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Winona Ryder recalls a moment in her real life that had an impact on her acting career.
In a recent sitdown with Interview, the actress, 54, was asked about playing a parent searching for a child in supernatural settings.
I had this experience when I was in my early twenties: there was a girl from the town that I grew up in. Her name was Polly Klaas and she was kidnapped. I knew her family,” Ryder shared.
“She was missing for two months, and very tragically, she had been killed. I was doing whatever I could to help this family, to keep it in the news. When you’re around that kind of tangible grief, it’s otherworldly,” she explained.
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“She wanted to be an actress and her favorite book was Little Women, so that was a big reason I did that movie and dedicated it to her.”
Ryder played Jo March in the 1994 film adaptation of the classic, which came a year after Klass was abducted. Ryder, who shared a hometown with Klaas, raised awareness in interviews and even offered a $200,000 reward for information related to the case.
The experience surrounding Klaas’ disappearance came up for Ryder once again when she began to work on Stranger Things.
“I was actually really freaked out with Stranger Things, because I wanted them to know how f—ing serious that is, and that you can’t use disappearances as a tool to advance—it feels very personal,” she said.
“I also talked to Polly’s dad, and a lot of my performance in that first season was connected to him. I worked really, really hard that first season, and then the show took off in a way that I have certainly never been a part of. I remember having a moment that was really liberating and relieving, when I realized the show was no longer about me.”
