The role Winona Ryder was told she wasn’t attractive enough to play
Winona Ryder has made a name for herself through her gothic and unconventional characters that are a wonderful testament to all the weirdos and outcasts in cinema, playing misunderstood and feisty people who defied the conventions of the roles that were stereotypically allotted to women at the time.
After breaking into Hollywood at the age of just 17, Ryder had many obstacles to overcome. She was faced with an onslaught of predatory behaviour from fellow actors and producers, as well as being told that there was one part she wasn’t pretty enough to play.
Beetlejuice is a bizarre and surrealistic story about a couple who suddenly find themselves dead, seeking help from a demon to scare an affluent couple away from their home. Tim Burton directed the film, and it became one of the defining classics within his body of work, creating a uniquely nightmarish style of twisted characters and warped worlds. While Ryder was later offered the part of Lydia, it was not an easy process, and the actor had to jump through many hoops before convincing Burton that she ‘had the right look’.
When asked about her involvement in the project, Ryder said, “I was slipped the script by the guy who wrote Beetlejuice, but I had to beg [the director and writer] to let me do it – they didn’t think I was attractive enough to play Veronica. When I was told that, I left the meeting and walked across the street to the Macy’s in the Beverly Center. I had them do a makeover on me and went back in. But it wasn’t until a few actors had turned it down that I got it. I just didn’t have the look that was popular back then. There was a look, and it wasn’t me.”
While Ryder’s distinctive dark look seems as though she was made for the part and Burton’s worlds cannot be disentangled from her appearance, she surprisingly wasn’t the first choice for the part, with Sarah Jessica Parker, Brooke Shields and Molly Ringwald all being up for the role.
Ryder’s statement about not ‘having the look’ unfortunately has some truth to it. Hollywood typically favours women with a more conventional appearance, but Ryder has a striking and different quality that makes her stand out instead of blend in.
It’s disheartening to think that even a director like Tim Burton, often celebrated as a champion of outsiders, seemed to echo Hollywood’s shallow focus on appearances when discussing Ryder’s casting. One would hope that the visionary director would instantly recognise Ryder as the ideal Lydia, unconstrained by conventional Hollywood norms. However, his comment suggests otherwise, revealing a disappointing alignment with the industry’s superficial tendencies. Despite his reputation as a maverick, this moment highlights a lapse that places him closer to the very system he ostensibly critiques.
However, Ryder didn’t let this comment overshadow her ambitions, and she proved everyone wrong by making a name for herself from this very thing – giving a voice to all the women that didn’t quite fit in or ‘have the look’.
