Francis Ford Coppola agrees with Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves that the Bram Stoker’s Dracula stars have been married in real life since the early ’90s — at least in Romania.
Ryder, 46, first made the revelation in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, where she referenced the movie, which she did with Reeves, 53.
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“We actually got married in Dracula,” she said of the 1992 film. “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.”
“We said yes?” a surprised Reeves responded. “Oh my gosh, we’re married.”
Later, Coppola confirmed Ryder’s version of events. The 79-year-old director told The Guardian that he realized after shooting a stylized version of the ceremony that “having the real wedding ceremony as it might be in that religion [Greek Orthodox Christianity] would be beautiful.”
As a result, Coppola enlisted the acting skills of a real-life priest and re-shot the scene in a Greek Orthodox church in Los Angeles. “This is pretty authentic and, I think, very beautiful because we actually did the ceremony and had the priest do the ceremony,” he said. “So in a sense, when we were all done, we realized that Keanu and Winona really are married as a result of this scene and this ceremony.”
The legality of their marriage is up for debate, however, as Romania has several bureaucratic hoops couples need to jump through in order to be officially recognized as a married couple. Plus, the “couple” most likely used their character’s names of Mina Murray and Jonathan Harker. Good thing, too, as Ryder has been dating fashion designer Scott Mackinlay Hahn since 2011.
But she and Reeves will once again be romantically involved onscreen in their upcoming romantic comedy, Destination Wedding. The two have also starred together in The Private Lives of Pippa Lee and A Scanner Darkly.
“Winona is a lovely person and a talented actress,” Reeves told PEOPLE earlier this month. “I think we make a good couple, and I liked that it’s a two-hander. To them, nobody else matters anyway, right? We did something like five eight-minute scenes, which you don’t often get a chance to do in films.”
In Destination Wedding, Ryder and Reeves star as two miserable wedding guests who form a reluctant connection. Written and directed by Victor Levin (5 to 7) and co-stars DJ Dallenbach, Ted Dubost and Greg Lucey, the new film opens on Friday, Aug. 31.
