Winona Ryder

Ryder expressed frustration with some younger actors who were not genuinely interested in films and first asked how long a work was. The remark was widely reported as generational criticism, with some articles linking it to earlier remarks by Millie Bobby Brown, although Ryder named no one.

State of the evidence

Reported by the press

Attribution

Personally implicated

Ryder recounted that, to make her cry during Bram Stoker's Dracula, Coppola shouted insults at her and asked other actors to say hurtful things to her. She notably reported him shouting 'You whore', while Keanu Reeves and others allegedly refused to participate.

State of the evidence

Documented

Ryder repeatedly claimed that, at a party in the 1990s, Mel Gibson had made a homophobic remark to her gay friend and referred to her using an antisemitic expression involving cremation ovens. She repeated the account in 2020.

In an interview dealing in part with antisemitism in Hollywood, Ryder said a studio executive had told her that she looked 'too Jewish' to play a member of an upper-class family in a period film. She also described other antisemitic remarks experienced during her career.

Ryder provided a statement in Johnny Depp's defamation case against the publisher of The Sun, saying that Depp had never been violent or abusive towards her and that the allegations made by Amber Heard were difficult to reconcile with her own experience of their relationship.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Protagonist is a witness

Following her arrest at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills in December 2001, Ryder was found guilty in November 2002 of grand theft and vandalism involving more than $5,500 in merchandise, while being acquitted of burglary. She received three years' probation, 480 hours' community service, counselling and more than $10,000 in payments. In June 2004, the judge reduced the felony convictions to misdemeanours after she completed her community service.

State of the evidence

Established by a court

Attribution

Directly implicated

Ryder had been due to play Mary Corleone in The Godfather Part III but withdrew at the last minute after arriving in Rome. Her withdrawal fuelled rumours of depression, pregnancy or Johnny Depp's influence and forced Francis Ford Coppola to recast the role rapidly, ultimately choosing his daughter Sofia.