Winona Ryder reveals she was ‘absolutely in love with Al Pacino’ while working together in the mid-’90s

In the ’90s, Winona Ryder was a girl, interrupted by love.
The actress, 53, got candid about her feelings for Al Pacino while collaborating in the late ’90s.
“I was absolutely in love with Al Pacino when I was working with him,” Ryder confessed to Elle in an interview published on Wednesday. “We were doing that workshop for ‘Richard III,’ which I didn’t know was gonna be a movie. I was actively in love with him.”
After working on “Richard III,” the production was turned into the 1996 documentary drama “Looking for Richard.”
“He was obsessed with coffee, and he would take me all over New York – like, to the weirdest places – to try different coffees,” Ryder recalled. “I’m 22, or whatever. 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.’”
Pacino, now 85, tried to let the “Stranger Things” star down easy.
“And he was like, ‘Aw, honey, noooo,’” Ryder shared.
“Then, like 10 years later, I meet his girlfriend, who’s younger than me,” she revealed with a laugh.
At the time, Pacino was tied to Argentine actress Lucila Solá from 2008 to 2018.
“Dude, I’m f – – king throwing myself at you,” Ryder added before noting, “I still play poker with him sometimes. It’s the best.”
Pacino and Ryder reunited for the 2002 comedy sci-fi film “S1m0ne,” but their friendship remained strictly platonic.
She also supported the “House of Gucci” alum while he received the 35th AFI Life Achievement Award in June 2007.
Ryder has been with her partner, Scott Mackinlay Hahn, for fourteen years. The couple reportedly first met at the 2010 premiere of “Black Swan.”
When asked if she would consider having kids, the “Beetlejuice” actress explained to Elle, “There was a time that I was really thinking about it, but I hadn’t met Scott.”
Ryder noted that while the two do plan on tying the knot, she already considers Hahn her husband.
However, she was “never the girl who dreamt of a wedding.”
Despite her global stardom, Ryder and Hahn enjoy being homebodies. In fact, Ryder couldn’t help but gush over the fashion designer’s skills in the kitchen.
“He has this gift that my mom had, which is making healthy food delicious,” she detailed. “He made a curry last night that was better than any curry I’ve ever had.”
While speaking with Harper’s Bazaar in 2022, Ryder admitted that when she and Hahn first met, he didn’t know who she was.
“He thought I was Milla Jovovich,” Ryder said. “He told me I was great in ‘The Fifth Element.’”
But Hahn being out of the public eye is actually a benefit for the star.
“We connected on so many levels,” she went on. “But it was amazing that he’s not in this business …. I really did try to keep it quiet,” she told the publication of their romance.”
For Pacino’s part, the actor welcomed a baby boy, Roman, with his then-29-year-old girlfriend, Noor Alfallah, in 2023.
The “Godfather” star is also a dad to his daughter, Julie, with ex-girlfriend Jan Tarrant.
From 1997 to 2004, Pacino dated Beverly D’Angelo, and the two welcomed twins Anton and Olivia.
“I’m responsible to them,” Pacino stated to the New Yorker in 2014 about being a dad. “I’m a part of their life. When I’m not, it’s upsetting to me and to them. So that’s part of the gestalt. And I get a lot from it. It takes you out of yourself.”
Despite never having been married, the Hollywood veteran was also romantically linked to Diane Keaton.
But he also hasn’t completely turned down the prospect of walking down the aisle one day, either.
“Of course it’s possible [I’ll get married]. It seems beside the point though,” Pacino told the Boston Herald in 2015. “I have no idea, but I never say never.”