Winona Ryder’s Toast Beetle juice Beetle juice director Tim Burton at his Hollywood Walk of Fame induction ceremony on Tuesday, and she couldn’t resist adding a personal note.

“Tim, your friendship has been such a gift,” she said from the podium. “When I met you, I was a weird kid.”

Director of color films such as Big fish and 1989 Orderly She joked that Ryder is now a “weird adult,” to which she agreed, before returning to her speech, which can be watched in its entirety from around the 22-minute mark in the video below.

“You validated my voice. You gave me the confidence to be myself, to defy the tides of conformity,” said Ryder, now 52. “Your creative inclusivity showed me what true artistic collaboration looks like, and in other words, you made it not only okay to be the queer girl, but something to celebrate, even cool.”

Ryder and Burton worked together on the original Beetle juice in 1988, when she was a teenager. They reunited to Edward Scissorhands in 1990 and 2012 animated film Frankenweenie.

“You carried that torch for us weirdos, making us all feel seen and appreciated,” Ryder said.

The actress praised the director for his understanding of the heart.

“He knows the pain of the heart that is misunderstood, strange and unusual,” she said, repeating a memorable line from her book. Beetle juice character, Lydia Deetz. “He not only understands them, he celebrates them, whether they are outcasts, weirdos, scary or funny, he gives them depth, humor and always a certain gallantry. And he gives them dignity. His characters are the outcasts he loves.”

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The two-time Oscar nominee explained in an interview with EW last month that Burton had long expressed interest in rewatching the film. Beetle juice history.

“I remember every year or two we would meet up,” Ryder said. “And, you know, he would go around and say, ‘This isn’t like a sequel. This is just like life, and I’d really like to know what’s going on with them now.'”

Long awaited Beetle juice Beetle juicewhich also stars Michael Keaton, Catherine O’Hara, Jenna Ortega, Willem Dafoe and Justin Theroux, will premiere on Friday.