him through Christmas
lights and Ouija graffiti.
“My mom,” says her older
son, “she’s tough.” Aside from
being something of a return to
form for the actor, the role is
progressive in its empowerment
of a mother who embodies
a trio of underrepresented
demographics: single, poor,
mentally ill. “She’s not a perfect
person. She’s very flawed and
she’s struggling, even before
everything happens,” Ryder told
Collider. “I liked that she wasn’t
this perfect mom.” Ryder drew
inspiration for Joyce’s plotline
from her own mother. She asked
her: “Mom, if every bit of logic
is telling you your kid is gone,
would you still [refuse to believe
it]?” Ryder recently told Marie
Claire. “Absolutely,” her mother
replied. “What if they show you a
body? She said, ‘If you don’t see
it happen, you don’t believe it.’”
Karlyn notes that the
source of Joyce’s power can
be found within the context
of her offspring (the requisite
male, at that), a recognisable
“final mother” trope of the
horror genre. “A woman is only
allowed to be fierce when her
child is threatened,” she says.
“That is the idealisation of
motherhood.”
It was casting director Carmen
Cuba who pushed for Ryder to
be in Stranger Things. “There
were many reasons I thought of
her. I have always loved her as
an actress,” Cuba says. “She has
a magic and unpredictability
in her performances that I felt
matched the tone of what we
were going for in the story. I
also thought there was some
connective tissue to a story with
kids and Winona’s own iconic
childhood performances that
would intrigue an audience in a
special way.”
The new season offers us a
peek into Joyce’s life beyond
her children, however, when
she starts dating Bob, an old
classmate from high school
(played by fellow 80s star
Sean Astin, of The Goonies
fame). “She’s trying to mask a
lot,” Ryder told Entertainment
Weekly. “I think she’s made
this choice with Bob because
she wants a good father figure
in her sons’ lives.” Although, if
we’re lucky, she’ll also get some
action to round out her life. As
Karlyn says, making the
link between her
early roles and her
current parts,
“the fantasy
around
companionship
is as strong as
the fantasy
that being
a mother
is going to
give you a
meaning to
your life.” Q&A
Hi, Noah! Do we see a lot more
of Will in season two?
Yeah. We get into how the
Upside Down affected him. He’s
been in another dimension, all
alone, then he comes out into
real life. It’s kinda like PTSD.
Is he an outsider now, among
his mates?
No, they’re all outsiders – nerds –
so he fits in.
Some fans have speculated that
Will is gay.
When the Duffer brothers wrote
it they weren’t worrying about
what gender he’s attracted to!
Will wasn’t worrying about that
either when he was stuck in the
Upside Down!
Had you seen the 80s movies
that inspired Stranger Things?
Yeah, it was our homework to
watch ET, The Goonies, The
Thing, Jaws, Close Encounters.
It’s so cool to watch that stuff
from another time.
Any good pranks on set this
year?
We prank-called the costume
designer [and told her] that her
wedding was cancelled. She
freaked out. It was funny.
How’s life as Winona Ryder’s
screen son?
There was an emotionally
challenging scene in season
two and she has all the
experience, so I thought, why
not text her? I was like: ‘Can
you send me a little advice?’
She was like: ‘Send you advice?
I’ll come to the set! Meet me
in my trailer!’ She came in an
hour early to talk me through
it. She’s amazing, she’s like my
second mother.The new seaso
peek into Joyce’s
her children, how
she starts dating
classmate from h
(played by fellow
Sean Astin, of T
fame). “She’s tr
lot,” Ryder told
Weekly. “I think
this choice with
she wants a good
in her sons’ lives.
we’re lucky, she’l
action to round o
Karlyn say
link be
early
cu
“Jack Seale chats to
Stranger Things star
Noah Schnapp, AKA
kidnapped boy WillStranger
Things
17 guide 14-20 Oct 2017 Special