Winona Ryder Was 'Absolutely in Love with Al Pacino' in Her Early 20s: I Was 'Throwing Myself' at Him
- - Winona Ryder Was 'Absolutely in Love with Al Pacino' in Her Early 20s: I Was 'Throwing Myself' at Him
Jen JuneauJuly 24, 2025 at 11:54 PM
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Winona Ryder and Al Pacino in Hollywood, California, on June 7, 2007
Winona Ryder once harbored a big (albeit unrequited) crush on Al Pacino.
The Stranger Things actress recalled in a new interview with Elle how she was "actively in love with" the Hollywood legend while they were doing a workshop for Richard III in her early 20s, which later was leveraged into their 1996 documentary film Looking for Richard.
"I was absolutely in love with Al Pacino when I was working with him," recalled Ryder, now 53, of her time with Pacino, now 85, in the mid-'90s.
She continued, "He was obsessed with coffee, and he would take me all over New York — like, to the weirdest places — to try different coffees. I’m 22, or whatever."
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Winona Ryder and Al Pacino in Looking for Richard (1996)
And when he would drop her off wherever she was staying in the city following their coffee hangs, "I’m like, 'I love you, you know. I really am completely in love with you,' " Ryder added. "And he was like, 'Aw, honey, noooo.' "
"Then, like 10 years later, I meet his girlfriend, who’s younger than me," she told Elle with a laugh, seemingly referring to Argentine actress Lucila Solá, whom Pacino dated from 2008 to 2018.
Continued Ryder of her infatuation with Pacino, " 'Dude, I’m f---ing throwing myself at you.' "
And despite them not working out romantically, "I still play poker with him sometimes," the Girl, Interrupted actress shared. "It’s the best."
Pacino and Ryder would go on to star together once more after Looking for Richard — in 2002's S1m0ne — and were photographed as they hung out together during the 35th AFI Life Achievement Award tribute to Pacino back in June 2007.
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Winona Ryder and Al Pacino in S1m0ne (2002)
Of course, Ryder has since moved on. She and partner Scott Mackinlay Hahn have been together for 14 years, after first crossing paths at the premiere of her 2010 film Black Swan.
Asked whether she ever considered having children, Ryder told Elle, "There was a time that I was really thinking about it, but I hadn’t met Scott."
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And while she was "never the girl who dreamt of a wedding," the two-time Academy Award nominee told the magazine that she and Hahn do plan to marry, but she already considers him her husband.
As for one skill from her beau that she can't resist? "He has this gift that my mom had, which is making healthy food delicious," Ryder said. "He made a curry last night that was better than any curry I’ve ever had."
on People
Source: “AOL AOL Entertainment”
