Winona Ryder has revealed she was once “actively in love” with her co-star Al Pacino.
In a July 23 interview with Elle, the actress recalled developing strong feelings for the Godfather star while they were collaborating on a workshop for Richard III, which became the 1996 film Looking for Richard.
“I was actively in love with him,” Ryder shared, explaining that she initially didn’t know the workshop would become a movie. “He was obsessed with coffee, and he would take me all over New York — like, to the weirdest places — to try different coffees.”
Ryder, who was in her early twenties at the time, eventually confessed her feelings. “Finally, he’s dropping me off wherever I’m staying, and I’m like, ‘I love you, you know. I really am completely in love with you,'” she recalled.
Pacino’s response was a gentle rejection. Ryder said he touched her hand and told her, “Aw, honey, noooo.” She added with a laugh, “Then, like 10 years later, I meet his girlfriend, who’s younger than me.”
Despite the unreciprocated feelings, Ryder confirmed their friendship endures and that they still occasionally play poker together.
Ryder is currently in a long-term relationship with Scott Mackinlay Hahn. The actress has also been famously linked to Johnny Depp and her Bram Stoker’s Dracula co-star Keanu Reeves, with whom she has long joked she might be legally married after their on-screen wedding was filmed with real priests.
