Why hasn't Winona Ryder had a bigger comeback/

She's a bug eyed no talent.

The shoplifting thing, where she actually went to trial and lost, was an indicator of something wrong.

Everything Johnny Depp touched turns to shit.

R3 His ex Vanessa seems to be doing well.

Perhaps she was all hype. The only thing I ever liked her in was "Heathers" and even then she was overshadowed by her costars as she tends to be. She was good in her teens but I can't think of a single performance as an adult that impressed me. Even Angelina Jolie stole some of her shine and Angie doesn't particularly impress me either. Some actors are hot for a awhile, star in a lot of hit films and then fall off. There are very few Julia Roberts types in Hollywood. Julia is the only person who immediately comes to mind as a movie star whose had consistent hits for decades.

[quote]She should be starring in movies now, Julianne Moore type roles.

I know JM is considered a great actress and has won all sorts of awards, and has been in The Hunger Games, so she's known to younger audiences (she's 62), but I still don't think she's a real household name, or a movie superstar, like, say, Julia Roberts or Meryl Streep.

Winona is the top-billed star of the highest rated streaming show, Stranger Things. How is that bad? It's not a crappy teen show. I's not crappy, nor is it a teen show.

*It's

She never unlearned the bad tricks she picked up as a child actress. That dooms most former child actors.

She's also hard to cast--she's a great beauty, but she's over fifty.

She got on Miriam Margolyes' bad side.

Crappy teen show? It’s a critically acclaimed pop culture phenomenon “crappy” TV show.

Julianne Moore does not have the notability or popularity Winona Ryder has had in the last 5 years.

TV Series >>>>> Movies

You sound like you’re not living in 2023.

Winona Ryder doing “Stranger Things” is literally what opened the doors for big Hollywood actors to do TV. They followed her.

So downplaying her is crazy.

Calling her one of the biggest stars of all time is just a bit of a stretch

[quote]Julia is the only person who immediately comes to mind as a movie star whose had consistent hits for decades.

Sandra Bullock would like a word with you.

I wouldn't say she was a child actress, at least not a famous one - her breakthrough was probably Beetlejuice, when she was 17.

She's had chances. She just stopped being interesting or impressive.

I think she’s pretty happy to have a fairly low-key, not too demanding role. She seems uncomfortable out in the public eye and social media world.

She was in a lot of great movies but I think it was the movies (stories and visuals) that were the big draw, not her.

I don’t remember people saying “let’s go see the latest Winona Ryder movie” like they did with Sandra Bullock or Julia Roberts.

[QUOTE] I wouldn't say she was a child actress, at least not a famous one - her breakthrough was probably Beetlejuice, when she was 17.

Wasn’t “Lucas” her breakthrough?

I can't tell how much her change in appearance since her 90s heyday is due to age and how much is due to surgery. She looks quite different to my eye. I think Alien Resurrection was her peak in terms of beauty

She was awful in Jim Jarmusch's "Night on Earth." She played a sassy, gum-chewing, cigarette-smoking cab driver with Gena Rowlands as her passenger.

She personified Gen X weariness, irony and ennui.

She was the IT girl of the Gen X generation - but that time passed. Hell, it was looking a little worn out with that film Reality Bites.

Then she took too long of a break, was overly choosy due to her early success and money and quickly offers dried up and she was forgotten.

She's had a fine career - most people have about 5 good years at their peak.

R17 Lucas was her first movie. She was 15. I just read on a few sites that Beetlejuice was her "breakthrough role". To be honest, I did see Lucas when it came out, and I remember her, slightly, but I never saw Beetlejuice, so I'm just quoting other sources.

[quote]Winona Ryder doing “Stranger Things” is literally what opened the doors for big Hollywood actors to do TV. They followed her.

Um, I'm not sure I'd give her that much credit there. I'm fairly sure it was Glenn Close doing Damages that opened the door to movie stars doing TV series. It seemed pretty shocking and uncharacteristic for a movie star to be on a television show when she did that. And I bet even M (of Big Little Lies) would agree with that.

Wasn't Lucille Ball the first movie star to do a TV series?

[quote]Winona was one of the biggest movie stars of all time.

She was? When?

R22 No.

“Damages” is of the old TV era.

“Stranger Things” was on Netflix and Winona was one of (if not the first) prominent movie stars to join a TV series on a streaming service.

“Stranger Things” became the first original popular streaming service TV show. It changed the game.

I’m sorry “Orange is the New Black” was the first popular streaming show. But “Stranger Things” followed.

"Take me away from all this....death"

R26 I thought it was House Of Cards.

Glenn Close was in the main cast of The Shield (for one season) even before Damages.

Wow, Glenn’s career has been in the shitter for longer than I thought.

The makers of The Shield gloated endlessly about attracting Forrest Whittaker and Glenn Close to the cast.

When I think "biggest movie stars of all time", I think Ingrid Bergman, Samuel L. Jackson, Humphrey Bogart, Brigitte Bardot, Winona Ryder, Bette Davis, and Tom Cruise.

I enjoy Miriam Margolyes’ schtick and she was very good in The Age Of Innocence but Winona Ryder was expertly directly - and full credit to her, she didn’t put a foot wrong - into a performance that is the most memorable of the film.

Agree that she was great in The Age of Innocence, r33, though in my view not the most memorable.

If you think of the actresses who were her competitors at the time (paltrow, uma thurman, even jolie), none is doing great right now (roberts and bullock excepted). They reached a difficult age where they are usually too old to play ingenues and too odd/plastified looking to play older motherly roles.

why are bullock and roberts doing so much better than the others? better plastic surgery or less of it?

Oh god Bullock has a mummified face, way too much plastic surgery. She's done better because 1) good actress (in her genres) and 2) very very likable. Roberts simply has the precious "it" factor. Star aura. Always has had it.

Bullock and Roberts are girl next doors for Middle American hausfraus. Winona was that waifish Goth/alternative girl that the cheerleaders and homecoming queens made fun of. She's not meant to be relatable.

Given the loopy way she acts, I wonder if she's been deemed "difficult" or "high maintenance" in Hollywood. If nothing else, you'd think that her former Gen X co-stars Ethan Hawke might cast her in one of his endeavors, but that doesn't really seem to be the case.

[quote]Why hasn't Winona Ryder had a bigger comeback/

Because she can't act, perhaps/ (sic)

And she's nuts.

[quote] Winona was that waifish Goth/alternative girl that the cheerleaders and homecoming queens made fun of.

Only in Hollywood movies is WR an outsider. In real life, she's very conventionally pretty and better-looking than any cheerleader. Even if, in real life, she decided to be an outsider, her good looks would insulate her from derision.

Angelina now has the Maleficent movies and endless sequels. She has a lifestyle to support.

Julia Roberts & Bullock have tons of frau fans.

Wasn't Winona beat up in high school because she looked like a lesbian?

Winona is definitely beautiful but she really blossomed around Heathers and Edward Scissorhands. As a young kid and teen with blonde hair, she was androgynous looking and awkward. The black hair, eyeliner and gothic/alt fashion enhanced her looks and made her unique.

Winona is a prettier version of Joan Cusack.

Is she still lifting?

If Noni gained some weight she could play Gretchen Whitmer in a movie or miniseries.

Winona is no great beauty and never was, she's at best cute, or pretty. But she's great on Stranger Things, at least I think so. So many things she captured about that character. I think she's way better than she ever was before. I was reluctant to see the show originally because of her. I thought, "Boring, one-note Winona Ryder." I was wrong.

She's had mental problems for years. There's a reason that you don't see her out in public much, socially, as a part of the Hollywood scene.

Though I can't say I blame her. That scene is crazy and would make anyone nuts.

R49 What type of mental problems?

Well, kleptomania, to start. Compulsive shoplifting, at least - although that could have been symptomatic of wider anxiety or depression issues.

On WWHL, it seemed like Christina Ricci implied that Winona was on drugs when she had that weird moment at the Oscars with her Stranger Things costar.

Winona was and is beautiful.

Christina Ricci seemed to be her successor of sorts though a stronger actress. I always felt her role in Sleepy Hollow was intended for Winona.

Op is stupid

I found her insufferable on Stranger Things. Whiny and shrill. The poster who said she was the Gen X it girl was right.

Not that great of an actress, tbh.

R56 She should have poured herself a cup of and English Breakfast tea let her son go missing, ignoring it with dignity and taste, in a nice wool suit.

Ageism---same reason most her age don't have a bigger comeback.

Definitely the Gen X it girl. I never warmed up to her or liked her acting even though I’m Gen X at least not until she was much older. And while I do think she was always pretty, the nose job she got really improved her looks. Without it, she would not have been considered such a great beauty, I don’t think.

I’m surprised by the compliments she has gotten on this thread for “Age of Innocence.” She was well directed and did the job, but her performance rarely worked for me in that movie. Flashes here and there, but overall no. I think it was in part her voice? Also, I’ve said this before, it’s hard to portray that true WASP type if you have not been a part of that culture. The behavior is subtle, but the energy is intense. Winona was raised by Jewish hippies. She wouldn’t understand it at all. She said as much in an interview. She was confused as to why Scorsese kept telling her to pull back.