Sometimes actors’ on-screen chemistry seems so natural that we’re convinced they get along just as well when the cameras stop rolling. But these behind-the-scene secrets of some of your favorite kiss scenes reveal how things can get weird when one or both actors don’t want to smooch their co-star. And other times, the opposite takes place: some of the best kisses on the screen were unscripted and never supposed to happen! So take a seat somewhere cool because things are about to get steamy.
Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt
Jennifer Lawrence was apprehensive about kissing costar Chris Pratt during the filming of Passengers. She and the actor were close friends off-screen, but she was also friends with Pratt’s wife, Anna Faris. She said that she felt guilty kissing a married man. Before she and Pratt were set to film their kissing scene when making the movie, she reportedly even consulted with her mother about what she should do in the situation.
Lawrence eventually gave in to the scene, but not before employing the help of a couple of cocktails to get her through it. We imagine her mom also provided some emotional support.
Will Smith and Anthony Hall
While filming the movie Six Degrees of Separation in the early 1990s, Will Smith refused to share an on-set kiss with costar Anthony Hall. In the movie, Smith played a gay character but reportedly tried to get out of filming the kissing scene. He even tried to talk the director into filming the scene from behind, which would have allowed for either a body double or for it to appear as if the two had kissed without actually doing it.
Despite this, Smith expressed regret for the incident years later. He said that he was not in the right place mentally at the time of filming and insinuated that he would do things differently today.
Ryan Reynolds and Morena Baccarin
Some might be surprised to hear that the onscreen chemistry between Ryan Reynolds and Morena Baccarin in Deadpool wasn’t all sunshine and roses. Despite the two having no animosity toward one another, Baccarin has said the kissing scenes in the movie were difficult to film. She chalked this up to the Deadpool’s costume, which she said was like kissing a giant latex condom. “It basically just smells like rubber the entire time,” she said.
She went on to say that it was extremely challenging trying to act while Reynolds was wearing the costume, which just goes to show that it doesn’t matter who your costar is if they smell like rubber and latex. But it seems like some other kissing scenes were much easier to handle.
Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth
Next, we have another moment in film history involving someone’s bad breath. This incident occurred while Liam Hemsworth and Jennifer Lawrence were filming on The Hunger Games set. Hemsworth was apparently reluctant to kiss the trilogy star throughout filming because he said that she had bad breath. However, this one comes with a caveat as Lawrence was eating garlic and tuna before kissing scenes on purpose throughout the movie.
She and Hemsworth were fairly close in real life, and apparently, she didn’t want any onscreen chemistry seeping into the two’s real-life friendship. So, she made every kissing scene as unbearable as she could. How sweet.
Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon
Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson’s film Water for Elephants saw the two share a romantic onscreen kiss. However, Witherspoon was reluctant to go through with it initially and probably even during the incident. Pattinson had come down with a pretty bad cold at the time, and Witherspoon, not wanting to get sick, initially declined to film the scene. She described the cold as “the most hideous, horrible cold of any costar I’ve ever had to do a love scene with ever in my entire life.”
However, she eventually relented, and the kiss was filmed. Witherspoon didn’t forget the incident, though, saying that Pattinson was sniffling through the love scene. Certainly not the best way to catch a cold, but probably not the worst either.
Vanessa Hudgens and James Franco
Vanessa Hudgens’s post-Disney phase saw the young actor take plenty of risks and roles some might consider risque. While filming for one of those roles in the movie Spring Breakers, Hudgens shared a kiss with actor James Franco. However, she later recalled that it was one of the worst experiences of her career up to that point. She also said that she was much more comfortable kissing a woman than kissing Franco.
Despite some of the recent news about Franco and harassment allegations, Hudgens chalked the experience up to just being awkward. Right after the film, she reportedly told her agent that she would never do that again.
Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt
This one is a bit weirder when looking from the outside in. During filming for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Brad Pitt apparently expressed his reluctance to kiss Cate Blanchett. Pitt cited the respect he had for his wife Angelina Jolie but with him having done numerous romantic scenes in the past while in a relationship, some fans were quick to dismiss this reasoning. Some suspected that something might have been going on in his and Jolie’s relationship at the time.
Pitt eventually gave in, though, and he and Blanchett went on to share a kiss in the movie. It’s safe to say the pair’s shared kiss played a large role in solidifying their character’s onscreen romance.
Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan
While most people know Alyson Hannigan and Jason Segel from their on-screen characters in How I Met Your Mother, what many don’t know is that Hannigan was actually pretty apprehensive about kissing Segel. Apparently, she couldn’t stand Segel’s smoking habit and refused to kiss the actor until he quit the habit. At first, Segel would pay $10 for every cigarette he smoked, but this quickly added up, and eventually, the actor quit smoking for good.
The two were smooth sailing after Segel quit, but one wouldn’t be able to tell any of this just by looking at the two’s on-screen characters, Lily and Marshall. But, we guess getting Segel to drop smoking altogether was certainly a positive outcome.
Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley
Apparently, Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley both had issues with kissing the other during filming on set for The SpectacularNow, a movie that came out in 2013. According to Teller, Woodley was taking Chinese herbal supplements at the time, which left her with bad breath and a reluctant costar. However, the feeling was apparently mutual as something Teller was drinking turned Woodley off of the two’s kissing scenes.
Woodley said that her costar’s habit of continually drinking Gatorade was a huge turnoff. However, the two did at least manage to pull off the appearance of chemistry in the film.