LOS ANGELES - Keanu Reeves's gentle disposition once saved Winona Ryder from undue distress, the actress revealed in an interview with the British newspaper The Sunday Times.

In the 1992 film Bram Stoker's Dracula, there was a scene that required Ryder, who played the role of Dracula's wife, to react with shock and terror. The film's director, Francis Ford Coppola, was not satisfied with her acting and wanted more tears from her.

He then started shouting insults like "You whore!" at her to prompt an emotional response, and even encouraged her male co-stars, Richard E. Grant, Anthony Hopkins and Reeves to yell things at Ryder to make her cry.

"To put it in context I'm supposed to be crying," Ryder, 48, said. "Literally, Richard E. Grant, Anthony Hopkins, Keanu … Francis was trying to get all of them to yell things that would make me cry, but Keanu wouldn't, Anthony wouldn't. ... It just didn't work. I was, like, really? It kind of did the opposite."

Ryder, who is known for her roles in the 1994 adaptation of Little Women and the Netflix series Stranger Things, said the shared experience led to her long-time kinship with Reeves. They have done four movies together, the last being romantic comedy Destination Wedding (2018)

Reeves, 55, previously gushed about Ryder to People Magazine, describing her as a "lovely person and a talented actress." He added: "I think we make a good couple."

Ryder also shared in the interview that she and director Coppola, now aged 81, are on good terms now.