How Winona Ryder overcame trauma for one specific ‘Alien Resurrection’ scene
While the fame and glamour of being a star actor can bring its fair share of enjoyment to the lives of such individuals, the profession can also be one of a problematic nature, especially for those who perform in the action movie genre. This is something that Winona Ryder discovered when she 1997’s Alien Resurrection, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
Alongside Sigourney Weaver and Ron Perlman, Ryder starred in the fourth instalment in the iconic science fiction horror franchise, and while the film as a whole was middling in terms of its critical reception, it served as a crucial moment in Ryder’s life as she had to overcome anxiety and trauma rooted in her childhood.
The film was something of a departure from the previous three Alien movies in that it saw a resurrected Ellen Ripley aboard a spaceship full of genetically engineered alien-human hybrids. At one point, Ryder’s character, Annalee Call, is faced with an underwater abyss that she must escape from, certainly one of the most tense moments of the movie.
As the ship’s survivors make their way through the adrift USM Auriga, Call is plunged into terror when the ship begins to flood, and the fear in Ryder’s eyes is excruciating and, more importantly, authentic. The truth is that Ryder had very nearly drowned when she was just 12 years old, and filming the scene for Alien Resurrection marked the first time she was in such a similar situation.
Naturally, Ryder had been anxious about having to swim underwater when she was still likely traumatised by her childhood experience, but she decided to use the opportunity to not only overcome her fear but to use it as part of her performance. The tension present in the scene is all real in one way or another, and Ryder’s performance is especially mesmerising.
Things on set were perhaps made slightly worse by Ron Perlman very nearly drowning in the same scene after knocking his head against a sprinkler and falling unconscious before being saved by a rescue team, but still, Ryder confronted her fear head-on. The actors had all received 15 sessions of underwater training before arriving on set and another two weeks of training before production actually began so as to ensure their safety.
Alien Resurrection is far from being the best movie in the iconic franchise, but the underwater scene remains a crucial moment in the life of Winona Ryder. It’s undoubtedly one of the most tense parts of the 1997 science fiction horror, and it holds a more profound significance than one might first perceive in the heart of one of its stars.
