A History of.... Winona Ryder
Sunday, October 30, 2011 at 12:32AM We haven't done a new edition of "A History of..." in so long! So herewith a new episode of our exhaustively researched 100% true* constantly on "hiatus" series... today's subject is Winona Ryder who turned 40 this weekend.
1971 Near Lake Winona in Minnesota an immaculately beautiful girl child "Winona Laura Horowitz" is born to Cynthia Palmer and Michael Horowitz. Three wise men, family friends, attend the birth: poet Allen Ginsberg gifts her with angel-headed hispterism and non-conformity (the things she'll say in early interviews!), scifi author Philip K Dick gifts her with the ability to question reality itself (her onscreen eye-rolling will become legendary!), and her godfather LSD guru Timothy Leary will gift her wi ---- so much history to get through! We'd better keep moving.
1978 The Horowitzes move from Minnesota to a ranch commune in California and live with 7 other families so that young "Noni" will not feel alone... utterly alone.
1983 Little Noni nearly drowns and fears water from that point forward. (She will later be frequently to compared to Natalie Wood but not for this reason.) She also takes her first acting class inciting immediate debate among her teachers and class members as to whether or not she has any aptitude for it at all. Their heated arguments will soon spread to critics and moviegoers and rage on ever after. No consensus has ever formed twenty-eight years later. (Early comparisons to Natalie Wood involve her youthful peak, and raven beauty but this, too, applies.)
1986 Winona gets her first film role in Lucas after a failed audition for the director's previous film. This is her entrance into the cinema.
[Historians should remain unobtrusive objective observers but here, we must pause to travel from Noni's history to our own. In this very moment, little Nathaniel sitting in the theater wonders why none of his classmates are this bewitching and what the hell is wrong with Corey Haim for not noticing her perfection and tells everyone "she is going to be a big star!" and ends the movie praying that he can marry her someday when they both grow up! He doesn't know it yet but this makes him an actressexual.]
Noni on the night she met Johnny Depp1988 Beetlejuice gives Noni her first hit and endears her to the Goth community forever. Or at least for the time being. She feels 'so alone... so utterly alone.'
1989 Winona plays her signature part "Veronica Sawyer" in Heathers and immediately thereafter begins to sell the press the loud worrying prophetic notion that she's peaked at 17. Stop it Noni, do not feed the trolls! She also plays the child bride of Dennis Quaid's Jerry Lee Lewis in Great Balls of Fire. She meets 26 year old Johnny Depp at her premiere. He wants her for his own child bride; they're engaged by the following summer.
1990 Hollywood's new "it" couple of Hollywood star together in Edward Scissorhands, "Winona Forever" is tattooed on his arm. And by forever he means 1993.
Winona, again displaying her prophetic gift, does not ink Johnny's name anywhere on her body. That we know of. Winona is in incredible demand and also stars in Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael and Mermaids. The latter introduces the world to Winona's mini me Christina Ricci who then lands the "Wednesday" role in Addams Family by purposefully lifting Winona's act from Beetlejuice for her audition. Cher slaps Winona when the Golden Globes nominate her instead of the legendary diva.. Oh no wait, that was just a scene in the movie! Your honor we withdraw the comment.
The whirlwind year ends with euphemistic "exhaustion" in which the young actress quits The Godfather Part III forcing Francis Ford Coppola to make do with his own daughter.
1992 After recovering from "exhaustion" Winona is all the media rage again starring opposite another raven-haired beauty Keanu Reeves (they could be twins!) as fiancees in Bram Stoker's Dracula. Her reportedly volatile working relationship with Gary Oldman on set (who is himself in the middle of a divorce with Uma Thurman) is the subject of arched media brow. The movie proves once and for all that Winona is less adept at period pieces than contemporary films.
1993 The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in their infinite wisdom, disagree nominating Ms Ryder twice consecutively for costume pieces beginning with The Age of Innocence. She splits from Johnny Depp but not before he steals her gift of prophecy. Depp predicts his future as rum-loving Captain Jack with newly altered tattoo "Wino Forever". Anna Paquin swipes what Noni clearly thinks is her Oscar.
1994 Little Women wins Winona Oscar nomination #2. That same year she does even better work in Reality Bites but we can't have contemporary youthful comedies getting Oscar nominations!
1999 The prophetically-titled Girl Interrupted, meant to be Winona's big comeback, is stolen from her by new Goth icon Angelina Jolie.
2001 Something happened at Saks Fifth Avenue? In Beverly Hills? I've forgotten but no one will let Winona.
2002 Winona has the biggest hit of her career co-starring with Adam Sandler in Mr Deeds a film that no one will remember exists by 2003, proving once and for all that box office success means absolutely nothing to staying power.
2006 She starts on the long comeback trail in the animated-ish A Scanner Darkly.
2009 Her distracting cameo in Star Trek movie proves that stunt casting really takes you out of a movie.
2010 Her awesome cameo in Black Swan proves that stunt casting really elevates a movie.
2011 She co-stars in The Dilemma in which she faces the indignity of being romantically paired with Kevin James ... yes, the same woman who snagged Johnny Depp at 17 (offscreen) and stole Daniel Day-Lewis from everyone (onscreen). Come to think of it The Dilemma is a great title for her career given that this is the best movie she can score post two cameos in huge-ass hits? What the hell, Hollywood?
2012 Tim Burton to the rescue? Dark Shadows would have probably helped the Winona Cause more but it's a paycheck. She'll voice "Elsa Van Helsing" for the feature film adaptation of that charming 1984 short Frankenweenie.
Happy birthday Noni.
*not really.
Reader Comments (20)
Gary Oldman and Uma Thurman were married? Learn something every day ...
I love your epic posts!
RJ - I didn't know that either! Makes no sense, whatsoever! OK not really, but kinda.
Happy birthday Noni!
I wish you a juicy role with an accent (John Grant reference)
(But even though I was very young all of the times I watched Dracula, I remember enjoying her in it. Maybe I shouldn't rewatch? But I want to!!)
ohmygosh.
a- I love that pick of Aaliyah on top from Queen of the Damned or whatever that movie was called. RIP Gurl.
b- I love that screen thing with Noni's cinematic debut. excellent! 'Lucas' is such a special film.
Happy Birthday Noni! May your 40's keep you on the straight and narrow path to good film roles. we love you xoxo
p.s that Natalie Wood comparison I didn't know about, but man they are alot alike! Natalie was just a little more sexual the Noni is. but they both peaked young and are legends!
I miss Winona on film so much. I wish she wanted to act more often and took more risks. I somehow blame the media for traumatizing her with the shoplifting incident. Winona, come back already! You're amazing!
Thank you Nat for this wonderful article on Winona. She was my best actress in the 90s and still are, I felt bad that that five finger discount incident ruined her career. Hopefully she can make comeback in the future.
Great, great post! But I disagree on one thing: I think Noni was perfect in period pieces (at least the ones directed by Francis Ford and Martin).
There 's a gap in your post between 1994 and 1999 where Winona was still very hot and made at least two interesting movies: The Crucible (which was very stiff, but she was daring in it) and Alien Resurrection.
Noni was my third cinematic crush (after Julia Roberts and Jodie Foster) when I was a teen and she would remain in the third position of bests (just below Pfeiffer and Sarandon) till the end of the '90s.
I remember in Venice last year at the first screening of Black Swan, when her name appeared in the closing titles sequence there was a warm applause from the audience. She is still well loved.
I actually forgot about the shoplifting incident, which I didn't realize until I read about it on the timeline and remembered. I was shocked because the media makes it really hard to forget stuff like that and that's a major thing I knew her for since I was only born in 93 and wasn't aware of her as an actress then. I think with me focusing on Black Swan, and the media kinda moving on from it, I was able to forget.
What am I even saying lol, I'm going to bed.
I wish Hollywood would give her a really juicy part,i don't agree she is off in period pieces dracula and little women maybe but she is spot on in the age of innocence and the crucible,the crucible is a sadly overlooked performance,i think by 94 the academy had grown tired of hip winona and nominated her for more conventional turn.
Her best is The Age of Innocence. Very good and very period, and perfect in a very Scorsese-ish way, since she is playing Joe Pesci in that movie. You know, the cynical big pro at her own game. That movie was about mafia too.
I was JUST watching "The Age of Innocence" last night! I thought Winona was excellent in it, and I had forgotten just how beautiful she is. It really is an underrated film, one of Marty's best in my opinion. The Natalie Wood comparison is something I never knew about, I often think about who her contemporary counterpart would be so that was a great bit of information to stumble into.
P.S.- I'm another one who didn't know Uma and Gary were married. It's simultaneously weird and yet very unsurprising.
I know this is never gonna happen....but I actually think Winona is a worthy BSA nominee for The Dilemma...she has a lot to chew on in that film and does it quite well...she has a scene in a diner where she explains to Vince Vaughn's character how she would destroy him if her husband were to catch wind of her infidelity...it's so devious and evil and manipulative, with a range of emotions to boot...it would make the perfect Oscar clip.
Now in her 40s, the opportunity of best actress isn't completely out of reach, thank you to the lucky 13, Bullock at 45, is the same age as Jessica Lange for Blue Sky and Ingrid Bergman for her 2nd Oscar for best actress.
Viola Davis will be the 2nd black woman to win best actress. She'll expand the lucky 13 to a lucky 14--Winona certainly could expanded it further to a full 15--making it okay for actresses in their 40s--know they have just as much right to it as the 20 year olds and the women making the best of their 30s.
Of course the narrative is darker than the ideal. Maybe Alexander Payne will revert to younger characters like Election? Maybe he'll write About Schimdt type script for Kathy Bates making up for past mistakes with son Ryan Gosling--for some reason this seems more real than Winona getting another shot at best actress.
Oh Noni, I've always loved her. Especially in Mermaids, such a lovely and perfect performance, her best to me. But praying for great comeback feels more and more unlikely as the years go by. She belongs to the late 80s and the 90s, she was the ultimate YOUNG actress. I doubt she could ever overcome that persona.
Funny, people didn't know about Oldman & Thurman. The man was also married to Lesley Manville and almost to Isabella Rossellini.
Winona has so many flaws as an actress (her diction especially) but I will always defend her passionately. There is something so appealing and unorthodox about her screen presence. Thanks for this.
She is sooooooooooo unbelievably beautiful!! What a stunning face!
I never knew there was such a big age diference between her and depp. I was a young child when this whole thing was going on so I wouldnt remember those people's ages back then.
Oh there's a "I didnt know Uma and Gary were ever married" club! Count me in! How do I get my membership card?
Oh Winona! She is so talented and was really good in her camoe role in Black Swan. More of those and bigger roles. Thank you
Little Women was one of my favorite films back in the day, and I adore Winona's Jo March. Such a great film for up-and-coming stars: Claire Danes, Christian Bale, Kirsten Dunst... Just a really well-made film all around. Winona is so easy to root for as a heroine - she has a really open-hearted, everywoman-ish quality to her that really served her well. But I can't deny her "edgier' roles are career-defining ones.
I'm not a fan. She always felt too 'actressy' for me. But she was good in The Crucible.
You forgot a couple of things: That phase where she kept hooking up with rock stars and the story (never confirmed but which I love to believe is true) that her supposed "good friend" Gwyneth Paltrow swiped the Shakespeare in Love script off Ryder's coffee table.
Edward -- DAMN. that gwynnie story woulda been perfect for this. thanks for the reminder.