Why did Winona Ryder hate working with Ethan Hawke?
Rising to prominence in the 1990s, there’s no doubt that Winona Ryder was one of the most seminal actors of the decade, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio. With Tim Burton to thank for her early success, Ryder was catapulted into the industry limelight following her role in 1988s Beetlejuice, where she starred alongside Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis.
Her career boomed soon after the release of the movie, with Ryder following up her success with the release of the coming-of-age classic Heathers in 1988 before collaborating with Burton once again for 1990s Edward Scissorhands. In the early ‘90s, Ryder thrived, working with some of the industry’s biggest names, including Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese. However, it wasn’t all plain sailing.
In 1994, the actor collaborated with Ethan Hawke, Janeane Garofalo and Ben Stiller for the comedy-drama flick Reality Bites, which told the story of a filmmaker and her friends trying to figure out what to do with their lives after college. Yet, whilst the film itself wasn’t a disaster, Ryder clashed considerably with Hawke, disagreeing with how he chose to live his life at the time.
Criticising Hawke for living in a messy apartment when he could have kept better care of himself and his property, Ryder once told Rolling Stone: “You just want to say, ‘Don’t live this way to show people that you’re real and that you’re deep.’ It offends me because I know what it’s like to be in poverty, and it’s not fun, and it’s not romantic, and it’s not cool”.
Not best pleased with her point of view, Hawke rather venomously responded, stating: “The bottom line is that I’m not a millionaire. Fuck you, you are, so you think we all are. Not to say I’m not doing well financially. But to be honest, that’s her whole thing. It’s her projection”.
Eventually, like most petty feuds in Hollywood, the pair patched their relationship back up, with Hawke later stating at a 25th-anniversary screening of the movie that he owed his entire career to Ryder. As stated in People magazine, Hawke recalled: “I’m indebted. Winona believed in me. Winona got me this job. This job changed the trajectory of my career entirely…I’m just so grateful to you, Winona”.
These days, the movie is considered to be something of a cult classic and one of the forgotten gems of ‘90s filmmaking. Check out the trailer for Reality Bites below.
