Winona Ryder Says ‘Heathers’ Lost Her a Role in a Marlon Brando Movie

Almost every star in Hollywood can look back at certain moments in their careers that defined who they are as an artist. For Winona Ryder, that moment came when she accepted a role in Heathers in 1989, and was told that it would probably ruin her career. Not only that, but her appearance in the black comedy cost her a role alongside Marlon Brando when the producers of his movie revoked their offer after being “deeply offended” by Heathers.

Although this kind of thing – an actor being penalized for acting – seems like a ridiculous concept, it is not as uncommon an issue as it seems. While speaking with Elle UK, Ryder explained how working on Heathers was not seen as a good move for her career. She said:

“I was told I was never gonna work again if I did Heathers. I did lose a job,” she told Elle UK, hesitating to reveal the part she lost. “OK, OK, I’ll tell you. You remember the movie The Freshman? They thought it was making fun of teen suicide. They were deeply offended and, yeah, they revoked the offer. I’m like, ‘I can’t work with Marlon Brando?’ But I had to stand my ground. I wasn’t gonna apologise.”

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And she didn’t. You don’t need to be told that it had very little impact on her career, which continued to flourish and recently has seen her winning great acclaim for her role in the Netflix sci-fi horror series Stranger Things and Tim Burton’s fantasy sequel, Beetlejuice Beeteljuice.

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Winona Ryder in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice — Warner Bros. Pictures

While Heathers was deemed a flop at the time of its release, grossing just $1.1 million at the box office, the movie has achieved cult classic status, spawned an off-Broadway musical, and a 2016 TV reboot (which ironically was canceled after meeting similar criticisms as the original movie). For Ryder herself, there were other moments that had a more profound impact on her career than Heathers, such as experiencing multiple cases of sexual harassment in her younger years. She previously explained:

“And then it happened again in my thirties. It wasn’t an assault. But it was incredibly inappropriate. It was wild. I really understand [what the victims of Weinstein and others went through]. I was lucky because I was known, so it didn’t happen as much as maybe it would if I had been a struggling actor. But I remember this feeling in your mind: you’re negotiating, you’re thinking about what’s going to happen if you say something. You’re working it out while this person is being extremely creepy.”

Despite this, and the period when her career did take something of a dip, Ryder could not be in a better place than she is right now. Her role in Stranger Things, playing the role of Joyce Byers, brought her back to mainstream Hollywood, and her return to the role of Lydia Deetz in 2024’s Beetlejuice sequel has proven to be even more lucrative and beneficial to her career. That is a career which, according to some, should have been dealt a killer blow thanks to Heathers. This is not the first time Ryder has addressed the issue surrounding her Heathers casting as she previously recalled being warned off the role by her agent. Sometimes, it really pays to go with your gut on these things.

Source: Elle UK