Winona For ... Now (Happy Birthday Suitless)

It has been almost eleven years since Winona Ryder's infamous trip to Saks Beverly Hills, when she tried taking the five-fingered discount while looped up on prescription vitamins.  And, frankly, it was one of the biggest tumbles we've ever seen with a modern Hollywood star, from just a professional standpoint.  Granted, things were already going south.  Commercially, her 1994 Oscar nod as Jo March in Little Women signified the height of her (limited) box-office and critical powers, having been designated earlier that year as the voice of a generation in Reality Bites.  She kept working, but everything she touched seemed to blow up in her face.  The final insult, perhaps, was that she set out to produce herself as the lead in Girl, Interrupted, only to end up observing, on-screen and off, Angelina Jolie steal all her thunder.  Within two years of Jolie's win, Ryder would be a Hollywood pariah.  She has been clawing her way back at a molasses pace ever since, as if there are invisible producers pushing up against her.

[Imagine via Lainey Gossip]

One could argue that she wasn't all that, as a thespian.  Heathers, Beetlejuice, and Edward Scissorhands, were all modern classics that were more a privilege for her to have appeared in, rather than, having had enhanced with her acting abilities.  She had an open presence and unassuming qualities that worked for the characters she was playing.  Yet, cool films aside, her work didn't start to get interesting to watch until she started losing her grip on reality.  Her petulant movie star cameo in S1m0ne who Al Pacino replaces with a computerized actress was pretty shrewd.  And her Adam Sandler rom-com turn in the forgettable Mr. Deeds was an instance when she was actually adding something of value to a project that was well beneath her (watch a bit of her in it sometimes, she's great!).  Those were actually the last two films she made before she dove off into the deep end.

It took her a few years before she even started working again, as she was considered to be highly uninsurable.  And, sadly, many of these ventures (meaning most) were, embarrassingly enough, straight-to-DVD affairs.  And, when you compare the quality of these films to even what Lindsay Lohan (who is guilty of so many worse, often repeated transgressions) is making, it's quite shocking just how low on the totem pole she was pushed down (granted, Lohan benefits from the short-term sensationalism of her choices, which are going to do nothing for her long-term prospects).  Ryder was literally starting all over again.  From the bottom.  All she had was her name.  How could this be?!  In 2009, she scored a role in JJ Abrams' Star Trek.  But her appearance lasted all of say maybe thirty seconds.  And, Vulcan aspect aside, she played Zachary Quinto's mother. Not only has Ryder always looked years younger than her age, she was only six years older than Quinto.  It was as if she would have been better off doing a Lifetime movie (paging Lohan)--although she did do CBS two years ago, which got her a SAG nod.

However, the same year, with an albeit small, but effective role in the amazing, award-winning Black Swan, she turned a corner.  That isn't to say Hollywood was going to throw her a bone any sooner, but, at least, she was moving forward: fifth billing in an extremely cool Best Picture nominee.  She revisited a stupid guy comedy last year with The Dilemma.  She added some necessary verve to a banal situation much like she did with Mr. Deeds, only to have her character thanklessly dispatched.

Now, am I crazy about THREE of her upcoming projects being opposite James Franco?  Not really.  In a perfect world, it would be some amalgam of A Star is (Re)Born, with Ryder back on her way up, and Franco continuing further down from his self-designated "artistic" perch.  One of them sounds like a Black Swan with her in the Portman role, which has gone straight-to-DVD.  One of them costars Chris Evans, who was highly protective of her during TIFF and releases early next year.  And the final one, Homefront, leaves one asking: with Jennifer Lopez starring in Parker, is Jason Staitham now in the business of employing formerly bankable movie star actresses?  Go figure.

Tomorrow, Ryder turns 41.  Happy Birthday, Noni.  I hope your 40s treat you well and you find more opportunities to show off your maturing skills as an actress.

Here's a piece I wrote on her last year: Winona Ryder #2.