orleans," Ricci tells. "I really liked that hotel. There's a pool up on the roof. You could go and hang out during the day, and it was really nice to just relax there."

Truman Capote certainly thought so. Capote is said to have been a frequent guest of the hotel, which sits at the corner of Royal and St. Louis. Then again, Capote, like Tennessee Williams, seems to have gotten around New Orleans more efficiently than the St. Charles Avenue Streetcar. It's hard to find a bar in the French Quarter that doesn't claim one or the other imbibed there.

Ah, imbibing. That's New Orleans' claim to fame. And though you may still think of her as a precocious kid from That Darn Cat, Ricci is old enough, after all, to have a drink. At the time of her visit, she probably needed one. The trip came just after Ricci wrapped up working on Cursed, a shoot she diplomatically calls "prolonged." The studio didn't like where the movie was initially headed, so production was stopped and restarted twice. "I've basically been working on this movie for a year and a half," says Ricci.