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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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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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’s acting career started with chewable vitamin C.

Ryder, the Petaluma High School freshman who stars in the hit movie “Lucas” said she’s always wanted to be an actress, “ever since I was a little girl. I remember I could lie real good. I loved to eat chewable vitamin C’s but my parents would only give me so many. I could thin up the greatest stories about how they were missing and why.

“Sometimes it actually worked,” she said with a laugh. “It was sort of deceiving of me, but it was fun. I realised I could do a good job.”

Ryder’s friends and neighbors will have a chance to see what kind of job she does because “Lucas” opens today for a week’s run at the Washington Square Cinemas.

It’s scary top think some of her friends will be seeing and judging her performance, the 14-year-old said, “I’m sort of shy,” she explained. “When I went to the screening in L.A. and people would come up and compliment me I would thank them but it was such a shock, you know, that so many people had just seen me act.”

The first time she saw the film it was hard to watch. “I was looking at my agent’s arm and he was trying to get me to look at the screen. I was just really scared to see my face that big.”

In Petaluma, “people are going to see me as a totally person,” she said. “People who don’t know me will probably think that I’m like Rina,” the character she plays.

Ryder, 14, said that although there are differences, Rina “is like me in some ways. I figured out when I was thinking about her before filming that she really loves Lucas. She has for years, and it’s not just a crush. After ‘Lucas,’ after the movie’s over, what I figured out is they would get together and they would be really happy.”

While “Lucas” is playing in town, “I think I’m be getting a lot of attention, although I’m not sure what kind of attention,” Ryder said.

Her peers “probably will be really shocked, from what I’ve heard from my friends who are actors. Corey (Haim, who plays Lucas), for instance, people just call him, ‘Oh, here comes the big movie star,’ and tease him. I hope that’s not going to happen with me. I know my real friends won’t change.”

Ryder understands about friendship, especially after making the film.

“The theme of ‘Lucas’ is to be yourself and people will still care about you, and don’t try to change for other people,” she said.

“It’s a very important message. I see a lot of people that are really caught up in the system and to get friends they try to do things that they’re really not for at all. And that’s really ridiculous.

“For instance, a girl would dress like her peers even if she didn’t want to, to have those peers be her friends. I think that’s really sad they won’t accept her for who she is.”

Ryder knows about being different. When she arrived in Petaluma last year, she found the cliques much tighter than those she had left behind in San Francisco.

“It was hard during eighth grade,” she admitted. “I was a little more outrageous-looking and got a lot of hassling. But people are beginning to realise that you can look different and still be a nice person. I have a lot of friends here now and they are all really great. Some tease me about (being in the film) but, you know, in a humorous way.

Film is comparatively new to Ryder who has been acting for audiences since the age of eight. “Lucas” s her first movie. She’s going to do another film this summer.

Her first stage role was Auntie Em in a summer school production of “The Wizard of Oz.” After that she went to the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco to learn acting, auditioning to earn a place n the prestigious school. She won scholarships at ACT for two years.

Ryder got the part in “Lucas” through her Los Angeles agent, she said, making no mention of her talent.

The film was shot in Chicago last summer.

She discovered that “when you do a film, you have people waiting on you and you tend to get spoiled. Thank God I had people there to keep me down to earth – my best friend, Heather Bursch and my older brother, Jubal.”

There were good times and boring times.

After the day’s work, “we would go back to the hotel, order up room service, all hang out in one of our rooms and, lie, watch TV. Some of us would go over the scene we were going to do the next day and some of us would listen to music.”

Other times weren’t so great. “One day, they called me and Charlie Sheen at seven in the morning and they got us there and out us in wardrobe and makeup right away. It was disgustingly hot. They kept saying, ‘We’re going to get to your guys’ shot, we’re going to get to our guy’s shot.’ At seven at night, they said, ‘We’re not going to get to it.’ We spent all day sitting on the set for nothing. But the majority of it is fun.”

When Ryder gets scripts through her agent, she asks advice of her best friend and of her parents, Mike and Cindy Horowitz of Petaluma.

At school, Winona uses her parents’ last name, not her stage name, which was chosen on the advice of her father.

Her favourite subject is English. “I love to read, to expand my mind.” Building on that interest, she also writes in her free time. The daughter of two writers, she is working on two scripts, both mysteries.

On the down side, “I hate P.E. and I’m horrible at maths.”

Attending school and living in Petaluma helps Ryder keep a good mental balance, she said.

“I get treated so different here than in L.A. When I go down there, I get a lot of attention, go to studios and audition for movies. Everyone compliments me and everyone’s so professional. I come back here and it’s just – Petaluma. It’s nice that I live somewhere where I don’t get my head high. I don’t want to get conceited.”

She pauses a moment. “The worst thing about being an actress is people judge you before they get to know you. People call me conceited and they’ve never even met me.’

Ryder is one of four children. Her younger brother, Uri, 10, and her sister, Sunyata, 18, saw the film as did Jubal, 17. “They’re really happy for me but it’s sort of hard (for them) to comprehend,” Ryder said. “They were a little shocked when they saw ‘Lucas’ because they saw their sister being someone else.”

Ryder said she would like to spend her life in “the business,” acting and directing.

If not, she also has her eye on a career as a human rights lawyer.

She intends to go to college to study literature and law. She may be able to help pay for her education with her earnings, which are being kept in trust for her.

However, being in a film doesn’t mean instant riches, she said. “Everyone thinks that because I’m an actress I’m a millionaire and live in a mansion. Not yet.”

One of Winona’s friends, Helene Longenbaugh, says she’s sure the young actress is “going to be big in Petaluma when the movie comes out here. The other day at the book store, World of Words, I heard two people talking and looking at us and one said, ‘Isn’t that the girl from ‘Lucas’?’ ”

FILM REVIEW ‘Lucas’: sensitive look at teen love
By Lee Siegel

The joys and agonies of teenage puppy love are explored with sensitivity, humor and intelligence in “Lucas,” a 20th Century-Fox film that displays a refreshing willingness to avoid easy answers to the travails of growing up.

The title character, played by Corey Haim, is a short, smart, articulate and bespectacled 14-year-old wimp who catches insects and falls for redheaded 16-year-old Maggie (Kerri Green) during summer vacation.

They’ll both be in the same high school class because Lucas is “accelerated” because f he’s very bright.

A relationship blossoms. But when school starts, Lucas learns painfully that what he views as love, Maggie sees only as a close friendship.

Maggie becomes attracted to a truly likeable football star, Cappie (Charlie Sheen), and both defend Lucas against cruel jokes and physical abuse from other, brutish football players who refer to Lucas as “leukoplakia,” a sometimes cancerous mouth disease.

But Cappie is still dating cheerleader Alise (Courtney Thorne-Smith). Meanwhile, Lucas barely notices the adoring stares of Rina (Winona Ryder) a pixie-like, brunette wimpette.

The pain of the unrequited crush is captured beautifully during a choir practice scene. Rina casts her longing gaze at Lucas, whose eyes are focused on Maggie. But Maggie – and Alise – are watching Cappie.

Despite his usual common sense, Lucas’ anger gets the better of him as he realizes that Maggie wants him only as a friend. He yells at her and tells her to leave hi alone.

When Maggie tries to explain that you like some people as wonderful friends and others as romantic interests, Lucas demands to know why. Maggie can’t explain. So Lucas tries to answer his own question, telling Maggie that Darwinian natural selection makes females pick the big, strong males to assure survival of the species.

As Cappie dumps Alise and develops a relationship with Maggie – who joins the cheerleader squad despite Lucas’ insistence that such activity is superficial – Lucas asserts his late-blooming manliness by worming his way onto the field during a crucial football game.

A less realistic film might have made Lucas the conquering hero. But this movie remains true to reality, with Lucas gaining respect and friendship, but not Maggie’s love.

Writer-director David Seltzer deftly manages his cast, portraying the teen-ages as warm, vulnerable and thoroughly engaging. Even the brutish jocks who torment Lucas show flickering signs of underlying humanity.

As a result, “Lucas” paints a sensitive portrait of youth as human beings, not the sex-and drug-crazed, one-dimensional stereotypes seen in far too many films dealing with teen-agers.

Rated PG-13 for some harsh language.

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