<p id=”par-1_33″><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/actors/”>Actor</a> Winona Ryder met with her <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/tim-burton-says-winona-ryder-had-an-identity-crisis-while-filming-edward-scissorhands.html/”>frequent collaborator and friend Tim Burton</a> to star in their hit film<em> Beetlejuice</em>. But it took some time before Ryder even realized she was speaking with the director.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-winona-ryder-didn-t-know-that-film-directors-could-be-like-tim-burton”>Winona Ryder didn’t know that film directors could be like Tim Burton</h2>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-1″><img decoding=”async” fetchpriority=”high” width=”1200″ height=”800″ src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Winona-Ryder-Tim-Burton-1.jpg?strip=all&quality=89″ alt=”Winona Ryder posing in a black dress at the the premiere of Tim Burton’s ‘Frankenweenie’.” class=”wp-image-3642654″ srcset=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Winona-Ryder-Tim-Burton-1.jpg 1200w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Winona-Ryder-Tim-Burton-1.jpg?w=150&h=100 150w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Winona-Ryder-Tim-Burton-1.jpg?w=640&h=427 640w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Winona-Ryder-Tim-Burton-1.jpg?w=768&h=512 768w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Winona-Ryder-Tim-Burton-1.jpg?w=1024&h=683 1024w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Winona-Ryder-Tim-Burton-1.jpg?w=525&h=350 525w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Winona-Ryder-Tim-Burton-1.jpg?w=254&h=169 254w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Winona-Ryder-Tim-Burton-1.jpg?w=200&h=133 200w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Winona-Ryder-Tim-Burton-1.jpg?w=761&h=507 761w, https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Winona-Ryder-Tim-Burton-1.jpg?w=90&h=60 90w” sizes=”(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px”><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Winona Ryder | Rick Kern/WireImage</figcaption></figure>
<p id=”par-2_41″>Ryder hadn’t done too many movies in the film industry before <em>Beetlejuice</em>. Starting out, she was mostly known for <em>Lucas </em>and <em>Square Dance</em>. But she’d been around the film industry enough to have certain expectations of filmmakers, seeing them as caring but rigid authority figures.</p>
<p id=”par-3_55″>But this was until Ryder met with director Tim Burton, who showed her a different type of filmmaker. In an interview with <a href=”https://collider.com/stana-katic-interview-castle/”>Collider</a>, she recalled meeting someone in a building while waiting for Burton to show up. And and her newfound acquaintance would have a conversation, with Ryder completely unaware who this person really was.</p>
<p id=”par-4_59″>“And then, after about 30 minutes, I was like, ‘Do you know when this Tim Burton guy is showing up, ’cause I may be in the wrong building?’ and he was like, ‘Oh, that’s me.’ I had no idea that a director could be so cool, in that way. I had only worked with more authoritative directors,” Ryder said.</p>
<p id=”par-5_20″>It turned out the experience <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/stranger-things-how-winona-ryder-gives-acting-and-life-advice-to-her-young-co-stars.html/”><em>The Stranger Things </em>star</a> had on set was just as unique as meeting Burton himself.</p>
<p id=”par-6_73″>“On the set for <em>Beetlejuice</em>, it was before people would go watch on monitors, and directors would be next to the camera. Tim would be watching you, and it was very peripheral while you were trying to be in the moment. And then, the first monitor came and it was a little TV. I heard, ‘Wait, someone’s in the shot!’ And it was Tim. That’s the first time I’ve told that story,” she said.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-winona-ryder-had-to-beat-out-several-actors-to-star-in-beetlejuice”>Winona Ryder had to beat out several actors to star in ‘Beetlejuice”</h2>
<figure class=”wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio” id=”emb-2″><div class=”wp-block-embed__wrapper”>
<iframe title=”Winona Ryder: The Beetlejuice Sequel Is Happening! – Late Night with Seth Meyers” width=”925″ height=”520″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/y5l2IK_ywa4?feature=oembed” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>
<p id=”par-7_72″>Ryder was far from Burton’s first choice to play the emotionally guarded Lydia Deetz. There was a long list of established stars at the time considered for the role. Sarah Jessica Parker, Brooke Shields, Justine Bateman, Molly Ringwald, and Jennifer Connelly were just a few considered for Burton’s 1988 classic. They all reportedly turned down the role, and it eventually came down to Ryder having to compete with Alyssa Milano for Lydia.</p>
<p id=”par-8_52″> “It was between the two of us, and she actually got the part,” Milano recalled in an interview with <a href=”https://www.huffpost.com/entry/youll-never-believe-who-almost-had-winona-ryders-role-in-beetlejuice_n_568e7c5fe4b0c8beacf5d7b8″>HuffPost</a>. “You always wonder what would have happened differently in my life had that worked out, not that I would want it to be any different, but it’s just an interesting thought game.”</p>
<p id=”par-9_20″>The <em>Charmed </em>star was satisfied with how her career turned out, it wasn’t easy receiving that rejection as a child.</p>
<p id=”par-10_22″>“I was so little,” she reflected. “You just hear, ‘Oh, you didn’t get it. Someone else got it’ — which was hard.”</p>
<p id=”par-11_33″>Meanwhile, <em>Beetlejuice </em>seemed to change Ryder’s life in a huge way. It led to several more collaborations between herself and Burton <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/why-winona-ryder-called-working-with-johnny-depp-a-blessing.html/”>like <em>Edward Scissorhands</em></a>. It also gave Ryder more film opportunities than she’d ever had before.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-how-tim-burton-felt-about-working-with-winona-ryder-again”>How Tim Burton felt about working with Winona Ryder again</h2>
<figure class=”wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio” id=”emb-3″><div class=”wp-block-embed__wrapper”>
<iframe title=”Stranger Things 4 | Winona and David Talk Beetlejuice | Netflix Geeked Week” width=”925″ height=”520″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/BSP7T4IoZjA?feature=oembed” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>
<div class=”related-article related-article–simple”>
<span class=”related-article-flag”>Related</span>
<p class=”related-article__title”>
<a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/winona-ryder-shared-characters-ugly-girl-earlier-career.html/”>
Winona Ryder Once Shared All of Her Characters Were Written as the ‘Ugly Girl’ Earlier in Her Career </a>
</p>
</div>
<p id=”par-12_54″>35 years later Burton found himself working with Ryder again for the <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/beetlejuice-2-is-reportedly-happening-will-michael-keaton-return.html/”>sequel <em>Beetlejuice Beetlejuice</em></a>. There have been talks of the movie being in development for years, which only became a reality recently. Burton would reunite with many actors from the sequel’s predecessor, including Ryder. And Burton couldn’t help get choked up over their reunion.</p>
<p id=”par-13_37″>“Working with these people again, and seeing them all, it was very emotional for me. Again, just going back to the old, same puppets and techniques. It goes back to the good old days,” he told <a href=”https://www.bfi.org.uk/interviews/world-tim-burton”>BFI</a>.</p>
<p id=”par-14_17″>Interestingly enough, Burton didn’t look back at his old film to inform the sequel, or Ryder’s character.</p>
<p id=”par-15_82″>“When I did this one, I didn’t look at the first movie, because it didn’t feel like it would help,” he said. “I treated it just very much as a project where, after 35 years, the anchor for me is what happened to Lydia, what happened to the Deetz family? What happened to the living people? What happens to people we see at one stage in their life, then you see them many years later? What the f*** happened to that person?”</p>