Why Harvey Weinstein refused to cast Winona Ryder in anything: “Apparently, I offended him”
There is no shortage of actors with Harvey Weinstein horror stories. In fact, there are probably fewer rising female stars of the 1990s and early 2000s who do not have a harrowing tale of assault or attempted assault than those who do. During his decades-long reign as Hollywood’s most powerful producer, infamous bully, and pre-eminent sexual predator, Weinstein seemed to be immune to accountability. However, in 2017, a series of explosive reports detailing the scope and degree of his behaviour became his downfall.
Like many young female actors in Hollywood in the ‘90s, Winona Ryder had her own run-ins with Weinstein, but her story is different from the all-too-familiar tales of rape, assault, and manipulation. He apparently did not assault her or even try to. He just didn’t like her. And as a result, she was ultimately blacklisted from starring in movies for his production company, Miramax, which was a powerhouse in the industry at the time.
In an interview with Esquire in 2024, Ryder said that the first time she had a formal meeting with Weinstein, she went to his office at Miramax on her own. She extended her hand to shake his, sat on the sofa, and had a seemingly normal conversation. Later, she found out that she had made a huge mistake.
“I got like screamed at [by an agent],” she said, “‘What the fuck did you do?’ I was like, ‘What?’ Apparently, I offended him because I extended my hand?”
The other interaction with Weinstein that stuck with her all these years took place during the production of The House of the Spirits when he banged on her trailer door and told her he wanted her to star in an adaptation of the hit musical Little Voice.
“And I was like, ‘Oh my God, I just saw that in London,’” she remembered, “I was like, ‘You have to cast that girl [from the play], Jane Horrocks. She’s fucking amazing.’ And he got very weird and he left.”
In the end, she thought she just knew too much about the producer for him to be comfortable casting her. “He did not like me,” she concluded.
While most people would be thrilled for any reason to be as far away as possible from Weinstein, his decision to blacklist her was problematic for Ryder’s career. At the time, she was one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, but she had attained her position through offbeat, surprise hits like Heathers and Edward Scissorhands. She didn’t want to star in mainstream blockbusters and even quit her agency because of her refusal to accept the roles they wanted her to take.
Making an enemy out of Hollywood’s biggest independent producer, the man who paved the way for Quentin Tarantino’s entire career and won untold numbers of Oscars regardless of whether the films were any good, was at least part of the reason that Ryder’s career struggled in the early 2000s. She certainly didn’t face the worst of what Weinstein had to offer, but she was one of his victims nonetheless.
