Following a fairly lengthy dry spell, Winona Ryder pirouetted back into the good graces of critics last year by playing a suicidal ex-ballerina in Black Swan. Under the guidance of Darren Aronofsky, the actress rediscovered her ability to pull off complex psychological extremes (or as the less sophisticated might call it, "the crazy") that Ryder perfected early in her career. Next up, the Oscar nominee will explore a new brand of mentally unhinged by starring opposite James Franco as a playwright whose psyche unravels on the eve of her next production in The Stare.
Let's take a look back at Ryder's range of onscreen crazy (ranked from least to most) and see where her role in The Stare will fit. [Note: Movieline will not rank every one of Ryder's roles but feel free to discuss your favorites in the comment section below.]
Age of Innocence (1993) (Not Crazy)
Character: May Welland, a lovely but run-of-the-mill socialite who offers passionless marriages to New York lawyers in the 1870s.
Reality Bites (1994) (Also Not Crazy)
Lelaina Pierce: A Houston valedictorian who struggles to put together a documentary about disenfranchised youth while navigating her feelings for her deadbeat friend/roommate Troy.
Mr. Deeds (2002) (Crazy Only For Falling For a Dopey Adam Sandler Character)
Character: Babe Bennet a.k.a. Pam Dawson, a resourceful tabloid reporter who goes undercover for a story and ends up falling for a goofy pizzeria owner who happens to have inherited $40 billion.
Little Women (1993) (Crazy For Her Time, But In Present Day, Not Crazy)
Character: Jo March, the fiery writer who is torn between family loyalty and pursuing her own career.
Beetlejuice (1988) (Tim Burton Crazy)
Character: Lydia Deetz, a goth teenager who sees (and befriends) amiable ghosts.
Edward Scissorhands (1990) (Also Tim Burton Crazy)
Character: Kim Boggs, a suburban adolescent who enjoys camping and is initially (and rightly) scared of a young man with scissors for hands (Johnny Depp).
Mermaids (1990) (Cher-Related Crazy)
Character: Charlotte Flax, a Jewish teen who is obsessed with Catholicism and raised by a single mother played by Cher. Enough said. Well, almost enough. Her mother, who constantly moves the family around the country, steals Charlotte's first love.
Girl, Interrupted (1999) (DSM Crazy)
Character: Susanna Kaysen, a disillusioned 18-year-old who, after a suicide attempt, sticks herself into a mental institution, is diagnosed with biopolar disorder and befriends a variety of characters including a sociopath, a pathological liar and a sexually abused cutter.
Sex and Death 101 (1996) (Radical Feminist Crazy)
Character: Death Nell, a vigilante who punishes men who have committed sex crimes by seducing them, putting them into lifelong comas and spray painting feminist poetry on their wall.
Heathers (1989) (Homicidal Crazy)
Character: Veronica Sawyer, a popular teenager who accidentally ends up killing her enemies and inciting a suicide trend at her high school. All is well in the end (except for those students that ended up dying) when Veronica's boyfriend commits suicide outside of a pep rally and Veronica aligns herself with an obese outcast.
Lost Souls (2000) (Satanic Believer Crazy)
Character: Maya Larkin, a children's teacher who was once possessed by the devil, has access to an exorcist squad and who believes that the devil will appear on Earth in human form.
The Crucible (1996) (Witch Trial Crazy)
Character: Abigail Williams, a 17th century Salem girl who willingly drinks chicken's blood, wishes her lover's wife dead and wrongly accuses villagers of witchcraft so that they will be hanged.
VERDICT: From what we know about Ryder's role in The Stare, her character will fall somewhere between Mermaids and Sex and Death 101 crazy -- if only because while she is losing her mind, she is not putting anyone into permanent comas, accusing them of witchcraft or murdering high school peers.