Dave Grohl’s bizarre dream of going fishing with Winona Ryder: “There’s no obsession”
The story of Dave Grohl reads like something out of a Hollywood movie. He joined trailblazing grunge band Nirvana ahead of their second album, Nevermind, becoming part of rock music history in the process. Following the death of lead singer and friend Kurt Cobain, he used music as a coping mechanism, leading to the formation of his new band, Foo Fighters. Now, he is one of the most recognisable and accomplished musicians in the world. He’s written some of the greatest rock songs of the modern era, won more awards than anyone could possibly keep up with, and is generally regarded as one of the nicest blokes you could ever hope to meet.
As well as being a real-life movie character, Grohl has also contributed his fair share to the medium. Alongside various documentary and cameo appearances, he’s also done a bit of acting. He lent his voice to a character in the Daria movie, Is It Fall Yet?, and played the Devil in the Tenacious D film, The Pick of Destiny. In 2022, all of the Foo Fighters appeared in a comedy horror movie called Studio 666, which was inspired by a story Grohl himself came up with.
The drummer-turned-megastar is clearly a big film fan. At the very least, he’s fond of one particular actor. In an interview with Maureen Odell for B-Side magazine during his Nirvana days, Grohl was asked about his then-new favourite hobby—fishing. This led to a bizarre admission that he had been having odd fantasies about a name who was, at the time, a Hollywood up-and-comer.
“My ultimate goal is to go fishing with Winona Ryder,” he admitted. “I’ve been having these dreams about Winona Ryder for the past four days, and it’s weird because I don’t really think about her at all. I saw a picture of her last week, but there’s no obsession or attraction. I’ve been having these weird dreams about being on a fish boat and fishing with her… or hanging out with her at a Hole show.”
This interview was conducted at some point in either late 1991 or early 1992. At this point, Ryder would have been famous for her collaborations with Tim Burton, including Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands. She had also recently appeared in the cult favourite Heathers, a part she had to fight tooth and nail to land. She would have been in her early 20s at the time, roughly the same age as Grohl, in case you were worried he was being creepy.
Those familiar with his personal life will be aware of the rumours that he and Ryder were once romantically involved. The rocker’s former girlfriend, Louise Post of the band Veruca Salt, publicly accused him of cheating on her with the actor when they were together in the late 1990s. For the record, Grohl has denied this. In an interview listed on Foo Archive, when asked what it was like to date Ryder, he replied, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t date her.”
Whether they were an item or not, it’s clear that Ryder was on Grohl’s mind a lot at one point or another. It’s unclear if they ever actually went fishing, or if this activity was merely a figment of his clearly very active imagination.
