THE RETURN OF WINONA RYDER

Interview Magazine May issue 2013

I’ve actually felt liberated in a lot of ways as I’ve gotten older—like I kind of secretly enjoy it. That’s one of the reasons, though, that I can’t really engage too much in the Internet. You cannot please everybody. When you start out as a kid and then you have these great roles early on and even into your twenties, you’re doing movies like Reality Bites, people want you to stay the same, but then they kind of don’t. People don’t want you to get older, but then it’s like, “Why do you look young?” It’s funny, because I went straight from the Interview shoot to this premiere, and I still had on all the makeup, and my friend told me that some people were literally saying that I’d had work done—which, by the way, I’ve found is like normal hygiene now on sets. I’m not trying to knock it, but, you know, I have a little bit of traffic now on my forehead—which I’m like very proud of actually—and it’s interesting how people just instinctively are like, “Oh, maybe you should get something done for that.” And it’s like, “Really?” So I’m excited about this new phase. You know, my favorite actress growing up was Ruth Gordon from Harold and Maude [1971]. That’s who I wanted to be. So I’m flattered that someone thought I looked nice at the premiere, but I just want to remember to be present and to have that sort of thoughtfulness about what I’m doing. As much as I hear people say that thing of, “Look, it’s a job—it’s a gig, ” even if you’re doing a scene and it’s just like two lines, so much can happen—and it can happen with a huge movie star who is brilliant or with a day player. I remember having a moment like that when I was 14 and working with Jason Robards. It’s in those moments that you fall in love with acting. Or re-fall in love with it.