Stranger Things star Winona Ryder: I will never 'divorce' Keanu Reeves
Winona Ryder did not expect the Netflix series to be so successful
Winona Ryder is feeling bad - because she "can't really talk".
The 47-year-old US actress, who was at our interview for Netflix sci-fi horror series Stranger Things' third season at the London West Hollywood hotel, added: "There's so much I can't say. I've never been on a spoiler-type show."
When the notoriously secretive streaming service releases ratings, you know the show is a hit.
Last week, its publicity department put out a tweet boasting Stranger Things 3 has broken Netflix records, and that 40.7 million household accounts have been watching it since its July 4 premiere - "more than any other film or series in its first four days".
There is no getting Ryder to talk about it, despite the fact that this has been her biggest hit since she disappeared from major movies after a shoplifting scandal in 2001.
She admitted Strangers Things' success was unexpected.
"We didn't have any idea how it was going to be received and it certainly was overwhelming, in a really incredible way. The kids are so incredible. It's different for me than it is for the kids. They're the ones with the most focused attention from the world," she said.
Teen stars Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin and Noah Schnapp reprise their roles as the protagonists. Ryder plays single mum Joyce Byers in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, in the 1980s - and it is fitting that she is one of the leads as some of her biggest films were from that decade, like Heathers and Beetlejuice.
Reflecting on her 30-year career, Ryder said: "When I started out, there was no Internet. There were no cellphones even, and certainly no camera (phones). I do get nostalgic for that. I think I did like five movies before I was ever even interviewed. There were a few magazines and you'd have to wait for them to come out. It was such a different world that it's hard to imagine. Going through what these kids (on Stranger Things) are going through, I do definitely feel very protective of all of them."
'CAN'T' GOOGLE HERSELF
She is not on social media and lets her parents send her reviews after they filter them "because it's terrifying Googling yourself - I can't do that".
But the fact that audiences have welcomed her back is gratifying.
She said: "I think there was a sort of nostalgia, but it's very, very touching and it warms me to think that there are people who were sort of rooting for me.
"At my age, it can be hard (to get leading roles for women). I'm really just incredibly grateful for the opportunities I have. The work has always been the same, my process. I certainly never foresaw being on a show that was this popular. It's definitely been great to experience," she said.
In Season 3, Joyce considers leaving Hawkins with her kids (Schnapp and Charlie Heaton) despite her relationship with police chief Jim Hoppper (David Harbour), while the strange effects of the Upside Down continue on the town's residents.
When asked to talk about the romance developing between Joyce and Jim, Ryder is coy on the subject as well.
"This season was really great because I had so much to do with David. We spent pretty much the season together. It's always sort of bittersweet because I miss the kids, I miss Charlie and Noah and miss working with them. There's definitely a lot more of us and our dynamic. I can't really say anything else! I'm so sorry."
Trying again with questions that don't relate to the show, the conversation turns to another 'love story' - the rumour that Ryder is actually "married" to man-of-the-moment and the Internet's boyfriend Keanu Reeves.
The pair have done four films together - Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), A Scanner Darkly (2006), The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009) and last year's Destination Wedding.
Ryder, who is not married but has been dating US fashion designer Scott Mackinlay Hahn since 2011, explained: "The funny thing was that we did this little movie (Dracula). We did a very long take in a church with a real Romanian priest. I was like, I think we're married. Then I said it and it just spread like wildfire. I felt like it sounded like I planned it. I actually hadn't."
She joked: "I will not give him a divorce. I'm like, you are mine forever. I won't threaten him with divorce because I'm scared he'll take it. He is one of my favourite humans. I love him so much."
The writer is the chair of the board of directors of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a non-profit organisation of entertainment journalists that also organises the annual Golden Globe Awards.
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