That’s the best Anchor Bay/Starz could come up with to describe this sublime motion picture? For this utterly faultless document not only of punishing high school hierarchy and melodramatics, but a pitch-black, pitch-perfect comedy that somehow manages to be completely reprehensible and socially irresponsible, yet remains shockingly devoid of mean-spirited characterization and preaching? Oh these marketing stooges…they just had to bring the rancid knockoffs into the mix to destroy the integrity of the preeminent high school disaster story.

Westerberg High School is ruled by Heather Chandler (Kim Walker), a dominating Junior who lords over the student body like a dictator, keeping council with her subordinates, Heather McNamara (Lisanne Falk), Heather Duke (Shannen Doherty), and trainee Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder). Veronica is weary of the Heather world, but can’t find the energy to disconnect from the popularity it brings, even while her soul is slowly crushed. When she meets outsider J.D. (Christian Slater), Veronica stumbles upon love, only to find her new beau is very eager to carry out her fantasy revenge scenarios on the Heathers. When the two “accidentally” kill Heather Chandler, Westerberg eats up the incident, kicking off a rash of publicity and sympathy ploys that makes the Heathers even more prized, leaving J.D. ready for more carnage and Veronica caught in a situation that’s out of her control.

Over the last 20 years, “Heathers” has crawled from a theatrical one-week-wonder to a towering, beloved cult classic; a feature film seemingly made to be discovered by accident, where the acidity of the concept is most effective. I caught “Heathers” during its initial release, and my horrifyingly underage mind was blow away by this corrosive, challenging motion picture. Two decades later the effect still remains. The finest compliment I can pay the movie is this: it establishes an unpardonable plot to a point where any other film would halt, soften, and retreat, only to plow forward boldly and survey every last hazardous square footage of narrative, as though it was gripping a stick of dynamite, remaining fascinated with the flaming fuse instead of instantly recognizing imminent danger.

The delicious pools of poison are provided by screenwriter Daniel Waters, who crafts an affectionate ode to fantasy revenge killing with his puckered screenplay. Unfortunately, a rash of idiotic copycat films (check the DVD cover quote) have perhaps diluted Waters’s barbed work, but the writing still stands as a monumental achievement in sarcastic snap and oily tonal blackness. Waters writes like others would wield a handgun, blasting away high school archetypes by arranging them in his cat’s cradle of fatality and plastic sympathy, constructing a story riddled with razor-sharp edges, eager to expose the aloofness of adults, the opportunism and fragile herd mentality of teenagers, and the ugly truth about mineral water.

Waters’s screenplay is both a hoot and horror show, and remains the finest thing he’s ever written, perhaps due to his Hollywood virginity at the time. “Heathers” doesn’t back down, tugging away at every possible sacred cow, but the film is careful to retain Veronica’s disgust with her actions and eventual witness to madness. Without her conscience and overall crisis of faith, the movie would be a hollow, button-pushing experience. It’s a blast to watch J.D. descend into bomb-happy lunacy, but there has to be a center worth investing in, and Waters endows Veronica’s monocle-sporting, diary-writing, habitual lovesickness with the ideal amount of concentration and bewilderment. The script is a tightrope act you don’t see much these days without heavy globs of wink-happy irony. Waters has his strained indulgences, but this is one amazing piece of writing.

Director Michael Lehmann was also making his professional debut with “Heathers,” and, like Waters, has never been able to top this artistic achievement. It’s a motivated piece of filmmaking, following the script down every dark hallway, bolstered by Francis Kenny’s exquisite cinematography (a sublime low-budget effort), and a delightful, evocative, snap-happy score from David Newman. Lehmann’s visual invention and concentration go a long way to making “Heathers” palatable and richly entertaining. The filmmaker also preserves Waters’s black comedy, straightforwardly offering the oddities without breaking the mood, holding back Ryder and Slater (both delivering wonderful, eyes-wide-open performances) the best he can without letting the whole thing trip into camp.

THE DVD

Visual:

Presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1 aspect ratio), it appears Anchor Bay/Starz is simply reusing the transfer handed to the 2001 release of the film. The image is soft, absent a great amount of detail, and the fleshtones appear too pinkish throughout. Black levels also suffer from softness, but remain dependable.

Audio:

The 5.1 Dolby Digital mix doesn’t rattle the neighborhood, but for low-tech film like “Heathers,” the experience is pleasing, with some action in the surrounds brought on by the score and acts of violence. Dialogue is easy to hear and separated accurately from the soundtrack.

Subtitles:

English for the Hearing Impaired subtitles are included.

Extras:

Ported over from the previous DVD (and the 1997 laserdisc):

A feature-length commentary with writer Daniel Waters, director Michael Lehmann, and producer Denise Di Novi is truly “Heathers 101″ for fans, divulging nearly every detail of the film in a warm conversational style befitting this fruitful artistic accomplishment. Some highlights:

- Distributor New World Pictures ran out of money as “Heathers” entered a wider release. Di Novi even offered to buy a newspaper ad for the studio to keep the film alive.

- Jennifer Connelly and Heather Graham were both considered for the role of Veronica.

- Christian Slater doing a Jack Nicholson impression? The trio claim no knowledge of such an act of profound coolness.

- “Heathers” was titled “Lethal Attraction” for some overseas markets, which mystifies Waters.

- While the commentators adore their film, they view the ending as a “compromise.”

It’s a marvelous listen, even if some of the comments could only make sense in 1997. For instance: Di Novi mentioning that the film’s fashion “still works.”

“Swatch Dogs and Diet Cokeheads” (29:55) is a definitive take on the “Heathers” experience, gathering cast and crew to collect their thoughts on participating in a black comedy classic. Scads of engaging yarn is spun here, but the finest moments spill forth from Winona Ryder, who reveals herself to be a slightly loopy personality, way into the film in a beaming, stoner manner I wish more actors would embrace.

“Original Ending Screenplay Excerpt” (DVD-ROM) is a PDF snippet of the film’s more ambitious, unfilmed conclusion.

And a Theatrical Trailer is included on this DVD.

New to this DVD:

“Return to Westerburg High” (21:21) is a featurette that merely embellishes previous production stories, bringing back Waters, Lehmann, and Di Novi to recount the making of “Heathers.” Time has passed and a smattering of new anecdotes are shared, but it’s a truly redundant offering, perhaps only meant to sweeten the DVD reissue pot. If you owned the previous release, you’ve already heard these stories.

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Ryder made her film debut in the 1986 comedy Lucas. Although she gained recognition for her role in Tim Burton’s Beetle Juice, her breakthrough came with her starring role in the 1988 black comedy Heathers, opposite Christian Slater (who appeared as a comm officer in Star Trek VI). She went on to receive Academy Award nominations for her roles in Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence and the 1994 adaptation of Little Women. She has also starred in such movies as Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands, Francis Ford Coppola’s rendition of Dracula, Ben Stiller’s Reality Bites, and many other major motion pictures. Star Trek will not be Ryder’s first foray into science fiction. Besides the aforementioned Tim Burton films (which have a bit of sci-fi in them), Ryder also starred in Alien: Resurrection,along with Ron Perlman (ST:NEM: Reman Viceroy). More recently, Ryder starred with Keanu Reeves in Richard Linklater’s adaptation of Phillip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly.

The character of Spock’s mother Amanda first appeared in the Original Series episode “Journey to Babel.” Amanda later appeared (voiced by Majel Barrett) in the Animated Series episode “Yesteryear” which is the only TAS episode to be considered canon. That episode deals with an adult Spock going back in time to assist his childhood self. Wyatt reprised the role in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, where she helped the newly resurrected Spock get in touch with his human side. The last appearance was a brief flashback showing the birth of Spock in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (played by Cynthia Blaise). More on Amanda Grayson at Memory Alpha.

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It hits stores alongside a reissue of “Stranger Than Paradise,” both discs coming from the auteur-lovers at Criterion. “Stranger Than Paradise” is, of course, well established in the indie pantheon and needs no boosterism here. It’s also been on disc before. This edition might not be very big news (despite the new director-approved transfer and juicy documentary extras), if not for the fact that Criterion throws in a rare movie for free: Jarmusch’s first feature, “Permanent Vacation.”

This makes the “Paradise” set feel like an echo of the company’s “Slacker” release from a few years back. Both packages pair an indie star’s breakthrough film with an earlier one that few fans have heard of, and fewer have seen. As with Richard Linklater’s “It’s Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books,” Jarmusch’s “Permanent Vacation” is one of those debuts that admirers call “challenging” and detractors call “a chore”: meandering and ultra-low-budget, it makes the famously laid-back “Paradise” look like a Hollywood thriller. It does, however, offer a great time-capsule peek at grimy turn-of-the-’80s New York and the hipsters who squatted there.

But back to “Night on Earth.” The setup’s easy: five small, self-contained stories, each taking place at the same time, set in taxicabs in Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Rome and Helsinki. When the first story has run its course, we watch a wall-mounted clock turn back to the beginning and are transported to the next locale.

I haven’t done a scientific survey, but I’ve always had the impression that people looked down on this one — both at the time of release, when skeptics thought casting Winona Ryder as a grease monkey cabbie was a sellout (that’s nonsense: she’s great here), and in retrospect, with viewers’ post-Oscars annoyance with Roberto Benigni contaminating his hilariously profane performance. Or maybe it’s that anthologies of all stripes — even those where the parts are conceived and produced together, as opposed to some slapdash, multidirector omnibus movie — tend to get a bum rap.

Whatever the case, its critics are wrong. “Night on Earth” bursts with low-key charm, its miniatures reveling in the sparks that fly when interesting characters drop their guard and truly interact with strangers. In the most overtly entertaining sequence, a street dude played by Giancarlo Esposito, frustrated by dozens of cabs who won’t take black passengers to Brooklyn, has to ride with an East German (Armin Mueller-Stahl) who can’t drive to save his life. (Along the way they hijack Rosie Perez, who as you might guess doesn’t hide her displeasure.)

But it’s tempting to say that the best segment is the one in which the least happens: the Finnish episode, where a forlorn Matti Pellonpää picks up three drunks who only think they have problems until they persuade him to recount his own.

Through the early ’90s, I burned the film’s Tom Waits soundtrack into my brain so deeply that it’s impossible for me to comment on it objectively. (If I’d been big on mixtapes at the time, I’m sure every one I made would’ve had at least one of these tracks on it.) But the slowly evolving theme, creepy-crawly here and rollicking there, gives each section its own character while simultaneously gluing them together. Waits bookends the film with dueling versions of the song “Back in the Good Old World,” first as a gypsy romp and then as a waltzing lullaby.

The song gets lovelier every time I listen to it, but when I checked online just now to make sure I had the name right, I learned something horrible: The album appears to be out of print.

When’s Criterion going to start reissuing CDs?

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Perhaps “kindred spirits” would be the best term to describe writer-director David Wain and actor Ken Marino, both of whom helped craft the independent film “Wet Hot American Summer,” which made its debut at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001.

Wain and Marino, who were once college roommates, hit it big in the mid-’90s with the sketch comedy troupe “The State,” which ultimately became a series on MTV. Since then the twosome have grown with one another and have continued to collaborate.

“A lot of the time during the writing process I’m thinking of ideas and typing them out,” Wain said recently.

“And I’m making something for us to eat,” Marino said. “Like a pizza or eggplant parmesan.”

And yet this relationship seems to work, possibly even better than a married couple’s. So it comes as no surprise that the comedic duo have combined their talents once again to create “The Ten,” a film which puts a humorous twist on a well-known set of rules, the Ten Commandments.

During a recent interview it was often difficult for a reporter to decipher whether Wain and Marino were being serious about what they were saying or if they were simply being the jokesters that they are.

“[The Ten Commandments] are older than we thought,” Wain deadpanned. “We thought we had discovered this thing, but apparently the Ten Commandments have been around for years.”

“I know for a fact that [Charlton Heston] wrote two of [the Ten Commandments],” Marino added.

Though, Heston may have done the role of Moses justice in the 1967 film “The Ten Commandments,” one doubts that he wrote a commandment or two.

After a 90-second Google search, Wain and Marino said, they learned what all the commandments were and their order of appearance and used them as a launching pad for “The Ten.”

“We didn’t take the Ten Commandments as they were,” Wain said. “We did a little re-work and polish to them.”

Made on a $4 million budget, shot in 40 locations in 28 days and consisting of an all-star cast, the film is an original of its kind.

“It was important to us to do something different that was funny and fresh and made us laugh,” Wain said.

“The Ten” is a bizarre tale of tales narrated by Paul Rudd, who also served as a co-producer. This film includes all Ten Commandments, with overlapping characters and stories.

For example, Adam Brody breaks the first commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” by becoming an idolized God-like figure and causes his wife, Kelly (Winona Ryder), to leave him.

Later in the film Kelly appears again. After separating from Brody, she then becomes infatuated over a ventriloquist’s wooden puppet, and steals it for her own love fest.

Though Ryder made headlines in December 2001 when she was caught on tape for allegedly stealing from a Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills, the fact that she was asked to play out the commandment of “Thou shalt not steal” was a complete coincidence, Wain explained.

“It didn’t occur to me until I spoke to her on the phone and I said, ‘Your commandment is, “Thou shalt not steal,’” and she said, ‘Great,’” he said. “It was a great part for her. And she turned out to be just an amazing actress and completely committed to our silly material and raised it five levels.”

And that’s exactly what this film is — silly.

“We’re not really trying to make any point about religion or anything for that matter,” Wain said.

With that said, Christian groups or whoever for that matter should hold on to their letters of disapproval concerning the film until they see it.

“In my opinion it’s a morality tale,” Marino said. “You break a commandment, you pay your dues.”

Furthermore, aside from Ryder’s character’s zany antics in the film becomes wackier as it progresses, especially, when two neighbors compete against each other to see who can purchase the most CAT scan machines and the big musical number at the end of the film.

“Whether you like it or you don’t, I don’t think it’s a lot like other movies,” Wain said.

LA Independent

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”The Ten,” written by the same director of Wet Hot American Summer, is a compilation of ten different stories, each depicting one of the ancient commandments given to Moses by God.

Christians have expressed their concern about the film and how it degrades and insults God and His laws. Many critics, however, believe the movie will have little influence.

“The Ten Commandments have been a cornerstone of our society for nearly one hundred years,” explained “The Ten” director David Wain on the film’s website. “If you’ve ever taken a Sunday off, or if you’ve ever stopped yourself from murdering someone, then you yourself have been following the Ten Commandments without even knowing it.”

The film has a number of stars in it including Paul Rudd, Adam Brody, Gretchen Mol, Winona Ryder, Oliver Platt and Jessica Alba. Each of them either stars or plays minor roles in each of the short scripts. Each uses the Bible to create a foundation for an often inappropriate caricature.

A main example of one of the acts tells the story of a virgin librarian who takes a trip to Mexico and experiences a sexual awakening with a local named Jesus H. Christ.

Other shorts include a prisoner coveting his inmate’s “wife,” a woman who steals a ventriloquist doll after she falls in love with it, and a police detective who covets his neighbor’s Cat Scan machine.

Some Christian leaders feel that the film is part of a larger trend of increasing antagonism toward Christianity and religion in America.

“This is going to be a very negative attack on faith and values,” said Dr. Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission, to World Net Daily. “It’s very sad society has descended into this attack mode.”

There have been mixed reviews towards the film, with some finding the over-the-top humor entertaining while others feeling it went too far.

The review by the Associated Press gave it one and a half out of four stars.

“Anytime you compile a series of vignettes and call it a feature film, you’re going to have hits and misses. It’s the nature of the structure,” reviewed Christy Lemire of AP. “’The Ten,’ unfortunately, has more misses.”

Many faith-based critics are not greatly worried about the impact it will have morally, however.

Its distributor, City Lights Pictures, is not one of the major companies and should not be far reaching.

“This [film] is not going to be a major influence,” added Baehr.

Still, movie critics are voicing their concerns over the spoofing of something featured so prominently in Judaism and Christianity.

“In the old film code, you couldn’t defame anyone’s religion,” Baehr said.

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Winona Ryder did the red carpet, had her picture snapped, but I didn’t see her in the theater or at the afterparty. Apparently, during Sundance she came to the screening, but couldn’t get in because her entourage was too large. Maybe she decided to skip the NY scene. Soon she’ll be on the cover of Vogue; I’m happy she’s poised for a comeback.

“Why did you want to be naked in the grand finale?” I asked Jack Fisher, president of City Lights and brother of CEO Danny Fisher, after the screening. “I knew I wanted to be apart of a cult classic,” he said.

Outside the theater, David Wain was congratulated warmly by Christopher Meloni as they swapped contact info.

At the afterparty in the storied Avalon (get it, Ten Commandments-spoof – party in church?) I was able to talk to David Wein. He had a really pretty girlfriend with him.

Q. How did you feel about it? (had to ask the obligatory question)

A. I’m proud of the movie.

Q. Why this topic and theme?

A. The Ten Commandments are everywhere, in every hotel room and on monuments.

Q. I couldn’t tell if you were for or against the Commandments, what did it all mean?

A. If you make or break the commandments, the intention is there.

Q. Why did you end with naked men?

A. Why not.

Q. Any last thoughts?

A. I’m glad our brand of humor is gaining acceptance.

I met someone that looked distinctly like Justin Theroux or the character he played in the movie — Jesus – over passed mango shrimp. I asked him if he was, in fact, Jesus. He said “no” with a cockney smile. I didn’t know if he was quoting the movie; I moved on to mini-cheeseburgers.

The very funny Kerri Kenney responded to my questions with witty banter. She called the movie a “morality tale and comic romp,” professed her love for David Wain and exclaimed “my shoes are too small.”

Paul Rudd the narrator of the 10 stories, was dashing and had a fabulous smile.

Q. Were you bothered by the taboo topic?

A. Never.

Q. It looked like you guys were having fun.

A. With friends, how could you not be?

Continuing that theme, Roberto Cannavale felt the movie was “hilarious.” I asked why he went naked. “Because they’re my friends.”

Ken Marino was surrounded by girls and flashing lightbulbs so I couldn’t approach; he was simply stunning in a suit. By the time I could interject, the free booze had kicked in and I couldn’t think of anything to ask.

Overall the night was cool. Yet Avalon has never been so stayed and I’m still slightly shocked and giddy at seeing such an edgy movie.

By Alex Geana

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After photogs spent a half-hour shooting the arrival of cast members including A.D. Miles, Paul Rudd, Gretchen Mol and Famke Janssen, their flashbulbs lit up the DGA’s red carpet when Ryder appeared.

The actress happily posed for the cameras but steered clear of the print press.

Pic’s director/co-writer David Wain, however, was not press shy. He felt lucky, he said, to get such a star-studded cast, which also included preem absentees Jessica Alba, Adam Brody and Liev Schreiber.

The cast “responded to the material,” Wain said, “and thought it was funny and said yes, and we were shocked because we didn’t pay anybody, but I think they wanted to do it because they thought it was different.” Co-writer/actor Ken Marino said that the absurd idea behind the pic came after Wain watched “The Dekalog” — Krzysztof Kieslowski’s 1989 miniseries about the 10 commandments, which was “very dramatic and heavy. David just thought, Let’s rip that off and do a shorter funnier version of it,” Marino said.

This new concept worked for ThinkFilm’s head of U.S. distribution, Mark Urman. “We saw this at Sundance, and it just seemed like ThinkFilm,” he explained. “It’s smart, dumb, rude, outrageous. It’s very right for us. It made me laugh.”

Variety

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O filme chama-se A Scanner Darkly, de 2006, e bem que poderia ser lançado como longa-metragem numa sessão adulta do Anima Mundi, graças à sua técnica primorosa de rotoscopia. Nele, a bela Winona não está na categoria de produtora, como em Garota, Interrompida ou em Adoráveis Mulheres (filmes que ela produziu pra ver se descolava uma indicação ao Oscar, o que não deu certo), e entre os produtores estão ninguém menos que os sócios e amigos Steven Soderbergh e George Clooney. A direção e o roteiro são de Richard Linklater (que também dirigiu e roteirizou Antes do Amanhecer e Antes do Pôr-do-Sol, aqueles, com Julie Delpy e Ethan Hawke). A história é baseada em romance lançado sob o título de O Homem Duplo em 1977 e escrito por Philip K. Dick (autor de Blade Runner). Aqui, Winona Ryder trabalha apenas como atriz.

O filme foi bem recebido pelo público e a crítica americana, mesmo tendo uma apresentação da história considerada deficiente, a trama, ou a ausência dela. No entanto, é todo composto em rotoscopia, que é, em parcas palavras, a técnica de animação na qual os movimentos são primeiramente filmados com atores reais e depois transferidos, quadro-a-quadro, para a animação 2D (feita a lápis e arte-finalizada com pintura digital). A equipe de animadores é, pelo visto, primorosa. Basta uma olhada nas imagens do filme.

O interessante é observar que além de Winona Ryder (cujos pais foram hippies e que deram o nome Winona à filha por significar “primeiro filho nascido mulher”) e Keanu Reeves (de Matrix), o elenco de A Scanner Darkly conta com Woody Harrelson (Assassinos por Natureza) e o conhecido ator “junkie”, Robert Downey Jr. (de Chaplin e da série de TV Ally McBeal). Detalhe: Winona e Reeves já trabalharam juntos em Drácula de Bram Stoker, de Coppola, na época em que namoravam.

O personagem central é de Keanu Reeves. Ele interpreta Bob Arctor, um agente de narcóticos que vai atrás da fonte de produção e venda da letal “Substância D”. O “D” do nome da substância vem de “death” (morte) e compõe, portanto, a mais perigosa droga existente no mercado, conseguindo cancelar o link entre os hemisférios da mente, levando a um irreversível dano cerebral. Daí, a trajetória de Arctor ser tragicômica, pois ele mesmo é um dependente da Substância D. Ele vive tantas vidas a ponto de seus superiores, na polícia, não saberem como identificá-lo. Ora ele pode ser confundido como sendo Bob Arctor, traficante, ora como “Fred”, uma outra identidade do também agente do Narcóticos Bob Arctor. Enfim, só assistindo pra conferir. Se o filme tiver no mínimo a carga psicanalítica do livro homônimo de Philip K. Dick, já será um ganho.

A Scanner Darkly trata, entre outros temas, do consumo de drogas. Em relação às técnicas de filmagem, o filme se mostra cativante. Reside aí o seu diferencial. Nesse aspecto, ele é bem sucedido, permitindo à platéia compartilhar lampejos de paranóia e de desilusão dos personagens. O “blur” (ou seja, a tela embaçada) utilizado em boa parte do filme ajuda nessa atmosfera de desconexão, de confusão total provocada pela tal Substância D. Assim, consegue se enfatizar a caricatura bastante ácida e mórbida, repleta de diálogos que vão do surreal ao cômico entre pessoas cujas mentes se renderam a viagens alucinantes e alucinógenas. O trailer, na internet, é um show de imagens.

A crítica americana e mesmo os fóruns sobre A Scanner Darkly nos adiantam que, embora talentoso pela maneira de ser construído, o filme peca pela dificuldade de mostrar o conflito, de decolar a tensão, sem a qual é impossível assistir a qualquer coisa. Mesmo o mundo de paranóia e conspiração (o trailer enfatiza a idéia de que “qualquer ação sua pode ser gravada”, daí a idéia de scanner) fica inerte, porque essa experiência parece perdida no plot, na trama. O curioso é que Linklater faz isso, só que suavemente e tendo o romance como pano de fundo, em dois de seus filmes anteriores, aqueles dois que têm no elenco a dupla Julie Delpy e Ethan Hawke passeando pelas ruas de Viena e Paris.

Source: Bigorna.net

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FILM: Star Winona Ryder finds personal meaning in story of hospital patients

Depression can hit anyone, regardless of status, age, race or sex.

Winona Ryder’s latest movie, “Girl, Interrupted,” opening nationwide this Friday, chronicles the compelling true story of Susanna Kaysen’s struggle with depression at age 17 – a struggle which led her to the brink of insanity and back.

An adaptation of Kaysen’s 1993 bestselling memoir, the film follows Susanna’s life during her two years at McLean Psychiatric Hospital (called Claymoore Hospital in the film) beginning in 1967.

Executive producer and star Ryder was on hand to talk about “Girl, Interrupted” at a press conference at the Four Seasons Hotel.

Attached to the film for six years, the actor found the subject matter particularly meaningful. Her own experiences with depression and anxiety in her late teens led her to feel a deep connection with Kaysen’s life.

“I made a conscious choice to open up and talk about that time in my life, which has been strange for me because I know how nauseating it is when actors complain,” Ryder said. “We’re very lucky and blessed.”

“We’re sickeningly well-paid people who have very charmed lives, but there is also a lot the public doesn’t see,” Ryder continued. “A lot of darkness and demons that I think everyone in the world has. Everybody … has struggled with loneliness and confusion.”

Ryder knew she wanted to make this extremely personal story into a film and speak to young people, especially about the normal feelings of being misunderstood.

“Susanna Kaysen’s book just really captured a mood – that time in your life that is so confusing and so lonely and so oddly funny and weird,” Ryder said. “She captured it with such honesty yet without being self-indulgent, which is something I hadn’t seen captured since Salinger wrote ‘Catcher in the Rye.’”

Growing up in a time when many radical changes were occurring in the American social fabric, Kaysen, just out of high school, felt deeply confused and insecure. She ended up “chasing a bottle of aspirin with a bottle of vodka.”

As a result, her parents sent her to the mental hospital where Kaysen confronted the gripping confusion in her life. Years later, Kaysen began writing vignettes about the time spent in the hospital and eventually compiled a searing novel that resonated with all types of people.

After Ryder read the book, she contacted producer Douglas Wick who had bought the rights to the film. Six years later, James Mangold came on board to revise the script and direct. This pairing finally brought the film adaptation into fruition.

“It was just kind of these series of vignettes in a mental institution which were neither saying it was a terrible place or a great place but were just kind of events,” Mangold said. “I felt like someone had to attack the material with vigor, also more loyalty to the feelings, themes and points of the book.”

The director felt audiences would connect most with Kaysen’s universal conflicted feelings of confusion.

“We all wake up and try to figure out why but never are sure. There can be periods of our life that we really can’t blame on our ex-girlfriend or mother or anyone and in fact we just feel shitty,” Mangold said. “That’s interesting. And some people get lost in the spiral of that.”

Kaysen almost got lost in that spiral. But her experiences in the mental institution made it clear to her that she wanted to be a writer. She also came to a realization about the confusion which almost destroyed her life.

Yet it was not until she began writing down her memories that Kaysen really found clarity. The resulting book, meditative in tone, focused mainly on her thoughts and feelings of that time.

So in writing the script, Mangold expanded the other characters mentioned in the book, especially that of Lisa, a charming over-the-top sociopath, played by Angelina Jolie. Critical to the film’s dramatic structure, Lisa became important to Mangold because she symbolized a type of freedom that Susanna did not quite possess.

“Some of what we think of as crazy is also just speaking the truth all the time which, let’s face it, we can’t do.” said Mangold. “Part of the rules of life is not saying what you are thinking.”

While creating the role of Lisa, Mangold worried he could not find anyone to fill the outrageous “lines in a coloring book” that he had drawn. When Jolie came to read for the role, the search was over. After reading every single scene that Lisa was in, Mangold knew that the film could be made.

“I was exhausted afterwards but also knew she was going to be Lisa. Not only that, but I actually felt like we had a movie,” said Mangold.

Jolie, who just garnered a Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal, brought the needed energy, vitality and impulsiveness to the role of a girl truly walking on the edge.

“I looked up sociopath – I went to the library and they said to look under serial killers. And you read about them and they’re just not aware. They live on impulse so you can’t analyze them,” Jolie said. “You have to throw the books away and say, ‘OK, what do I really feel right now?’ and just do it. And sometimes you do things that you’re pretty scared of.”

But this spontaneous abandon translated into a very truthful performance mainly because Jolie could relate to her character.

“I remember being very upset that I wasn’t (crazy). That I wasn’t a vampire. I wanted to be on stage and think I was someone else,” said Jolie about her own adolescence.

Jolie’s connection with the part, Mangold’s conviction in presenting the truths behind Kaysen’s message, and the overwhelming power of Kaysen’s story are what Ryder is counting on in reaching the larger public.

“I hope the teenagers who feel alone out there will see this movie and say, ‘Thank God.’ Because movies like this aren’t really offered, and I would like to offer it,” Ryder said. “If I had seen this movie at 19, I would have taken a lot of comfort in it.”

“Life is just weird. Life is a mess,” Ryder said. “This world is a mess, and anyone who understands this world I would worry about … We’re normal to feel crazy in a way.”

FILM: “Girl, Interrupted” to open in theaters nationwide Friday.

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Winona Ryder had a devil of a time getting into character for her latest role in The Crucible.

In this powerful story of the 17th century witch trials in Salem, Mass., Ryder plays Abigale Williams, the teenage servant girl who unleashed a witch-hunting frenzy in an isolated religious community.

Abigale had a brief, secret affair with a married farmer named John Proctor (Daniel Day-Lewis), only to be shunned when the older man confessed the sin to his wife (Joan Allen).

Abigale’s revenge was to accuse dozens of the town’s leading citizens of being witches. Her accusations resulted in the most notorious witch trial in U.S. history, ending with the execution of 17 innocent people.

“The temptation in a role like Abigale is to go for pure evil, but I couldn’t just play her as a bitch. I had a great deal of sympathy for her,” admits Ryder.

“Abigale was an outsider. She was an independent, highly sexual girl in a repressive, patriarchal religious community. She was different and that difference made her an outcast.”

Flashback to 1982. Ryder is 11 years old and her family moves from San Francisco to the sleepy suburban community of Petaluma, Calif.

“It was my dream come true but it would soon become a nightmare,” recalls Ryder.

“I grew up in San Francisco around drag queens, openly gay couples and feminists. I never differentiated. They were all just wonderful people. My parents were hippies, so we eventually moved into a commune where free love and nudity were an everyday occurrence.”

The preteen Ryder read the books in her parents’ library and longed for the traditional family life of her favorite fictional characters.

“In Petaluma, I finally had my own room in a real house and I was going to a real school. I was in heaven.”

Ryder’s dreams were shattered her first week at school.

“My hair was really short. I wore these androgynous clothes and I was tiny and frail. Girls threw food at me and one day three boys started calling me a faggot. I told them I was a girl but they wouldn’t believe me, so they beat me up. I had to have stitches in my head and I had a broken rib.”

When her parents filed a complaint with the school, the principal suggested Ryder leave because she was deemed a bad influence.

“My parents taught me at home after that and one of the plays we read together was Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. I remember thinking even then that I was Abigale. We had both been made scapegoats.”

In retrospect, Ryder feels lucky.

“I have so many girlfriends who were date raped, beaten by their boyfriends or coerced into sex by producers, directors and other actors. Though my early romances made headlines, I was never abused in a relationship,” says Ryder, referring to her live-in relationships with actor Johnny Depp and rocker David Pirner.

This year, Ryder has been dating X-Files star David Duchovny.

Ryder says her performance in The Crucible is “the most sexual of my career. I’ve never been asked to delve this deeply into a character’s sexuality before.”

She also feels her scenes with Day-Lewis are “supremely erotic even though I didn’t have to take off my clothes, get sprayed with glycerine and roll around naked with someone. It’s all in their glances, the tension between them and the muscles in their bodies whenever they get close. It’s also trickier to play than those cliched Hollywood sex scenes.”

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