Many films go down in history not for their plotlines, but for their steamy A-list make-out
sessions.
When done well, those passionate movie moments produce some of the most, uh, intense emotions
known to mankind.
But there are many magical movie scenes that took a lot more determination, dedication,
and patience to nail than most theater-goers could ever imagine.
While they may seem like the ultimate fantasy flings to fans, here are the stars who hated
kissing each other on screen.
Joanna Lumley
Women everywhere would have gladly switched places with Joanna Lumley when she kissed
Leonardo DiCaprio in 2013's The Wolf of Wall Street, but the actress reportedly hated all
the takes they had to do in order to get the shot.
"As I was playing his wife's aunt, it wasn't really great.
And I wasn't looking great.
I was wearing sort of Oxfam clothes."
Lumley dished at a charity event in 2017,
"I'll let you into a secret.
It's actually no fun kissing actors, no fun at all.
There are so many takes and you both have to chew so much chewing gum.
It's like kissing someone in a dentist's waiting room."
Be that as it may, DiCaprio praised his co-star in a 2014 interview with the Evening Standard,
calling Lumley,
"An incredibly beautiful, charming woman."
"Jesus, why am I tellin' you all this, I'm sorry."
"Cuz I'm very easy to talk to."
But she wasn't the only one to dis Leo.
Kate Winslet
In 2009, Kate Winslet revealed that she couldn't stand kissing Leonardo DiCaprio in 2008's
Revolutionary Road.
Yes, they had already done it for Titanic back in 1997, but in Winslet's defense, this
time, her then-husband Sam Mendes was directing the film — which made the exchange pretty
awkward.
"Get back in the car and talk about this instead of running all over Route 12."
"Haven't I made it clear, I don't particularly want to talk about it."
Winslet told Elle,
"Neither Sam nor Leo seemed the slightest bit bothered.
I was like, 'Is it just me who feels a bit weird about this?'"
But despite Winslet's reservations, she and DiCaprio proved their timeless chemistry on
screen, and she even won the Golden Globe for best actress for her role in 2009.
Rupert Grint
Considering Rupert Grint and Emma Watson grew up together during the filming of the Harry
Potter franchise, it's not too surprising Grint had a tough time with their scripted
kiss in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
He told People in 2016,
"I've known Emma since she was literally 9 years old and we had this very brother-sister
relationship.
[...] I have a memory of her face getting closer and closer.
Like, 'Oh my God.'
I can't really remember anything apart from that."
In 2009, Watson admitted to MTV News that in order to get the kiss over with,
"I ended up pouncing on Rupert, I was so desperate to get it over, after the first take, he was
like, 'whoa there, where did that come from?'"
Dane Cook
Despite appearing all loved-up on screen with Kate Hudson in 2008's My Best Friend's Girl,
Dane Cook hated making out with her.
"What is wrong with you, a----e."
On Watch What Happens Live in 2014, the comedian easily named Hudson as his worst on-screen
kiss, adding,
"I did a movie with her, My Best Friend's Girl, and I think she purposely ate like a
feast of onions before our scene."
"Wow."
"I had to burn her on that one."
Sounds like these two pros can handle a scripted kiss… and take a joke.
Helena Bonham Carter
There are an infinite amount of factors that can make filming a complete disaster, but
for Helena Bonham Carter, the hardest part of filming 1995's Mighty Aphrodite was having
to kiss Woody Allen.
She told Elle,
"He tells you up front certain ways of kissing he does not want.
No exchange of liquid is permitted.
It can be a bit offensive because he makes no effort at all.
It's like kissing the Berlin Wall."
"You weren't too pleasant this evening."
The actress later offered up some thoughts about Allen's behavior, posing,
"I think he has great trouble talking to women."
Thandie Newton
It's no secret that actors step outside of their comfort zones for the sake of a good
film, but Thandie Newton's kiss with Tom Cruise for 2000's Mission Impossible 2 took a lot
more than just great acting.
According to Elle, the actress wasn't a fan of how sloppily the Hollywood hunk kissed,
saying,
"It was slightly icky and sort of wet."
Newton reportedly said she was also bothered by the amount of effort that went into the
shot, telling The Guardian,
"You're lying there, you've got 30 people around you, prodding all bits of you to make
sure that certain things aren't being seen and others look good.
[...] It's so clinical, you're thinking more about whether or not you're squashing him
than kissing him."
"Things haven't exactly worked out the way you thought they would Ethan."
"Sorry."
Orlando Bloom & Zoe Saldana
Zoe Saldana might appear to be the luckiest woman in the world for getting to kiss Orlando
Bloom in 2004's Haven, but Bloom himself didn't feel so fortunate.
In 2006, he told People that Saldana's real-life boyfriend would often visit the set to watch
them shoot, making things really awkward.
He said,
"I hated kissing Zoe!
I was like, 'Take your tongue out of my mouth, please.
Your boyfriend is standing right there.'
Most people think kissing beautiful co-stars must be great.
But it's always awkward, man."
The actress also reportedly complained that her exchange with Bloom was, quote, "gross."
And when you consider the lack of chemistry between the two, it makes sense that the film
only has average reviews.
Alyson Hannigan
Ever wonder about the apparent lack of PDA between characters Lily and Marshall on How
I Met Your Mother?
Well, the reason was pretty simple: Alyson Hannigan couldn't stomach Jason Segel's smoker's
breath.
According to her, it was, quote, "like kissing an ashtray."
"Until you see a ring on this finger, don't expect me to put out."
"Yeah, right."
Hannigan even tried to help her co-star kick his habit, but soon discovered even money
couldn't keep him from his cigarettes.
She told Digital Spy,
"When we started the pilot [for the show] he was like, 'Get me to stop smoking, I'll
be your best friend.'
So we did this bet where he would owe me $10 every time he had a cigarette.
After the first day, he owed me $200."
She said Segal quit cold turkey for a year, but stress eventually led to him to start
smoking again.
Jennifer Lawrence
Famously chill A-lister Jennifer Lawrence was reportedly so nervous to strip down with
a then-married Chris Pratt for their make-out sessions in 2016's Passengers that she needed
some liquid courage.
"You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."
"You kill me."
But unfortunately for Lawrence, getting drunk only made things worse.
She told The Hollywood Reporter,
"It led to more anxiety when I got home because I was like, 'What have I done?
I don't know.'
He was married, and it was going to be my first time kissing a married man and guilt
is the worst feeling in your stomach.
[...] I knew it was my job, but I couldn't tell my stomach that."
Tobey Maguire
Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst shared some amazing chemistry on the big screen in 2002's
hit Spiderman.
"You have a knack for getting in trouble."
"You have a knack for saving my life.
I think I have a superhero stalker."
But their iconic kiss literally took the actor's breath away.
Maguire told reporters in 2002,
"There was rain pouring up or down my nose.
I couldn't breathe and I was gasping for breath out of the corner of Kirsten's mouth.
Poor girl.
I was giving her mouth to mouth rather than kissing her."
Even so, the sizzling smooch has been hailed as one of the best movie kisses of all time.
Reese Witherspoon
Millions of women would die for a make-out session with Robert Pattinson, but Reese Witherspoon
apparently isn't one of them.
"You're a beautiful woman.
You deserve a beautiful life.
That's all there is to it."
In fact, she couldn't have been more turned off while kissing him in 2011's Water for
Elephants, but she did have a pretty good reason.
Witherspoon told In Touch Weekly,
"Rob possibly had the most hideous horrible cold of any co-star I've ever had to do a
love scene with ever in my entire life.
He was literally snorting and snotting through every second of it, and it was not appealing.
I'm talking green, infectious, disgusting."
In case you weren't already grossed out, Pattinson told MTV News his nose was dripping so much
that he had to wipe it on Witherspoon's wig in order to pull off the scene.
"So to all the ladies out there that dream of having these moments with Robert Pattinson."
"Bring a Sudafed."
Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams
This one's gonna break your heart, Notebook fans.
Not only did actors Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams hate kissing each other in the 2004
romantic drama, they also allegedly hated filming together — period.
According to reports, their ill feelings for one another even got so bad that Gosling demanded
his co-star be replaced by another actress.
"I think I must've misread all of those signals."
"I guess you did."
Director Nick Cassavetes opened up about Gosling's request, telling VH1 in 2014,
"He says, 'Would you take her out of here and bring in another actress to read off camera
with me?'
I said, 'What?'
He says, 'I can't.
I can't do it with her.
I'm just not getting anything from this.'"
Obviously, Cassavetes kept the two on the film, and it became one of the greatest romantic
dramas of all time.
Alec Baldwin
Always quick on his feet, when Alec Baldwin was asked about his on-screen kiss with Jennifer
Aniston on 30 Rock, he joked to New York Magazine in 2008,
"It was painful.
I mean, every man who's had to make out with her in TV and movies — I don't know how
they do it."
"I made you a white pizza and a pot roast, because I just think you're so amazing."
Baldwin later let fans in on the reality of the scenario, telling People,
"Whenever you do that with someone, it's so fake.
They're getting paid to kiss you and I'm getting paid to kiss her.
But she's a doll."
Tony Curtis
Although Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe allegedly had an affair before filming their 1959 flick
Some Like It Hot, when he was asked what it was like to kiss the blonde bombshell on set,
he reportedly said it was like, quote, "kissing Hitler."
"You've never laughed more at sex.
Or a picture about it."
Curtis backpedaled on the comment in a 2008 interview with the Daily Mail, confessing,
"I said it as a joke.
I mean, it was such a darn stupid question, so I gave a stupid answer."
But when elaborating on the infamous make-out scene, Curtis told the outlet that Monroe
was way too aggressive, saying,
"[The kiss] was awful.
She nearly choked me to death by deliberately sticking her tongue down my throat into my
windpipe."
But before she died in 1962, Monroe offered her thoughts on the matter, saying,
"There was some actor that once said about me that kissing me was like kissing Hitler."
"Well, I think that's, you know, his problem."