Throughout much of her career, Winona Ryder has enjoyed immense popularity in Hollywood, allowing her to turn down multiple major movie roles. Ryder lost momentum in 2001 after she was caught shoplifting over $5,000 worth of clothes and accessories from Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills, and a very public trial followed. She stepped back from acting at the time but has since returned, appearing as an unhinged ballerina in Black Swan and playing Spock's mother in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek. But it's her role as Joyce Byers on Netflix's Stranger Things that has thrust Ryder firmly back into the spotlight.
Ryder was just 13 years old when she made her big-screen debut in the movie Lucas. Her performance caught the eye of Tim Burton, who cast her as the death-obsessed, and "strange and unusual" Lydia Deets in Beetlejuice. Ryder went on to star in the cult favorite Heathers and Great Balls of Fire, a biopic about musician Jerry Lee Lewis and his child bride. After the 1990 films Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael, Edward Scissorhands, and Mermaids, Ryder sought out more adult fare, appearing in two-period pieces Bram Stoker's Dracula and The Age of Innocence. The latter earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She became the Generation X poster child thanks to her role as Lelaina Pierce in Reality Bites, and donned petticoats once more to play Jo March in the 1994 big-screen adaptation of Little Women. Her other film credits include Girl, Interrupted, Alien: Resurrection, Autumn in New York, and Mr. Deeds.
Ryder has been in contention for several high-profile roles. Jerry Maguire director Cameron Crowe rejected Ryder after he decided she and Tom Cruise looked too much like brother and sister and cast Renee Zellweger instead. She was also considered for Fight Club, Almost Famous, Chicago, and Shakespeare In Love (Hollywood legend has it Gwyneth Paltrow stole the part from Ryder, her best friend at the time.) When it comes to actors and missed opportunities, it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction. While it's been reported that Ryder turned down the role of Shelby in Steel Magnolias, director Herbert Ross - though charmed by Ryder - reportedly wanted an older actress and offered the part to Meg Ryan before settling on Julia Roberts. The reasons an actor turns down a part can range from illness to scheduling conflicts to disliking a script. Here are five major roles that Ryder actually turned down during her career.
The Object of My Affection
The Object of My Affection is a 1998 film about a woman, Nina, who falls in love with her gay best friend, George. The movie is based on Stephen McCauley's 1987 novel. Wendy Wasserstein, who won the Pulitzer Prize for her 1989 play The Heidi Chronicles, wrote the screenplay. According to EW, actresses attached to the role of Nina throughout the years included Debra Winger, Uma Thurman, Kyra Sedwick, and Ryder. Jennifer Aniston, who had yet to achieve success on the big screen, eventually landed the part (Paul Rudd was cast as George). The film was directed by Nicholas Hytner, who also directed Ryder in The Crucible.
Interestingly, one of the actors considered to play George was Keanu Reeves, who had starred with Winona Ryder in Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula. (The two have co-starred in three further movies.) The Object of My Affection was widely panned by critics and grossed $29 million domestically. Supposedly, Ryder passed on The Object of My Affection. At the time she was pulling double duty, set to star in Girl, Interrupted, and serving as executive producer on the film alongside Douglas Wick. The twosome spent five years trying to get the film made, and it was Ryder who approached James Mangold to direct. A script was finalized in mid-1998, but the shooting was pushed until 1999 so that Ryder could film Lost Souls. In this instance, it appears Ryder chose to pursue her passion project over appearing in The Object of My Affection.
Sleepy Hollow
Director Tim Burton gave Ryder her big break when he cast her as Lydia in Beetlejuice. She reunited with the director to star in Edward Scissorhands. Because of their successful collaborative history, it made sense that Burton would want Ryder to play Katrina in Sleepy Hollow, his interpretation of Washington Irving's short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. However, Ryder turned down the role.
Burton began shooting Sleepy Hollow in 1998 around the same time as the release of Woody Allen's Celebrity, in which Ryder plays the character of Nola. Sleepy Hollow, like The Object of My Affection, appeared to conflict with Ryder's prior commitments to Girl, Interrupted, and Lost Souls. Another possible reason Ryder passed on the part is that it would have reunited her with her ex Johnny Depp, whom she was engaged to for three years before the couple broke up in 1993. Much of Ryder's work in the early '90s was overshadowed by her relationship with Depp. Female actors seem to be defined more by high-profile romances than their career choices, and if Ryder had co-starred with Depp, it would have pulled focus from the film itself. The role of Katrina went to Christina Ricci, who co-starred with Ryder in Mermaids.
Sabrina
The original Sabrina is, by all accounts, a classic. The Billy Wilder movie tells the story of two wealthy brothers (played by Humphrey Bogart and Willaim Holden) vying for the affection of the chauffeur's daughter (played by Audrey Hepburn). Jay Cocks, who wrote the adaptation for The Age of Innocence, told the New York Times in 1999 that Ryder had turned down the title role in the remake. He also stated Ryder had rejected offers to reprise other Hepburn roles.
Ryder, whose waifish frame and delicate features are reminiscent of Hepburn's, met the legendary actress when she was 18. It's rumored that Ryder passed on Sabrina because she felt she couldn't live up to Hepburn's performance. Julia Ormond wound up taking the role. Whatever Ryder's reasons for turning down the project, they saved her from starring in a box office disappointment. Sabrina only grossed $87 million worldwide.
The Godfather: Part III
Ryder was cast as Al Pacino's daughter Mary Corleone in The Godfather: Part III, but backed out at the last minute. According to an article in the LA Times, Ryder's decision triggered talk of a nervous breakdown, pregnancy, or doubts about the role. Ryder had a less salacious explanation:
"I’d done three films in a row: Great Balls of Fire... Roxy Carmichael and Mermaids. Right after [Mermaids] wrapped, I flew to Rome with a terrible upper-respiratory infection and a 104-degree fever. I literally couldn’t move. The studio doctor told me to go home, said I was too sick to work. It wasn’t my choice. It was out of my hands. Sure it’s disappointing, devastating in fact. I wish it didn’t happen . . . but it did."
The Godfather: III failed to achieve the same critical acclaim as its predecessors, and much of the blame fell on Ryder's replacement, Sofia Coppola, who was cast by her father, Francis Ford Coppola. According to EW, the director's first choice was Julia Roberts, who had already committed to Flatliners. Madonna screen-tested for the role but was deemed too old. There were other problems with the movie, but it grossed over $136 million worldwide (the second film in the trilogy only pulled in $48 million worldwide.)
The Wicker Man
Director Neil LaBute teamed up with Nicholas Cage for The Wicker Man, a remake of the 1973 horror film of the same name, which was inspired by David Pinner's 1967 novel Ritual. Cage plays Edward Malus, who goes searching for the daughter of his ex-fiance, Willow. What he finds is an island of neo-pagans who plan to burn the girl as part of a ritual sacrifice. In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times LaBute revealed his first choices for the role of Willow were Ryder and Angelina Jolie (Ryder's co-star in Girl, Interrupted). Ryder supposedly hated the script and turned down the role. Kate Beahan was eventually cast in the part.
Ryder may have shied away from the role because of Polly Klaus. The 12-year-old girl was abducted from Ryder's hometown of Petaluma, California, in 1993, and Ryder offered a $200,000 reward to help find the girl. Richard Allen Davis confessed to strangling Klaus, and the case impacted Ryder deeply. In 2014, the actress told Hollywood.com she frequently turns down roles that depict child abuse. The Wicker Man was a huge flop, grossing only $38 million worldwide vs. its $40 million production budget. The film was critically maligned, though remembered for its unintentionally comical moments, and Cage himself called the film "absurd." It was very wise of Ryder to skip this one.