Celebrities are known for being some of the most attractive people on Earth. It’s a big part of why they became celebrities in the first place — their looks bring attention. It’s all marketing, and their looks are a large part of that marketing or branding. Social media presences have only heightened that sentiment.
But as good-looking as some of these top celebrities are, there are a few who outwardly admitted to not wanting to kiss their costars. For actors, kissing a costar comes with the territory (depending on the script), but it’s not as romantic and spontaneous as it looks…
Updated on October 19th, 2021, by Lynn Gibbs: One of the biggest questions on viewers’ minds after watching a movie or show with leads that are romantically involved is, “Do actors really kiss?” Or, ” How do actors feel about kissing?” As long as actors are comfortable with kissing or bedroom scenes and give their consent, it’s all part of the job. However, with so many people on set watching it happen, it’s very orchestrated and business-like — omitting any possible spark. Funny enough, it shows so naturally and romantic on the screen, which is all due to the actors acting. But not every kiss or love scene is as light-hearted as it should be since some actors were vocal about not wanting to kiss their costars.
Candace Cameron Bure is known for her time as DJ Tanner on Full House and its reboot, Fuller House. In the reboot, DJ was once stuck between two men, her new love Matt and her love from childhood, Steve. As great as Steve and DJ were in their youth, their relationship wouldn’t have worked today as adults.
While filming Fuller House, Candace also films her many movies for the Hallmark Channel. And according to US Weekly, kissing different co-stars in movie after movie is too much. “I’m getting more uncomfortable with [kissing] the older I’m getting. I’m like, ‘I don’t want to keep doing this!’” she said. As a married woman and mother of three, Candace said that her husband “actually doesn’t watch anything that I do for that very reason. Because it is uncomfortable and I totally understand and respect it.”
Desperate Housewives (2004) was a drama that lasted for eight seasons. The series followed a small group of housewives that lived on the mysterious Wisteria Lane where drama, trouble, and romance ensued.
In the series, Neal McDonough plays Dave Williams, Edie Britt’s husband. However, while filming, it was rumored that McDonough didn’t like kissing Sheridan. As it turned out, it had nothing to do with Sheridan’s kissing abilities and everything to do with McDonough’s religion. According to the Christian Examiner, McDonough said, “Killing people on screen — that’s fake. That’s not real. When you’re in bed with another woman on screen — guess what? That’s real. I don’t like that kind of stuff. Especially now with kids, I don’t want to have my kids say, ‘Hey, Dad, what are you doing with that lady on screen?'”
Some Like It Hot was a timeliess masterpiece in the late 1950s. Starring Marilyn Monroe as Sugar “Kane” Kowalczyk and Tony Curtis as Joe, the movie was about the two witnessing a murder and creating a new life for themselves as a a band, with Joe disguised as a woman. As witnesses to a murder, trouble ensues but Sugar and Joe get romantic.
In an interview with The Daily Mail, Curtis came clean abut what it was like kissing Monroe. “[The kiss] was awful. She nearly choked me to death by deliberately sticking her tongue down my throat into my windpipe,” he very plainly said.
Haven (2004) was a crime-drama with Orlando Bloom as Shy and Zoe Saldana as Andrea. The two became love interests despite the violent turn of events in the film, and the two shared a kiss. It wasn’t either of Bloom or Saldana’s best movies, but they did have chemistry on screen.
Although Bloom and Saldana are stunning and talented in their own right, Bloom told People that he “hated kissing Zoe.” At the time, Saldana’s then-boyfriend would go to set and watch all the scenes between Saldana and Bloom. He continued saying, “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.”
These Twilight stars were once considered teen heartthrobs that had everyone in a tizzy. Would Bella choose Edward the vampire or would she be seduced by Jacob the werewolf? To the chagrin of #TeamJacob fans, Edward was right for Bella.
Kristen Stewart’s character chose the vampire way of life in the end because, according to US Magazine, she found kissing Taylor Lautner to be quite the task. “Taylor [and I] have so much fun with this stuff because our intimate moments are so few and far between and weird.” Stewart said that her main issue with kissing Lautner was because it felt out of character. She said that kissing Jacob “was so against everything that Bella’s always been.”
When these two starred in the comedy atrocity that was My Best Friend’s Girl, they knew they were signing up for some racy scenes. Dane Cook played Tank, a character who was hired by his close friend Dustin to go on a date with the woman he was in love with, Alexis (Kate Hudson). It was Dustin’s hope that Alexis would realize how bad Tank was and fall back in love with him. This movie wasn’t Hudson’s best role but it wasn’t her worst either.
When it came time for Hudson and Cook’s kissing scenes, Hudson would eat a ton of onions in order to get a rise out of famous funnyman Cook. It seems Hudson was doing this all in good fun, but Cook was definitely not a fan of lip-locking. He told ABC News, “Worst on-screen kiss ever,” due to Hudson’s prank.
In Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible 2, Cruise’s character, Ethan Hunt, was back on another mission to stop a terrorist group from an attack in Sydney. His partner in crime in the film was one of the best agents, Nyah Nordoff-Hall (Thandie Newton), who later became his love interest.
In the film the two share a kiss and according to Newton, things didn’t go as smoothly as he had hoped — but not because of Cruise. According to IMDb, “I’d really go home at the end of the day actually moaning about how hot it was and how many times we had to do it.” Due to the temperature and how clinical the scenes were, it felt like “an impossible mission to accomplish.”
Baby (Jennifer Grey) and Johnny (Patrick Swayze) seemed like the perfect couple in Dirty Dancing. They had an on-screen love affair that many people grew up idolizing. Their chemistry was off the charts, and it was a love that many films tried to replicate.
Funny enough, Glamour noted that Grey said in an interview that she didn’t think she and Swayze had the right kind of chemistry. “I was cast before he was. He came in [to test] along with a bunch of other guys. I didn’t think we had chemistry. But you either do or you don’t. It’s a weird thing, though. It doesn’t have to do with whether you like someone or not. It’s just you either have it or you don’t.” On screen, these two definitely had chemistry.
Mighty Aphrodite released in 1995 and focused on a married couple, Lenny (Woody Allen) and Amanda (Helena Bonham Carter), as they learn more about their adopted son’s backstory after realizing his brilliance. The film is held in high regard but isn’t one of Bonham Carter’s most iconic roles or works.
In the film, Bonham Carter and Allen had to kiss each other but it wasn’t what fans would have expected. According to Elle, Bonham Carter referred kissing Allen to kissing the “Berlin Wall.” She continued saying, “[Allen] 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.” With so many rules, it was hard to look natural.
Fifty Shades of Grey was the revolutionary dark romance that took over the globe in 2015. With Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele and Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey, these two had no choice but to be comfortable kissing each other since the movie revolved around sex and drama.
According to The Things, there were rumors that the two didn’t like each filming with each other but the pair came out as a unit, denying those claims. Dornan and Johnson respected each other but it was hard to get through racy films because Dornan was too busy making Johnson laugh. In an interview with Graham Norton, Dornan said he would make funny noises during scenes to make them less awkward. And to get through these uncomfortable kissing scenes, Johnson would “drink whiskey.”
Water for Elephants was a 2011 romance drama centered around Jacob Jankowski (Robert Pattinson) and Marlena Rosenbluth (Reese Witherspoon) as they work for a crooked traveling circus set in the 1930s. It was one of Witherspoon’s best movies.
Due to Marlena and Jacob’s love story, the pair had to kiss for the movie. However, InTouch Weekly noted that Witherspoon wasn’t fond of kissing Pattinson due to one specific reason: a cold “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,” she said.
I Love Trouble was a 1994 rom-com that starred Julia Roberts as Sabrina and Nick Nolte as Peter. The pair worked for rival newspaper companies. But when the professionals are assigned to work on the same story, the two get to know each other on a deeper level, despite their differences. It’s a beloved movie but wasn’t one of Robert’s best roles
In real life, Roberts and Nolte had a hard time getting along. In an interview with The New York Times, Roberts was honest about her distaste for her costar. “[Nolte can be] completely charming and very nice … he’s also completely disgusting,” she said. Likewise, Nolte had harsh words for Roberts as well. In response to her “disgusting” comment, Nolte retorted, “It’s not nice to call someone ‘disgusting.’ But she’s not a nice person. Everyone knows that.”
Silver Linings Playbook (2012) starred Jennifer Lawrence (Tiffany) and Bradley Cooper (Pat). The romantic comedy hit home for many viewers and had tremendous feedback. This was largely in part to the chemistry between Lawrence and Cooper.
However, it looks like the pair’s kissing could have used some work. In an interview on The Graham Norton Show, Cooper said that Lawrence insulted his kissing style. “After the second take she said, ‘You’re a wet kisser.'” Cooper laughed about it now but said, “You don’t want to hear that. It was not a compliment.”
The Hunger Games films first came out in 2012 after the books were released. Jennifer Lawrence (yet again) starred as the protagonist, Katniss Everdeen. Liam Hemsworth portrayed Katniss’s best friend and love interest, Gale Hawthorne, while Josh Hutcherson portrayed Katniss’s friend and love interest, Peta Mellark. Katniss loved both Peta and Gale and it made the series addicting.
In the films, Lawrence had to kiss both Hemsworth and Hutcherson. But considering the three became close friends, kissing each other became prank-worthy. According to Perez Hilton, Hutcherson said kissing Lawrence was “slobbery.” Likewise, Hemsworth also chimed in, according to US Magazine, “She’s one of my best friends, I love her, but if we had a kissing scene, she would make a point of eating garlic or tuna fish or something that was disgusting. Right before the scene she’d be like, ‘Yeah, I ate tuna’ or ‘I had garlic, and I didn’t brush my teeth.’ And I’d be like, ‘Fantastic, I can’t wait to get in there and taste it!'”
Passengers (2016) was a sci-fi romance (although Passengers could be classified as a horror film) starring Chris Pratt (Jim) and Jennifer Lawrence (Aurora). Together, the two have to save each other from an epic disaster while on their way to a distant planet. In the film, Jim and Aurora fall for each other and share plenty of intimate scenes.
For Lawrence, it wasn’t that Pratt was a bad kisser, it was that he was married in real life and she felt uncomfortable kissing a married man. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lawrence said, “I got really, really drunk. But then that led to more anxiety when I got home, because I was like, ‘What have I done?'” She continued saying, “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.”
How I Met Your Mother was a popular sitcom that ran for nine seasons. Alyssa Hannigan played Lily Aldrin, while Jason Segal played Marshall Eriksen. Marshall and Lily had known each other since their college days and got married in season 2, which meant kisses were part of the norm. In the series, they were one of the more relatable couples. However, Hannigan wasn’t necessarily pleased.
According to Digital Spy, Hannigan loathed kissing Segal because he was a smoker. “I cannot stand cigarette smoke. It’s like kissing an ashtray and he’s trying to be polite by having gum or mints, but it doesn’t help.” The two made a bet with each other that every time Segal smoked, he owed Hannigan $10. “After the first day, he owed me $200,” Hannigan said.
Blade Runner (1982) was an action film that starred Sean Young as Rachael and Harrison Ford as Rick. In the movie, Rick is a former police officer who finds himself deep in a mission and meets an assistant named Rachael. In the movie, the two kissed but it wasn’t as romantic as it looked.
According to Fast Rewind, Ford and Young didn’t get along on set. The producers dubbed their love scene as a “hate scene” instead. Apparently, Young took issue with Ford’s facial hair and the set was toxic due to issues with the director Ridley Scott, according to Indie Wire.
The Harry Potter films took off in 2001 and furthered fans’ obsession with the Harry Potter universe and magic. Daniel Radcliffe played the famed Harry Potter, Ruper Grint played Harry’s best friend Ron Weasley, and Emma Watson played Hermione Granger. Harry wouldn’t have survived Hogwarts without the help of his friends.
In the film, Granger and Weasley create a love connection and share a kiss but Grint wasn’t too pleased about locking lips with his best friend. According to The New York Post, “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. I have a memory of her face getting closer and closer. Like, ‘Oh my God.’ I can’t really remember anything apart from that.” Furthering his statement on kissing Watson, she too sid that “Rupert was the weirdest.”
The Spectacular Now (2013) was a romance-drama, starring Shailene Woodley (Aimee Finecky) and Miles Teller (Sutter Keely). Keely and Finecky find themselves in a surprising romance after getting to know each other in unsuspecting circumstances. It’s a great film for Valentine’s Day.
And as much chemistry as the two actors had, Teller wasn’t exactly thrilled to kiss Woodley. According to Variety, “Before our first kissing scene, Shailene took these Chinese dirt supplements and shoved them in her mouth. It’s like a dirt pouch, and it smells like crap,” Teller said. Funny enough, when Woodley heard her friend and costar talking about her breath, she chimed in and called him “rude.”
The Notebook is still widely one of the most talked-about romances today even though it was released in 2004. Starring Ryan Gosling as Noah and Rachel McAdams as Allie, the two take viewers on a wild ride of their relationship from teens to seniors. The film had some of the best quotes and cinematography.
As believable as the romance between Noah and Allie was, it was different on set. Gossling and McAdams were reportedly not getting along, according to Cheatsheet. The director, Nick Cassavetes, even told a story where Gossling wanted McAdams off set because he couldn’t work with her. They were forced to work together for the sake of the story and funny enough, it worked, because the pair ended up dating after they filmed.