Hollywood history is bursting with tales of behind-the-scenes turmoil and thespians who
can’t stand one another. But it's pretty rare for stars to have an issue so serious they refuse to
get physical with a costar on camera. Here are some actors who didn't want to touch each other.
Alyson Hannigan and Jason Segel played a married couple on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother,
but there was one major problem plaguing their long-lasting TV matrimony:
Hannigan dreaded getting physically close to Segel because he was a smoker. She told Digital Spy,
"It's like kissing an ashtray. And he's trying to be polite by
having gum or mints, but it doesn't help." To solve the problem, Segel decided to try
to quit smoking. He agreed to pay Hannigan $10 for every cigarette he smoked on set. When the
first day yielded a $200 debt to Hannigan, Segel realized the financial incentive went up in smoke
and decided to quit cold turkey. He didn’t smoke for about a year, but Hannigan said,
"He got stressed out and he started smoking again."
Julia Roberts hand-picked Denzel Washington as her co-star in the big-screen adaptation
of John Grisham's The Pelican Brief, but while their characters develop a
romantic relationship in the book, Roberts and Washington never locked lips on screen.
Many moviegoers assumed this was by Roberts’ design. She told Newsweek,
"I have taken so much s--- over the years about not kissing Denzel in that film.
Don't I have a pulse? Of course, I wanted to kiss Denzel.
It was his idea to take the damn scenes out." Washington explained to Newsweek that he opted
to forego love scenes with Roberts due to concerns about how the interracial love
scene would play with his core audience of Black female moviegoers. Saying:
"Black women are not often seen as objects of desire on film."
Washington shared the story of a test screening of his earlier film,
The Mighty Quinn, during which Black women vociferously booed during a kissing scene
between Washington and white actress Mimi Rogers. While Twilight superfans got to choose whether
they were "Team Jacob" or "Team Edward," Kristen Stewart's character, Bella,
had love scenes with both characters. Stewart told Us Weekly her love scenes with Jacob,
played by Taylor Lautner , and Edward, played by Robert Pattinson were markedly different.
She felt steamy scenes between her character and Lautner’s character were, quote,
"so against everything that Bella's always been." She also said she felt more comfortable in
intimate shots with Pattinson, partially because she had many more love scenes with
him than with Lautner, and—perhaps more importantly—because Stewart and Pattinson
fell in love while filming the first Twilight film and remained a couple during shooting of
the entire series. The couple even won an MTV Movie and TV Award for "Best Kiss!"
But when it came to making out with Lautner, Stewart confessed that their love scenes were
immensely awkward. She said she and Lautner had "[...] so much fun with this stuff because our
intimate moments are so few and far between — and weird.”
Sometimes, co-stars shy away from physical contact because they don't know each other well,
but in the case of Harry Potter co-stars Rupert Grint, who played Ron Weasley, and Emma Watson,
who played Hermione Granger, it was the fact that they knew each other too well.
When their characters ultimately shared a kiss, it felt wrong for both of them. Grint told People,
"I've known Emma since she was literally 9 years old and we had this very brother-sister
relationship. And it just felt very surreal." Kissing Watson was so cringe-worthy for Grint,
they didn't rehearse the smooth and shot the scene only once. He said,
"One take was enough!" Grint said, "It was such a huge
moment and there was so much expectation. Quite a lot of pressure actually."
Jennifer Lawrence’s first sex scene was in the film, Passengers,
in which she co-starred with Chris Pratt. During a roundtable discussion with The Hollywood Reporter,
she admitted shooting the scene felt bizarre. It was weird. And everything was done right;
nobody did anything wrong. It's just a bizarre experience."
When asked how she prepares for a steamy sex scene, Lawrence candidly replied, quote, "You
drink. I got really, really drunk." Unfortunately, being inebriated exacerbated her feelings of guilt
about kissing a married man. The actress said, "It was going to be my first time even, like,
kissing a married man. And, like, Guilt is the worst feeling in your stomach. And I knew it
was my job, but I couldn't tell my stomach that." Gossip Girl's Penn Badgley and Blake Lively had an
off-screen romance that added heat to their love scenes on the show. Their real-life relationship
fizzled, but their characters remained a couple, which made for some awkward moments on set.
During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Badgley was asked about
his best and worst on-screen kisses. He said the answer to both was Blake.
"I'll say the best-I'll say it was Blake because we actually had a relationship at the time."
"Right."
"And then the worst? Maybe Blake after we broke up."
But he said the two remained, quote, "consummately professional" after their breakup, adding
"I think we should both pat ourselves on the back for getting through it [...] You know,
anything is complicated in that way, and we handled it."
Kirk Cameron, best known as the oldest sibling in 1990s family sitcom Growing Pains,
has been outspoken about how his beliefs as an evangelical Christian relate to his profession.
Cameron told The Hollywood Reporter, "You have to be true to your higher values.
As an actor, you're playing someone other than who you are, but as a human being,
you need to be who you are.” For that reason, as he explained to Today,
he flatly refuses to kiss anyone other than his wife of 17 years, with whom he has six children,
on or off camera. Cameron’s character in the film Fireproof had a kissing scene with
co-star Erin Bethea. In order to stay true to his beliefs, Cameron’s wife, actress Chelsea Noble,
was brought in as a body double for the scene. "You’re blessed with one of the great Hollywood
marriages. You and Chelsea have been married how many years now?"
"Well, 17 actual years, but in Hollywood years, it’s about 70. Yeah”
He told Today, “When I'm kissing my wife, we're actually husband
and wife honoring marriage behind the scenes." According to TMZ, Lindsay Lohan created a
production delay during the filming of Scary Movie 5 when she refused to kiss co-star Charlie Sheen.
A source told TMZ, quote, "[Lohan] ultimately refused to do it because of Charlie's wild
partying past.” The specific source of her concern was not revealed, but Sheen's penchant for adult
film stars and prostitutes is no secret. The source said both Lohan and Sheen
were asked to sign releases confirming their mouths were free of cold sores,
but Lohan refused to kiss him and a body double was ultimately used during kissing scenes.
TMZ reported a source as saying Sheen was, quote, “cool as a cucumber about the whole
thing.” After shooting wrapped, he even gave Lohan $100,000 to pay off back taxes she owed the IRS.
Two years later, Sheen publicly revealed he had contracted HIV.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Nicki Swift videos about Hollywood happenings are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one!