Winona Ryder Says Her Final Badass Scene with Vecna Only Took Two Takes - "You Can't Rehearse a Scene Like That"
Two-time Academy Award nominated actress Winona Ryder has wrapped up the nine-year chapter in her life that was marked by making one of the greatest series of all time, Stranger Things.
She opened up to Netflix’s Tudum to talk about her character Joyce’s badass scene in which she beheads the villainous Vecna with an ax, and she revealed that she only filmed the climactic moment in the series finale two times. The scene was Ryder’s last one shot with Vecna actor Jamie Campbell Bower.
“I love Jamie so much,” Ryder said. “I remember when he was in that position and we were talking about bands, and he’s the most lovely person. I came in that day just for that. You can’t rehearse a scene like that. You just have to sort of save it for the take. I think I only did it twice.”
The beheading occurs right after Joyce tells Vecna: “You fucked with the wrong family.” The iconic line marks the rare use of the F-word in Stranger Things’ history.
Series co-creator Matt Duffer told Tudum, “We haven’t used the F-word in the show, and we’ve been looking for a moment for it. I think Dacre [Montgomery, who played Billy] muttered it without us wanting him to in Season 3’s ‘The Sauna Test’ [Episode 4].
“So I guess this technically doesn’t count as the first time, but we were looking for a real moment that would deserve stronger language and we’ve been saving it and felt like, well, if we’re going to go there, this is the moment for it. Let’s give it to Winona.”
Ross Duffer said in an interview with Variety that the Stranger Things writers room debated which character should get the final blow on Vecna and having Joyce behead the villain “felt right for a lot of reasons.”
“She is sort of the mother of this group, the protector,” Ross said. “And also, we never got to see her hit anything with that ax, so that felt like such a satisfying way to deliver the final blow to Vecna. But it was in editorial really, where, as we were working on it, that we had the initial flashbacks to her remembering back to Bob, and building up that anger.
“It felt right that it’s just not just a ‘f*ck yeah’ moment. It was also, in a way, a cathartic moment for our characters, who are purging all this trauma that’s been caused here. It’s not just a stand-up and cheer moment. It’s remembering that this evil has caused them so much pain.”
Matt Duffer added: “I remember working with our editor and our composer and just talking to them and going, ‘Let’s make this the most emotional decapitation in history.’ That was the goal.”
I think the whole ending was really great, and Joyce’s takedown of Vecna was well-deserved. The entire series Stranger Things is streaming now on Netflix.