Winona Ryder’s career took off when she landed the role of Joyce Byers in the Netflix hit Stranger Things, and she’s since starred in films like the Beetlejuice sequel directed by Tim Burton. But before all that, Ryder appeared in Heathers, a darkly funny 1988 comedy that she always believed would be a classic.
A year after appearing in Burton’s ghostly supernatural comedy, Heathers was another big success for Ryder, in its reviews if not its box office, and in many ways redefined the high school comedy genre and still stands as a cynical and twisted movie for the ages. The synopsis of Heathers reads like this:
Veronica is popular in high school, but she’s disturbed by the mean-spiritedness of her friends. After she and her boyfriend, J.D., accidentally poison the leader of their group, Heather Chandler, and stage it as a suicide, Veronica discovers J.D. is deliberately targeting and killing other students. She must then try to stop him, all while dealing with the new, equally challenging leader of the group, Heather Duke.
Wynona Ryder Reflects on ‘Heathers’
Winona Ryder recently told GQ that she immediately recognized the brilliance of the script when she first read it, while discussing her most memorable roles. She explained:
Michael McDowell, the writer of Beetlejuice, passed a script along to me because he was friends with Dan Waters, who wrote Heathers. It felt like a huge opportunity! I immediately thought it was brilliant – and it still is. I was living at home in Petaluma at the time, and I managed to find Michael Lehmann’s phone number. I actually called him out of the blue, explaining that Michael McDowell had given me the script and that I really loved it. I also acknowledged that I might not be what he pictured for the role, but he was incredibly kind and receptive.
As soon as the movie secured funding and started casting, I auditioned. I really emphasized that I didn’t need to be paid and wasn’t even concerned about the film being released – I just wanted the role. I was completely captivated by it and felt a strong connection to the story. It was the first time I’d ever felt so passionate about something, and I’m incredibly thankful they gave me a chance.
When Heathers first came out, it wasn’t a commercial success, earning only $1.1 million despite a $3 million budget, and briefly impacted Winona Ryder’s career. But over time, the film gained a strong following and is now widely considered a classic coming-of-age story, currently boasting a 95% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Like Ryder’s career, which has flourished for over four decades, Heathers has also seen a resurgence, being adapted into a stage musical and a 2018 TV series (though the series only lasted one season on Paramount Network). You can currently watch Heathers on various platforms, including for free on Plex, Pluto TV, and YouTube, as well as on Prime Video.
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2025-12-30 14:52