Winona Ryder has opened up about the hometown tragedy she witnessed in her early career that helped shape her role in the Netflix series Stranger Things.
She spoke about her experience
In a recent conversation with Interview, Winona Ryder shared the tragic inspiration behind her portrayal of distressed mom Joyce Byers in Stranger Things.
Explaining how she was able to embody a parent searching for their lost child, Ryder recalled when a girl went missing in her hometown.
The lost girl was Polly Klass
“I had this experience when I was in my early twenties: there was a girl from the town that I grew up in. Her name was Polly Klaas and she was kidnapped. I knew her family,” Ryder explained.
“She was missing for two months, and very tragically, she had been killed. I was doing whatever I could to help this family, to keep it in the news.”
Ryder dedicated one of her roles to Klass
“When you’re around that kind of tangible grief, it’s otherworldly,” the 54-year-old shared.
Ryder also explained that she dedicated her role in the 1994 adaptation of Little Women to Klass as it was the girl’s favorite book.
The actress wanted to do something for her
“She wanted to be an actress and her favorite book was Little Women, so that was a big reason I did that movie and dedicated it to her,” Ryder explained.
The tragedy hits home for Ryder
The actress was deeply affected by the tragedy, and was even initially hesitant about her portrayal of Joyce Byers, whose son Will goes missing in the first season of the show.
“I was actually really freaked out with Stranger Things, because I wanted them to know how f***ing serious that is, and that you can’t use disappearances as a tool to advance—it feels very personal.”
She took advice from Klass’s dad
“I also talked to Polly’s dad, and a lot of my performance in that first season was connected to him,” Ryder said.
“I worked really, really hard that first season, and then the show took off in a way that I have certainly never been a part of.”
Ryder felt relief when the focus shifted
The actress added how she was happy when she was no longer the center of attention within the show.
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“I remember having a moment that was really liberating and relieving, when I realized the show was no longer about me,” she shared.
It was difficult to film at first
The show was particularly challenging to film for Ryder, especially in the early seasons.
She recalled, “When you’re trying to keep that perspective and maintain that level of intense anxiety and anger, it’s so hard to do on something that shoots like that. In the first season I had to be so emotional that I was just a wreck that whole time.”
