Winona Ryder has starred opposite many of Hollywood’s leading men – Keanu Reeves, Adam Sandler and Christian Bale to name a few – all of whom have played the actress’s love interest.
However, one A-list actor previously refused to entertain the idea of an on-screen romance with Ryder, all because of her age.
Acting since she was a teenager, Ryder was asked if she could remember auditioning for movies she had been rumored to be involved in over the years, including Tom Cruise’s blockbuster, “Jerry McGuire,” the 1999 classic “Fight Club” and the Coen brothers’ directed film, “The Hudsucker Proxy.”
Ryder was able to recollect the latter – a 1990s screwball comedy – which ultimately starred Tim Robbins and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
“I auditioned a few times,” Ryder remembered on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast with Josh Horowitz.
“I wanted to work with [the Coen brothers] so badly. I worshiped the Coen brothers, obviously, as does everyone.”
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“I remember because I was also auditioning for ‘Fearless’ with Jeff Bridges, and I remember that audition. It was really around the same time, I think. Jeff Bridges, who I love, like, wouldn’t kiss me because I was, like, too young.”
The film was released in 1994, which means at the time of auditions, Ryder was likely around 21 years old, putting Bridges at around 43.
“At the end of the scene, he was supposed to kiss me,” said Ryder.
According to the star, Bridges told her, “‘You’re like my daughter’s age.'”
“And I was like, ‘Nooo,'” she recalled.
Ryder was ultimately not cast in the movie. She then redirected herself back to the Coen brothers audition, finishing that story.
“My final callback was while I was doing ‘[The] Age of Innocence,’ so I had to leave the set in a corset,” she remembered.
Ryder described how she was running late and still in costume. She felt “so discombobulated” that she “completely blew” the audition.
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Ryder’s upcoming film, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” will be released in theaters this Friday. Her final season of Netflix’s “Stranger Things” will stream next year.
