“How far should I go?” Winona Ryder asked Richard Benjamin, director of “Mermaids.” “You’re 15, crazy about him, thinking outrageous thoughts. . . .” he suggested, letting the film roll as Ryder fell onto her love interest (Michael Schoeffling) and – behind his back but in plain view of the camera – gave the actor’s … Continue reading

Ah, youth. Only one year ago Winona Ryder was spoofing stars. Since then she’s snagged Johnny Depp, jilted Francis Coppola, and stolen a movie from Cher. And she’s barely old enough to vote. Winona Ryder won’t wait. That’s what her representative says when she calls to move our meeting up by an hour and a … Continue reading

When Winona Ryder, child of sixties’ liberals, showed up for seventh grade in the Northern California town of Petaluma, less enlightened classmates roughed her up. “I think they thought I was a gay boy,” she says of the cropped hair and boy’s clothing she wore in the spirit of the old gangster movies that possessed … Continue reading

Winona Ryder fishes through her 1950s thrift-store purse and pulls out a silver bracelet dangling with silver hearts. “I love charm bracelets,” she says. She also loves spider pins, funky hats, vests, comic books (Batman in particular), antique pocket watches, vintage men’s suits, and retro sunglasses. Offbeat and disarming, with a quirky charm and eclectic … Continue reading

Winona Ryder is doing something totally illegal. The sunny, dark-haired actress is blithelt motoring around Los Angeles in her friend’s rental car — and, at age seventeen, she’s too young to drive it. It’s early March, only three weeks since Ryder moved out of her parents’ house in Petaluma, California, and her own car is … Continue reading

Not long after you meet Winona Ryder, she shares a confidence. “see these two front teeth?” she asks, touching the overlapping teeth with a forefinger. “I used to hate it!” she says with feeling. “Then I saw June Allyson in an old movie on TV. We have the same tooth problem, and she looked so … Continue reading