Winona Ryder could’ve been a contender.
The two-time Oscar nominee has starred alongside some of Hollywood’s most prominent male leads during her nearly 40-year career, from Daniel Day-Lewis to Leonardo DiCaprio. But as a young actress, the Stranger Things star missed out on a chance to work with Marlon Brando because of a morbid movie she starred in as a teenager.
In an interview with Elle UK published Wednesday, Ryder revealed that she was set to act in the 1990 Brando movie The Freshman—until the film’s producers saw her 1989 film Heathers.
Heathers may be a cult classic today with a long-running musical that has toured the globe and is currently playing Off-Broadway, but the film divided critics when it was released.
“I was told I was never gonna work again if I did Heathers,” Ryder said of the film, which follows four popular teenage girls—three of whom are named Heather—as their high school clique devolves into violence and subterfuge.
The film is a dark comedy, but its themes of suicide, eating disorders, and teenage sex made it a lightning rod for cultural critique upon its release. And it was all apparently a bit too much for the producers of The Freshman to bear.
“They thought it was making fun of teen suicide,” Ryder said of the jet-black comedy. “They were deeply offended and, yeah, they revoked the offer.”
While being robbed of the chance to act alongside Brando was disappointing, Ryder still stands by her decision to make the movie, regardless of the consequences. “I had to stand my ground,” she told ELLE. “I wasn’t gonna apologize.”
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