The Girl, Interrupted actress makes her comeback in original Netflix series “Stranger Things”
By Pamela Chow; Photos: Morgan Paget / Netflix
What sinister secrets will be uncovered in the small town of Hawkins?
Old-school cool is back with Netflix’s latest original title, “Stranger Things”. It’s been touted as a love letter to classic horror films of the 1980s. Plus, it’s starring Winona Ryder.
Known for her roles in movies like Edward Scissorhands and Girl, Interrupted, Ryder returns as a mother whose 12-year-old son goes missing from their small Midwestern town of Hawkins, Indiana. Soon after, strange happenings begin to occur.
Set in 1983, “Stranger Things” is heavily inspired by the works of horror maestros like Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter and Stephen King, said director Matt Duffer, who helmed the series with his brother Ross Duffer.
He explained, “There’s Hawkins, Indiana, and then there’s a very dark, twisted, disturbing version of that town.”
Winona Ryder stars as Joyce, a mother bent on uncovering the truth behind her 12-year-old son’s disappearance.
The return of Ryder
At the peak of her fame with popular 90s movies—followed by tabloid-fuelled relationships and scandals—Ryder exited from the public eye, leaving her image indelibly tethered to an era bygone.
But the actress herself seems to embody, or at least embrace, this nostalgia. She admitted, “I’m sort of old school in my approach to acting. Like, if I have to cry, I have to really cry. I’m allergic to the thing they use [to help actors cry]… I really have to go there mentally.”
For her role as Joyce, Ryder took inspiration from vintage 70s film stars, such as Ellen Burstyn in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore and Marsha Mason in Audrey Rose.
The teenagers in “Stranger Things” are cast into a supernatural mystery reminiscent of 80s horror films like Halloween or Nightmare on Elm Street.
Trip down memory lane
Besides the blast to the past with Ryder’s star appearance, “Stranger Things” whisks viewers back to the world of the 80s with its narrative layers and detailed environment.
Actor Charlie Heaton, who plays Jonathan Byers, describes, “You walk onto the set and you feel like you’ve fallen straight into an 80s movie.” The homes featured in the eight-episode series are likened to time capsules from the late 70s to early 80s, explained production designer Chris Trujillo.
In fact, the crew combed through estate sales where they would “basically buy everything, including what was in the junk drawers”, said Trujillo. These interesting knick-knacks can be spotted on screen, from Schlitz beer cans to walkie-talkies to Dungeons and Dragons.
Story-wise, “Stranger Things” promises a different tone of nostalgia for different generations. Matt Duffer said, “The adults are in a Spielberg film — these imperfect individuals who slowly but inevitably come to realise that something very extraordinary is taking place around them.
Like in a Stephen King novel, the children of Hawkins have to band together to face a terrifying horror.
“The teens are in an 80s horror film like Halloween or Nightmare on Elm Street, where the pains of high school and the loss of innocence is juxtaposed with supernatural evil.
“And the kids are in a Stephen King novel, like ‘Stand by Me’ or ‘It’: nerdy outsiders from a small town who have to band together to face this terrifying horror.”
Ross Duffer adds, “For us, the scariest stuff from what we loved about the movies growing up was… very ordinary people who have extraordinary things happen to them. To us, that is always scarier.”
“Stranger Things” will debut globally on Netflix on 15 Jul.
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of Weekender, Issue 156, July 8 – July 21, 2016, with the headline ‘Winona Ryder returns in nostalgic thriller’.
ADVERTISEMENTS