These are photos of Winona Ryder out and about in Manhattan earlier this month and while attending the opening night of Orphans (the Broadway play that is unfortunately best known in gossip circles as the production plagued by Shia LaBeouf bitchfighting with Alec Baldwin). I realize that Winona has been, for all intents and purposes, back on the Hollywood radar since her scene-stealing turn in Black Swan, but it’s still seems like a novelty to have her back in feature films that are widely available in theaters. I still don’t know how Winona was so summarily blacklisted for so many years after one shoplifting incident while Lindsay Lohan is only finally finding herself at a loss for roles after several years of (to borrow a term from Kaiser) crack shenanigans.
Currently, Winona Ryder is promoting The Iceman, so she’s been giving interviews to several outlets. Here are some excerpts from her recent talks with HuffPo and Parade. She’s so adorably dorky:
Is she picky with her roles? “Well, I mean, who knows, really? I think there was a time when — and every actor will tell you — there’s a time when you’re sort of at the height of everything and people will tell you that you’re offered everything. You’re kind of under that impression. And then, years later, you find out maybe not. Or that they offered you something that you never even got told about.”
Is she loving her career resurgence? “Well, I think I feel … I don’t want this to come across the wrong way, but I do feel like a bit more selective. I’m not saying that I’m being flooded with offers all of the time. The way the industry is now, where if you decide you want to take some time off and go to something else, it’s not as easy. Back then, I was able to do that. I was able to do it a few different times in my life. I was able to slow down — I was able to do other things I was interested it. But, now, with the Internet and this sort of instant access — which is a whole other conversation.”
She’s wary of journos: “I have been misquoted, even just in the last week when I was doing the junket in LA, someone asked me something — and it was very sort of casual — and they were talking about me and the ’90s and they said something about ‘take its toll,’ and I’m like, ‘Oh, yeah, you know.’ And then I see this headline, ‘It Took Its Toll.’ So, you never know. The other one that was my favorite, my dad sent it to me because I never go on the Internet that much, ‘Winona Ryder Wants To Be In a Philip Roth Movie’ … and I wasn’t talking about an adaptation. And I actually maybe shouldn’t have said that because they were asking me about films.”
25 years on from Beetlejuice: “That is crazy. And it’s weird because I still feel, weirdly, very close to it. I just got an email from Tim [Burton]. I think there’s a nostalgia going on for that era, or something. But I do feel like Lydia, that character, really, if I hadn’t done that role, I don’t think I would have ended up an actress.”
In response to the journo’s love of A Scanner Darkly: “Well, gosh, it thrills me to no end that you brought up that movie. That makes me so happy because I think that’s such a great, brilliant movie. And you’re absolutely right. I was like not … I was in San Francisco, I was doing work with City Lights — doing a whole thing. And I wasn’t wanting to — and I got that call. It was kind of a no-brainer and it was [Richard] Linklater.”
Does she watch her old movies on tv? “Well, yeah! Now they’re considered golden oldies, which is awesome. I was watching Little Women recently, and I didn’t want to get up for fear of missing something. And Heathers is like my own Rocky Horror Picture Show; I recite the lines when it’s on. It may seem odd, but I think it’s because they’re really good movies.”
I can’t blame Winona for being unable to resist reciting her Heathers dialogue whenever the movie starts playing on TNT. It’s one of the most quotable movies in my recollection with gems like, “Great pate, mom, but I gotta motor if I wanna be ready for that party tonight,” “Tomorrow, I’ll be kissing her aerobicized ass, but tonight, let me dream of a world without Heather, a world where I am free,” and “Lick it up, baby. Lick. It. Up.” Great stuff.
Winona does seem truly grateful to be back in Hollywood’s good graces, doesn’t she? I think she’s here to stay for good.
Photos courtesy of WENN
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