If there's one thing we know about Keanu Reeves, it's that he is the epitome of kindness in Hollywood, continually exceeding expectations.
Until now, however, one such incident on the set of Dracula was kept under wraps, revealing another layer of Reeves's admirable character: he defiantly refused to yell abuse at his co-star Winona Ryder at the director's insistence.
The incident took place on the set of Dracula, with the actress playing Dracula's target Mina Harker and Reeves her fiancé in the 1992 adaptation of Bram Stoker’s vampire novel.
During a dramatic scene where Gary Oldman's Dracula metamorphoses into a swarm of rats, the director, Francis Ford Coppola, sought to incite a genuine tearful reaction from Ryder. To do so, he hurled insults at her off-camera, allegedly calling her a "w***e".
And Coppola apparently didn't stop there. Speaking to The Sunday Times, Winona says Coppola encouraged the male members of the cast to join him in the distasteful act.
This is when Keanu Reeves, our gentleman hero, took a stand and declined to participate. In a conversation with The Sunday Times, Ryder recounts: "To put it in context, I'm supposed to be crying...Francis was trying to get all of them to yell things that would make me cry.
"But Keanu wouldn't, Anthony [Hopkins] wouldn't… It just didn't work. I was, like, really? It kind of did the opposite."
In the years that followed, Ryder and Coppola managed to mend their relationship, and she and Reeves developed a close friendship. Their dynamic rapport led to collaborations on three additional films: 2006's A Scanner Darkly, 2009's The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, and Destination Wedding in 2018.
Despite facing harsh criticism for 'Destination Wedding,' where she and Keanu played an unlikely couple at a wedding, Ryder remained resilient. She admitted: "It got the worst reviews...every reviewer was like, 'This is the worst movie in the world,' and it was really rough."
Amazingly, both Ryder and Reeves have revealed that one scene in Dracula actually led to them getting married "in the eyes of god".
In an interview with Esquire, 58-year-old Reeves said: "We did a whole take of a marriage ceremony with real priests. Winona says we are. Coppola says we are. So I guess we're married under the eyes of God." Ryder, 51, also commented on her 30+ year marriage to Reeves, telling Entertainment Weekly in 2018: "We actually got married in Dracula."
Ryder added: "No, I swear to god I think we're married in real life. In that scene, Francis [Ford Coppola] used a real Romanian priest. We shot the master and he did the whole thing. So, I think we're married."
Though, the pair never signed any official documents relating to their marriage so, as Reeves stated, the wedding is only binding in the "eyes of God".
Another day, another reason to absolutely adore Keanu Reeves.