29+ Actors Who Hated Kissing Each Other on Screen

Entertainment

| LAST UPDATE 05/07/2023

By Sara Salson

Many of us imagine the best part of acting is the opportunity to kiss the beautiful heartthrobs of Hollywood. These actors, however, have it made clear not all co-stars make for good kissing partners...

Kate Hudson & Dane Cook

As a rom-com king, Dane Cook has had the opportunity to kiss many of Hollywood's finest women. So, when Andy Cohen asked the actor who he would say was the worst of them to kiss, our interest was piqued.

Kate Hudson Dane Cook MovieKate Hudson Dane Cook Movie
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"Kate Hudson," he answered during the Plead The Fifth segment of Watch What Happens Live. "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," he recalled. "I had to burn her on that one!" Fair enough, Dane.

Jennifer Lawrence & Liam Hemsworth

The Hunger Games fans are a passionate bunch, aligning themself fearlessly on Team Gale and Team Peeta. The former group may have been incredibly excited about the kiss shared between Katniss and Gale, but it appears the actors responsible for the scene were not as enthused.

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"Anytime I had to kiss Jennifer was pretty uncomfortable," Hemsworth revealed to Jimmy Fallon during the film's press tour. "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." Oh, poor Liam.

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Woody Allen & Helena Bonham Carter

Not all on-set kisses are ruined by the state of bad breath. Controlling kissing directions can also work wonders to kill a vibe. According to Helena Bonham Carter, this was to blame for the unpleasant experience she had while making out with co-star Woody Allen on the set of Aphrodite.

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"He tells you upfront certain ways of kissing he does not want," Carter reportedly told Elle. "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," she joked. No saliva exchange? That's a guaranteed chemistry killer.

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Robert Pattinson & Reese Witherspoon

On paper, a romantic film involving Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson sounds like a winner. However, when it came to their 2011 film Water for Elephants, the execution didn't quite meet the expectations. The storyline was strong, but the couple's chemistry didn't hit home. Apparently, allergies were to blame.

Reese Witherspoon Robert PattinsonReese Witherspoon Robert Pattinson
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"He did have a very runny nose, yeah. It wasn't appealing; it wasn't pleasant," Reese explained. Patterson did not enjoy the experience either. "My nose is running all over the place […], and Reese had this wig on, and literally, I was wiping my nose on her wig," he said. Yeah, that would kill a vibe.

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James McAvoy & Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie may be the object of many men's desires, but James McAvoy is here to persuade people kissing her is not all it's cracked up to be. The two actors locked lips while filming their movie Wanted, an experience which McAvoy does not look back on fondly.

James McAvoy Angelina Jolie MovieJames McAvoy Angelina Jolie Movie
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"It was awkward, sweaty, and not very nice," James explained to In Touch. During an interview with the Today Show, he explained the lack of romance was due to the filming schedule, which had them kissing "first thing, just after you've had your breakfast, and you're all funky in the mouth."

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Tom Cruise & Thandie Newton

As far as we're concerned, we can imagine nothing more romantic than a movie-style kiss with Tom Cruise. His co-star in the movie Mission: Impossible 2, Thandie Newton, came forward to tell us otherwise. While their life-saving car kiss may have had sparks flying on screen, in reality, it felt more like dead air.

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Movieclips via YouTube

While we can't be sure about Tom's perspective on the kiss, Newton made it clear her experience was less than average. In the book Holy Matrimony!: Better Halves and Bitter Halves, she described the make-out session as "slightly icky and a little bit wet" and the worst part of filming the movie. Movie stars can't have it all.

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Hugh Jackman & Nicole Kidman

They may have both been filming in their home country of Australia, but that did not help Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman feel any more comfortable with having to kiss each other on camera. The stars of the 2009 film, Australia, have both openly admitted the kissing scenes were less steamy than they appeared.

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For Jackman, it wasn't personal but rather based on his discomfort at kissing co-stars in general. "It's never particularly comfortable making out with someone in front of 70 people," he told Elle. He admitted that his wife, Deborra-Lee Furness, chose to stay away from the set for the filming of these scenes. Who could blame her?!

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Jennifer Lawrence & Bradley Cooper

When the world witnessed Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper share the screen in the 2012 film Silver Linings Playbook, it became immediately clear they were an on-screen couple for the books. Their chemistry was palpable, winning over film critics worldwide and earning them both Oscar nominations for their performance.

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Movieclips via YouTube

So, was there anything real behind the movie sparks? Apparently, not. Talking on The Graham Norton Show, Bradley confessed that Jennifer actually told him how much she did not like kissing him. "After the second take, she said, 'You're a wet kisser.' You don't want to hear that. It was not a compliment." We would have never known!

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Carey Mulligan & Johnny Depp

In the film Public Enemies, Johnny Depp and Carey Mulligan's characters share a kiss or two throughout the film. Interestingly, the original script called for many more passionate scenes between the two, but they were cut after the actors couldn't make them believable enough.

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Movieclips via YouTube

While many assumed it was down to Depp, who has made his feelings against on-set kissing clear, Mulligan revealed it was her who sabotaged the filming. She explained that even after sixteen takes, she was unable to cover her awkwardness at kissing Depp, and the director ultimately called it quits.

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Brad Pitt & Kirsten Dunst

It doesn't matter how much he ages; most would be more than happy to lock lips with Brad Pitt. Ever since he came into the public eye, the Hollywood heartthrob has been stealing hearts. One heart he did not manage to charm, however, was his Interview with the Vampire co-star, Kirsten Dunst.

Kirsten Dunst Brad PittKirsten Dunst Brad Pitt
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Dunst later revealed that the experience of pecking him at just ten years old was so traumatic she was put off kissing altogether for six years. "He had this long hair, he was just a hippie-ish cool dude," she recalled to Bullet magazine. "Everyone was like, 'you're so lucky you kissed Brad Pitt,' but I thought it was disgusting."

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Shailene Woodley & Miles Teller

When it comes to movie kisses, one which will forever stand at the forefront of our minds is the one shared between Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller in their 2013 movie, The Spectacular Now. The sparks felt so real, it fueled the rumors that the two were dating IRL. Ironically, that couldn't have been further from the truth.

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On set, the two despised the experience of having to kiss each other, both citing the other's unpleasant breath as the reason. Miles complained to Vulture about Shailene's pre-kiss smelly herbal supplements, while Woodley resented Teller's pre-kiss Gatorade drink. Not quite a match made in heaven.

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Zac Efron & Ashley Tisdale

Although there may have been no iconic kiss scene between Troy and Sharpay in High School Musical, Ashley Tisdale and Zac Efron did lock lips on the set of a different Disney Channel franchise - The Suite Life of Zach and Cody. Sadly, it wasn't much fun, by the sounds of it.

Zac Efron Ashley Tisdale YoungZac Efron Ashley Tisdale Young
Criss Andree via YouTube

During a guest appearance on the series, Zac made his mark by kissing Tisdale's character, Maddie. For Tisdale, however, the two were "too close" as friends for the kiss to be enjoyable. "It's the worst because I'm so close to him, and he's like my brother," she jokingly admitted to Elle. We would have happily stood in her place.

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Morena Baccarin & Ryan Reynolds

When one imagines locking lips with Ryan Reynolds, many words come to mind. One that does not appear on this list is 'rubbery,' which is surprisingly how his Deadpool co-star, Morena Baccarin, described the experience. It would seem the superhero's iconic red mask was to blame here.

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Moviestore via Shutterstock

"It basically just smells like rubber the entire time," Morena told People in reference to kissing Reynolds in the mask. "And then when it was just him…I just felt like I could actually see his eyes. So it's a little challenging to act with the mask, essentially." We'd still be willing to give it a try.

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Chris Pratt & Jennifer Lawrence

Actors have been trying to persuade us for years that on-set kisses are not real kisses, and as a result, there's no reason for their respective partners to get jealous. But Jennifer Lawrence has always been the one to tell us how it is, and she admitted kissing her married co-star in Passengers was weird.

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Talking to The Hollywood Reporter, she described kissing Chris Pratt as an uncomfortable experience. "It was going to be my first time kissing a married man, and guilt is the worst feeling in your stomach, and I knew it was my job, but I couldn't tell my stomach that," she recalled. We love a respectful queen.

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Taylor Lautner & Kristen Stewart

While filming the Twilight movie franchise, Kristen Stewart was dating her leading man, Robert Pattinson, in real life. Although we imagine kissing her boyfriend on camera was the most uncomfortable part of filming, Stewart claims she cringed harder from kissing Taylor Lautner (AKA Jacob).

Kristen Stewart Taylor Lautner TwilightKristen Stewart Taylor Lautner Twilight
Movieclips via YouTube

To our surprise, Stewart's discomfort at kissing Lautner came not from her real-life boyfriend watching over them but from her belief that the act was too out of character for Bella. "It was so against everything that Bella's always been." Forget the storyline! It's Taylor Lautner, after all!

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Dakota Johnson & Jamie Dornan

When one signs up for the leading role in the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise, they're surely prepared for an extensive amount of kissing scenes. However, while Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan understood the assignment, they were unpleasantly surprised by how awkward the scenes were to film.

Dakota Johnson Jamie Dornan Fifty ShadesDakota Johnson Jamie Dornan Fifty Shades
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The two seriously disliked having to be intimate on-screen and conjured up their own ways of getting through it. For Johnson, this took the form of whisky shots, while for Dornan, he adopted the humor approach. Unlike most scenes on this list, the tension could, unfortunately, be felt through the screen.

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Rupert Grint & Emma Watson

Ron and Hermoine were the best of friends from the moment they met at Hogwarts. So, when they took it up a notch and became romantically involved, we can imagine it was an awkward transition for both parties. Off-screen, things weren't any less uncomfortable as Emma and Rupert were also very close IRL.

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Movieclips via YouTube

"I never look back at that scene," Grint told People about this iconic kissing scene. "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."

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Alyson Hannigan & Jason Segal

Jason Segal and Alyson Hannigan may have portrayed the rock-solid consistent couple in How I Met Your Mother, but behind the camera, the two hated having to kiss each other. Like many on this list, this was down to a case of bad breath, specifically a smoker's breath.

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MsMojo via YouTube

With Segal a passionate smoker, Hannigan compared the experience of pecking him to "kissing an ashtray." Knowing she would have to go through with the scenes for the sake of the show, she installed a $10 fine for each cigarette he smoked. To Segal's dismay, he owed his co-star $200 by the end of day one.

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Patrick Swayze & Jennifer Grey

Despite what audiences want to believe, strong chemistry on screen does not always reflect a natural spark in real-life. So many people adored the passionate relationship between Baby and her dance instructor Johnny in Dirty Dancing, but according to Grey, their connection was purely for the cameras.

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"I was cast before [Swayze] was," she said. "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."

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Orlando Bloom & Zoe Saldana

Nothing can kill an on-set kissing mood quite like a real-life boyfriend watching over. For Orlando Bloom and Zoe Saldana, this was to blame for the unpleasant make-out scene in their 2004 film Haven. While the two characters passionately locked lips in the water, Saldana's partner at the time stood by protectively.

Orlando Bloom Zoe SaldanaOrlando Bloom Zoe Saldana
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In fact, Bloom went as far as to tell People he "hated kissing Zoe" because of her intimidating boyfriend's presence. "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."

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Will Smith & Eva Mendes

As shown from this list, when an actor has an unpleasant experience kissing their co-star, they're usually pretty vocal about it after. After filming their romantic comedy Hitch, Will Smith gave his co-star Eva Mendes a glowing review for her kissing skills, describing the experience to Oprah as "absolutely wonderful."

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Mendes, however, revealed the truth behind the scene, explaining that her nerves over kissing the Hollywood legend had her eating tuna fish, onions, and Doritos as comfort food. Noticing her co-star's disgrace at the smell, she downed Altoids to remove the "stank breath special." Mouthwash is always the way to go.

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Joanna Lumley & Leonardo DiCaprio

Many aspiring actors have dreamed of one day starring opposite and kissing Leonardo DiCaprio in a romantic film. Joanna Lumley scored this opportunity while filming the 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street, and her review of the whole thing crushed hearts everywhere.

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"I did kiss Leonardo DiCaprio, about 15 times in fact," The Telegraph reported her saying. "But I'll let you into a secret. It's actually no fun kissing actors. 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." Still, that's better than smelly breath.

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Angelina Jolie & Matt Damon

Believe it or not, James McAvoy is not the only actor to have had an unpleasant experience kissing Angelina Jolie on set. During the filming of their 2006 film The Good Sheperd, Matt Damon had to make out with his glamorous co-star. The problem? She was married to his good friend Brad Pitt IRL.

Matt Damon Angelina Jolie MovieMatt Damon Angelina Jolie Movie
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To make matters even more awkward, Damon and Jolie were great friends themselves. "It was like kissing my sister: really awkward and generally awful," Damon told Diane Sawyer at the time of the film's release. Angelina, on the other hand, was unbothered by the entire thing, telling Now magazine, "it doesn't mean anything."

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Leonardo DiCaprio & Kate Winslet

When it comes to movie-star pairings, it doesn't get more iconic than Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. After ensuring there was not a dry eye in the house with their performance as Jack and Rose in the 1996 film Titanic, they were cast as the lead couple in the 2008 film Revolutionary Road.

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However, for Kate, the natural chemistry did not flow as easily this time around as a result of her husband, Sam Mendes, being the film's director. "Neither Sam nor Leo seemed the slightest bit bothered," she laughed. "I was like, 'Is it just me who feels a bit weird about this?' You know. My friend. My husband."

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Colin Farrell & Kate Beckinsale

One thing we've gathered from this list is that when an actor signs up for a project, it's worth their while checking who the director is married to. Colin Farrell learned this the hard way when he was forced to kiss his Total Recall co-star Kate Beckinsale in front of her director husband, Len Wiseman.

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Movieclips via YouTube

"Kissing her was a little bit dodgy because the director, her husband, wasn't kind enough to leave the room," Colin admitted in a later interview. "Being a director, he had to watch the scene, which was a little bit creepy." We imagine, as an actor, that's as uncomfortable as it gets.

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Tobey Maguire & Kirsten Dunst

It may go down as the kiss of all movie kisses, but for Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, the iconic upside-down Spiderman smooch is one they would rather forget. As passionate and romantic as it seemed on screen, the actors were pushed to their physical limits in order to master the blockbuster moment.

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"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," Tobey reportedly told Deseret News in 2002. "Poor girl. I was giving her mouth-to-mouth rather than kissing her." Yeah, that's not the type of breathtaking kiss we were looking for.

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Julia Roberts & Nick Nolte

Hollywood actors aren't paid in the millions for no reason. Their incredible ability to depict romance in places where it simply does not exist has had people flocking to movie theatres for centuries. Take Julia Roberts, for example, who did precisely that while filming I Love Trouble opposite Nick Nolte.

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Unbeknownst to the audience, the two leading characters intensely hated each other behind the scenes. Roberts referred to Nolte as "completely disgusting" while he, in turn, labeled Julia as "not a nice person." They did manage to throw together a few kissing scenes, but as always, nothing is as it seems in Hollywood.

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Ryan Gosling & Rachel McAdams

The only thing worse than hating kissing your co-star is despising them in general. The leading stars of the 2004 romance film, The Notebook were another acting duo that fooled their audiences into believing they were the real deal, despite facts on the ground stating otherwise.

Ryan Gosling Rachel McAdams NotebookRyan Gosling Rachel McAdams Notebook
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The film's director Nick Cassavetes told VH1 that the two disliked each other so greatly that Gosling requested McAdams be replaced by another actress. "He says, 'I can't. I can't do it with her. I'm just not getting anything from this,'" Cassavetes recalled. This request was ultimately ignored, and we were none the wiser.

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Hugh Grant & Julia Roberts

Yet another male co-star Julia Roberts did not enjoy kissing was her Notting Hill companion, Hugh Grant. Again, the movie magic would never have given it away, but these two were not each other's biggest fans while filming the iconic romantic movie.

Julia Roberts Hugh Grant Notting HillJulia Roberts Hugh Grant Notting Hill
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According to Grant, their uncomfortable kissing scenes resulted from Robert's mouth size, which he explained was much bigger than his own. "I've probably made too many jokes about the size of her mouth," he joked with Andy Cohen. "She might hate me by now." With that million-dollar smile, we can't believe she's too bothered.

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Brad Pitt & Cate Blanchett

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button sold audiences the love story between Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett's characters. Their performance was so strong it's hard to believe that the kissing scenes had almost never come to be - that's if Brad Pitt had had his way.

Brad Pitt Cate Blanchett MovieBrad Pitt Cate Blanchett Movie
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According to numerous publications, Pitt did not want to kiss his beautiful co-star. This wasn't because he was nervous about keeping his cool, but rather due to the fear his wife Angelina Jolie would be upset out of jealousy. After much negotiation, he gave in, and their performance sizzled through the hesitations.

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