Never been kissed by Jeff Bridges.
Winona Ryder, 52, appears on Josh Horowitz “Happy Sad Confused” Podcast Bridges, 74, refused to lip-sync with the “Stranger Things” star when she auditioned for the 1993 drama “Fearless.”
And Bridges did so for all the right reasons.
“Jeff Bridges, who I love, didn't want to kiss me because I was too young,” Ryder said in a podcast episode released Monday.
“At the end of the scene he had to kiss me and I was like…”, Ryder continued as she prepared to kiss Bridges.
“And he, like, kissed my forehead,” she recalled. “He said, ‘You’re my daughter’s age.’ And I said, ‘No!'”
Bridges was 43 when he starred in “Fearless.” Ryder, who was 21 at the time, did not receive a role in the film.
Directed by Peter Weir and based on the novel by Rafael Iglesias, the film follows a man named Max (Bridges) who experiences a radical change in his personality after surviving a plane crash.
Isabella Rossellini, Rosie Perez, Tom Hulse, John Turturro and Benicio del Toro also star in the film.
Perez, 59, was nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar for her performance, she revealed earlier this year. Chaplin Awards Tribute Ceremony honoring Bridges, saying the “Crazy Heart” actor helped him land the role in “Fearless.”
He recalled that the studio “had a problem” with his and Bridges' “interracial relationship” in the film and feared he would not get the role—unless Bridges “fought” for him.
“Jeff wanted me to play the character. Well, you never hear of that,” Perez said. “You never hear of an actor of his caliber fighting for someone who's still pretty new and limited to only playing certain kinds of roles.
“He gave me a lot of confidence,” she said of Bridges. “I went back and he offered me the role.”
Though Ryder missed out on working on “Fearless,” she did star in “The Age of Innocence” that same year, which was a huge boost for Ryder's career, earning the actress her first Oscar nomination.
“I feel like it was kind of a graduation for me, too, because when you're a teen actor and a kid, you always hear about transitioning into adult roles and how it's impossible,” he said of the Martin Scorsese-directed film on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast.
“And then either you're a daughter — or you're too young to be a DA or even a rookie police officer,” Ryder said, adding, “I think 'Age of Innocence' was really big.”
Another one of the more iconic films from early in Ryder's career was “Beetlejuice.” She's reprising her role as Lydia Deetz in the sequel to Tim Burton's film, which hits theaters Friday.
