Winona Ryder falls in love with a puppet (yes, really) in her strangest role yet

The 36-year-old, who was once one of Hollywood's most bankable actresses until a shop-lifting arrest in 2001 threw her off the radar, is starring as a married woman who falls in love with a ventriloquist's dummy in The Ten.

The off-beat comedy, which uses the Ten Commandments as the basis for a series of satirical shorts, co-stars Jessica Alba and Famke Janssen.

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Winona says she embraces risky - and risqué - roles, saying: "You know, it's not a script that I think a lot of agents would offer, and those are always the scripts that I always want.

"I tend to be drawn to things that some agents might try and dissuade me from doing."

"The movie is obviously satirical and dirty, but it's not mean. It actually does teach the Ten Commandments...just in a very ridiculous, funny way."

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The Reality Bites star insists her exile from Hollywood is entirely self-imposed.

She told US magazine Entertainment Weekly: "I hate it when actors talk about independent films when the truth is that they can't get studio jobs. So, I'll make it clear, it's a choice."

Winona, who is recently been cast to play the Vulcan mother of young Spock in the upcoming Star Trek film, recently broke her silence about the now notorious moment she was caught trying to make off with goods from the Beverly Hills Saks Fifth Avenue.

She told Vogue: "I didn't have this tremendous sense of guilt, because I hadn't hurt anyone.

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"Had I physically harmed someone or caused harm to a human being, I think it would have been an entirely different experience."

Winona, who is single after dating a list of high profile stars including Matt Damon and Johnny Depp, continued: "I never said a word. I didn't release a statement. I didn't do anything. I just waited for it to be over."

Still, admits: "The attention was what was embarrassing."