Not all Hollywood actors enjoy cozying up to their co-stars. Whether it's bad breath,
fear of catching something incurable, or steadfast dedication to their religion,
many stars won't lock lips with their on-screen love interests.
Here are the actors who refused to kiss other actors on screen.
Tisha Campbell and Martin Lawrence had their fair share of love scenes during
the time they starred as couple Martin Payne and Gina Waters on the '90s sitcom Martin,
and we lived for all of them. After all, their bubbly romance and quirky displays of affection
are what made us fall in love with them in the first place.
"Hey look, Gina, don't blame me baby. You the one wanted to try the double backflip!"
But by the middle of the show's fifth season, Campbell called it
quits on the whole thing and refused to do any further episodes with the actor.
Their problems were exposed in January 1997 after Campbell filed a lawsuit against Lawrence for
sexual harassment. The Los Angeles Times reported that the rift started during the show's first
season, when Campbell repeatedly refused to go on dates with Lawrence. As a result, the lawsuit
alleged, the Bad Boys actor, quote, "became increasingly manic and volatile" and "would often,
and easily, fly into uncontrollable fits of rage for no apparent or rational reason."
The lawsuit also claimed that Lawrence would grope, kiss, and force himself on
Campbell in front of cast and crew members when they weren't rehearsing or filming.
Unfortunately, with Campbell's refusal to film with Lawrence,
the show wrapped after its sixth season. However, in February 2018,
Campbell confirmed that a reboot was in the works, so at least fans might
eventually get the fix of Martin and Gina that they've desperately been waiting for.
Julia Roberts reportedly had a less-than-stellar experience with Nick Nolte during the filming of
the 1994 movie I Love Trouble. Things got so bad that the co-stars reportedly had to film
their scenes separately and use stand-ins to give the illusion that they were in a shot together,
according to The Telegraph. Despite their desperate attempts to keep their distance
from one another, there was no way to get around filming their on-screen kiss. Though
she didn't outright refuse that smooch, Roberts made it clear she preferred not to pucker up.
During an interview with The New York Times in 2003,
Roberts called Nolte, quote, "completely disgusting." She also lashed out against
him during a visit to The Late Show with David Letterman in 2009 - 15 years after
the premiere of I Love Trouble. We're not sure where these two stand these days,
but our guess is that Roberts may not have made peace with having to smooch her arch nemesis.
Will Smith may be the undisputed king of the summer blockbuster, but early in his career, he
tried his hand at small independent dramas. That brings us to 1993's Six Degrees of Separation.
Inspired by the real-life story of David Hampton, Smith plays a con-man who infiltrates the lives
of a wealthy Manhattan couple by posing as Sidney Poitier's son until his scheme unravels.
His character was gay, and according to The Independent, Smith "enraged" the film's director
when he refused to do a scripted kiss scene with another man while facing the camera. Smith
reportedly sought advice from Oscar-winner Denzel Washington, who allegedly told him he shouldn't
kiss a man on camera. Smith insisted the scene be shot from behind so he could fake the kiss.
Smith has since regretted that decision, telling Entertainment Weekly that his
refusal to perform the kiss as scripted was, quote, "very immature on my part."
Back in 2008, Thandie Newton and Gerard Butler appeared alongside each other in director Guy
Ritchie's RocknRolla. There was likely no doubt that the two attractive stars would
sizzle on-screen as love interests. However, while they were filming,
Butler came down with a nasty cold, killing the mood on set.
It was at that point that Ritchie's then-wife, music legend Madonna, tried to come to the rescue.
According to Butler, Madonna asked him to drop his pants and gave him a vitamin shot straight to the
behind in an effort to speed up his recovery. Despite the effort, the shot didn't work.
Butler's illness was so apparent that Newton admitted that she refused to kiss her co-star
when it was time for their love scenes. Because of that, she said Ritchie had to
improvise and came up with one of the, quote, "most brilliant scenes" in the film as a result.
So maybe, in the end, it was a good thing that Butler was a big ol' sick mess.
When Luke Grimes left True Blood after his stint as James Kent in 2013,
HBO announced that the actor's decision was due to "the creative direction" that his character was
being taken on the show. Many people were under the impression that meant Grimes had an issue with
the fact that James - who was played by Nathan Parsons in Season 7 - was going to be getting
into a same-sex relationship with Lafayette Reynolds, a fellow male character played by
the late Nelsan Ellis. Although The Wrap noted that James' storyline had initially seen him,
quote, "wooing fellow vampire Deborah Ann Woll's Jessica," Grimes' apparently bisexual
bloodsucker was supposed to switch love interests - and potential kissing partners.
Ellis was not happy, and later reacted to the situation by telling Vulture,
"I'm over him. You quit your job because you don't want to play a
gay part? ... You make a statement when you do something like that."
Ellis was particularly concerned about what he called the "ripple effects" of Grimes'
decision, and how it might impact young gay people close to the actor.
As for Grimes, The Wrap notes that he claimed that his exit was due to a scheduling conflict.
Indeed, he did appear in movies like 2013's Dark Around the Stars,
2014's American Sniper, and 2015's Fifty Shades of Grey, but you can decide for
yourself if those relatively minor roles were worth ditching True Blood for.
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