Stranger Things star David Harbour has addressed that strange moment at the SAG Awards when his co-star Winona Ryder‘s was making weird facial expressions while he was delivering his acceptance speech.
On Sunday at the Writers Guild Awards, the 41-year-old actor spoke with People magazine about Ryder’s meme-inducing facial expressions.
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“She couldn’t hear me! Which I was confused by, because I was screaming,” he said. “But apparently, she couldn’t hear me.”
While Harbour was delivering a passionate speech at the awards show, Winona Ryder was standing by his side. She was seen making a slew of peculiar faces that became an instant Internet craze.
“She is such a porous, expressive woman and actress,” Harbour, who portrays police chief Jim Hopper on the sci-fi Netflix hit. “I think it just flowed through her like every experience – and I loved it.”
In Harbour’s acceptance speech, he pleaded with his peers in the creative community “to battle against fear, self-centeredness and exclusivity of our predominantly narcissistic culture.”
He continued by saying: “And through our craft, to cultivate a more empathetic and understanding society by revealing intimate truths that serve as a forceful reminder to folks that when they feel broken and afraid and tired, they are not alone.”
Even though his speech was an impactful moment at the SAG Awards, he said there were still parts that he didn’t get to touch on due to time constraints.
“A lot of Hollywood female characters are not treated as ‘bad ass’ — I wanted to talk about that … the women characters in our story that have such power,” he said.
Harbour spoke for nearly two minutes and delivered his message with inspiring fervor. He mentioned that he was so fired up because he was overwhelmed by the joy of the moment.
“Out of the corner of my eye, I see Denzel [Washington] and Meryl Streep standing up,” he said. “The reason why I was shaking and everything was I just couldn’t believe that was my life at that moment. These are people who I’ve grown up with and people that I’ve admired my whole life. To be considered among them, or a part of them, was the greatest moment.”
Even though his speech came off to many as political, or even as a criticism of President Donald Trump, Harbour explained that his words were meant to be more of a “cultural” challenge than “political” rant.
“What I was really trying to say in the speech was not so much political as it was cultural,” he said. “I feel like [actors] do have a responsibility as influencers in this culture that creates good or evil.We have a responsibility and we should be aware of that — that is really what I wanted to talk about.”
What was your reaction to seeing Winona Ryder at the SAG awards?
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[H/T Daily Mail]
