10 Actors Who Refused To Shoot Kissing Scenes

Classic Hollywood star Ingrid Bergman once said, “A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous.” The Swedish actress knows a thing or two about the power of a kiss, as she was one half of one of the most iconic kisses in cinematic history when she and Humphrey Bogart starred in “Casablanca.” However, as powerful as a kiss can be, sometimes the act of kissing may be a bridge too far for an actor behind a given character.

Regardless of what a script says a character is meant to do, sometimes there are certain things that an actor will refuse to do. For whatever reason, they may decide that they don’t want to do their own stunts or have any nude scenes, as tasteful as they might. And there have been plenty of instances where stars have chosen not to participate in kissing scenes as well. 

From a lack of chemistry to sickness to something a bit more complicated, here are some instances where actors refused to shoot kissing scenes with their co-stars.

No matter how many awards you’ve won, how high you are on the call sheet, or how acclaimed you may be around the globe, there are still times where you do not get your way. That was allegedly the case for Brad Pitt while filming “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”

According to MoreMojo, the award-winning actor did not want to kiss co-star Cate Blanchett in David Fincher’s sprawling 2008 romance about a man who ages in reverse. Legend states that Pitt wanted to take this stance out of respect for his then-partner, Angelina Jolie. Blanchett joked in an interview with The Telegraph that “to see how in love with Angelina he is, it was really quite disgusting.”

Ultimately, Benjamin Button and Daisy Fuller do end up sharing a kiss in the film. When she returns to New Orleans in the spring of 1962, the couple has finally reached a comparable physical age and their reunion sparks a whirlwind romance that lasts for the majority of that decade. But once Button thinks about how his condition could affect his ability to raise a child, he sells off his assets to leave with his family, and he ventures off to travel alone throughout the 1970s.

As for Brangelina, the couple became Hollywood royalty and grew their family to include six children. However, after 12 years together (but only two years of marriage), Jolie filed for divorce in 2016 due to “irreconcilable differences.” The process would then take eight years to finalize.

While Pitt succumbed to the script and followed through on an onscreen smooch with his co-star, Neal McDonough has drawn a much more defined line in the sand. The veteran actor known for his roles in “Band of Brothers,” Ozian miniseries “Tin Man,” and both the Marvel and DC Universes has two rules that he utilizes when he selects a role: 1.) No using the Lord’s name in vain. 2.) No kissing.

While promoting the 2016 film “Greater,” McDonough discussed his devout Catholicism with Christian Examiner. The actor behind Dum Dum Duggan of Captain America’s Howling Commandos revealed that his decision to opt out of showing displays of affection onscreen is his way of honoring God in every aspect of his life. He 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.”

McDonough also cites his kids as another reason for his decision. After marrying model Ruvé Robertson in 2003, the couple had five children together. The actor mentioned that he didn’t want to confuse them whenever they would see him onscreen with a woman other than their mother. He even stood firm on this during his time on “Desperate Housewives” from 2008 to 2009. However, when it came to a role on “Scoundrels” that involved sex scenes with Virginia Madsen, the actor was replaced by David James Elliott three days into shooting due to his religious beliefs.

Thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the world is more conscious than ever about the spread of germs. Even before these unprecedented times, it was still common courtesy to avoid other people whenever you were down with the sickness. Although, due to scheduling, movie stars don’t always have that luxury. But just because Gerard Butler was willing to work on “RocknRolla” with a cold didn’t mean that Thandiwe Newton was about to do the same thing.

The British star known for her roles in “Westworld,” “Crash,” and “Solo: A Star Wars Story” explained the situation to NewsHub (via FandomWire) very plainly. “Gerry was very unwell indeed, so I wouldn’t kiss him. Guy [Ritchie] had to improvise. I don’t know how he coped with those problems, but it ended up being one of the most brilliant scenes.”

While promoting the movie, Butler shared the same sentiment with Today about the director’s resourcefulness while dealing with his throat infection, but he also went on to praise Newton for her skills as well. “Guy went, ‘Right, we’ll do it like this — get in there and undo her zip! That was the day I realized how professional Thandiwe is,” he said. “I was so impressed. But that was Thandiwe — Bang on it every time and just a great girl.”

Despite Newton navigating her way through sickness on set, not every performer can avoid it. Reese Witherspoon protested a kissing scene with a sickly Robert Pattinson in “Water For Elephants.” However, the pair proceeded and Witherspoon said the experience “wasn’t pleasant.”

While kissing someone with a cold is certainly unpleasant, the stars of “The Hunger Games” had to deal with their fair share of unpleasantness throughout the process of creating the cinematic presentation of the best-selling dystopian young adult series from Suzanne Collins. Before cameras even rolled, Jennifer Lawrence had to fight the good fight to present Katniss Everdeen as a female protagonist with a realistic body type in the films. Elsewhere (and certainly not on the same level as his co-star’s battle), Josh Hutcherson had to deal with the inconvenience of bleaching his hair blonde, a process that he described as his least favorite part of becoming Peeta Mellark. As for Liam Hemsworth, he had to contend with J Law’s more playful side during their kissing scenes.

While appearing on “The Tonight Show,” the Aussie actor shared that locking lips with his co-star was “pretty uncomfortable.” Although, it had nothing to do with the actual kiss itself. As it turned out, the mischievous Lawrence would partake in more pungent meal selections ahead of their collaborations on set. To put it more plainly, the Gale Hawthorne performer told Jimmy Fallon that “if we had a kissing scene, she would make a point of eating garlic or tuna fish or something that was disgusting.”

As opposed to the other entries on this list, this was done mostly in jest. Hemsworth didn’t necessarily “refuse” to work with Lawrence over this prank. But if Lawrence is to be believed, then it really was an innocent mistake. The Academy Award winner told “Hot Ones” host Sean Evans that it was a coincidence. “It was just what I was eating and then we’d kiss!,” she said. “He should just get over it.” Of course, her devious smile as she said this may have given her true intentions away. Either way, this is a pretty brilliant joke between friends.

Throughout the 2010s, Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan were fixtures in the tabloids. To capitalize on their popularity, the team behind the horror spoof “Scary Movie 5” brought both stars in to play themselves (despite Sheen already playing a character in the franchise). But when it came time to shoot their scenes, Lohan expressed that she was not in favor of kissing her co-star.

According to TMZ, the “Mean Girls” star opted out of kissing Sheen because of his “wild partying past.” The report also noted that both actors signed releases stating that they did not have cold sores while shooting their scenes. Apparently that wasn’t enough for Lohan though, as the script had to be rewritten to include less kissing, and a body double was brought in for the little that remained.

As awkward as that situation could have been, the two ended up becoming friends. Sheen, who had no problems with the changes to their scene, even gave Lohan $100,000 to lighten the load of her tax debt. Not only would she send flowers and a hand-written note to the Hollywood vet for his kindness, but sources at The Daily Mail said she would also express deep regret over her refusal to participate in the scene as written on the day. Although, had the script remained unaltered and the scene played out as originally planned, it likely wouldn’t have improved the overall quality of the movie, which is the lowest-grossing installment of the franchise thus far.

Speaking of regrets, Will Smith has one from very early in his career that earned him a spot on our list. Just before headlining massive hits like “Bad Boys,” “Independence Day,” and “Men In Black,” the rapper and sitcom star joined the film adaptation of John Guare’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Six Degrees of Separation.” But even though he was ready to take a huge leap out of his comfort zone by taking a role that was against type for him at the time, Smith wasn’t completely ready to take on everything that came with that next step.

During a pivotal scene of the movie, Smith’s Paul is meant to kiss a prep school student played by Anthony Michael Hall. However, the Philadelphia native opted out of the moment and tagged in a body double instead. This caused director Fred Schepisi to change up his plan and only shoot the back of his actors’ heads. 

While speaking to Entertainment Weekly in 1993, Smith admitted that it was immature of him to back out of the scene. He was concerned about what his friends back home in the City of Brotherly Love would think about him for participating in a same-sex kiss. “I wasn’t emotionally stable enough to artistically commit to that aspect of the film,” he recounted. “This was a valuable lesson for me. Either you do it or you don’t.”

In the decades that followed, Smith would establish himself as an LGBTQ+ ally, while his star power continued to grow.

While Smith admitted his immaturity towards his character’s same-sex kiss, the same cannot necessarily be said for Luke Grimes. The actor and musician known for his roles in “American Sniper,” “Fifty Shades of Grey,” and “Yellowstone” also appeared in the 6th season of “True Blood” as a vampire named James Kent. Originally a love interest for Deborah Ann Woll’s Jessica, the 7th season revealed another romance for Grimes’ character: A medium named Lafayette Reynolds. However, when the final season of HBO’s acclaimed vampire drama premiered, instead of the original performer, Nathan Parsons had stepped into the role of James instead.

At the time, Grimes’ publicist claimed that “scheduling issues” were the reason for the actor’s departure from the series, and there was always an out clause that would allow him to pursue features. The network then cited “the creative direction of the character” as the reason for recasting. But according to a report from Buzzfeed, Grimes did not want to play a gay character. Their sources also stated that the actor would have stayed if the scripts were changed to make the attraction one-sided and without any culmination of a physical or emotional relationship, but the writers refused to make those adjustments.

While speaking to Vulture in 2014 about Lafayette, Ellis discussed the whole situation by criticizing his former castmate’s decision to walk away instead of playing a gay or bisexual character. “I can’t approach a character with judgment,” he said. “I certainly can’t tell my boss, ‘I can act what I want to act, but not what you tell me to act,’ especially on a show where you come in, knowing what it is.”

While the Luke Grimes situation is frustrating, this next story is downright messed up. Inspired by the story of the Duffer Brothers surprising 15-year-old Sadie Sink with a kissing scene in an episode of “Stranger Things,” Kimberly McCullough shared a moment from when she was coming up as a young actor.

When McCullough was only 14 years old, she was meant to share a “long kiss” with an older boy on “General Hospital.” However, when she arrived on set, her scene partner turned out to be a 22-year-old man. In a blog post on her website (via Soaps In Depth), she shared that, despite regularly working with adults on the long-running soap opera, this particular scene “felt dangerous and wrong.”

To make matters worse, this guest star (who she did not name but mentioned “did go on to do big movies”) joked with other male actors during rehearsals about having condoms ready. Despite the inappropriate nature of everything going on here, McCullough weighed all of her options about speaking out, since she was afraid of being labeled difficult for standing up for herself. She even thought that this defiance could lead to getting fired from the show.

Ultimately, when it came time to shoot the scene for real, the actor stood her ground in front of the entire crew and expressed her discomfort with the kiss. She flat out refused to do it. Instead of making out with her older co-star, the scene ended with a kiss on the cheek.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, it was practically impossible to go to the movies and not see a new Julia Roberts movie being advertised. She was everywhere, and everyone wanted her to bring some of her star power to their project. That is, until she crossed paths with Nick Nolte. The duo was cast in the 1994 romantic comedy “I Love Trouble” as rival reporters who are forced to work together. However, love was in short supply on set as production was tense for the two stars, since they hated each other.

The LA Times chronicled all the trouble during production. From Roberts’ tantrums to Nolte’s machismo, the stars were constantly agitated with each other. Forget kissing scenes. Apparently they were acting opposite stand-ins more often than not while the cameras were rolling. When they were together, they were getting aggravated by writing duo Charles Shyer and Nancy Meyers, who were trying to get the stars to improvise lines repeatedly. While publicists tried to play this off as playful antics amongst co-stars, the award-winning actor known for her roles in “Notting Hill,” “Pretty Woman,” and many more acclaimed works stated that Nolte was “charming and nice, [but] he’s also completely disgusting.”

In 2022, Nolte shared with Insider that there was plenty of blame to go around for the tension between them on set. He admitted that there has been no formal hatchet burying, but they have let bygones be bygones. “It was absurd what we went through,” he said. “Julia got married at the beginning of that film and it was one of those things where I just approached it all wrong.”

Sorry, Julia Roberts! Unfortunately, we have to turn the tables to end this list because not only did she refuse to kiss a co-star, but a co-star also refused to kiss her. That co-star in question is Denzel Washington from “The Pelican Brief.” Although it wasn’t really her fault that her fellow big screen icon decided not to lock lip with her.

This all started when Washington attended a screening of his 1989 film “The Mighty Quinn.” In the movie, his character Xavier Quinn kisses Mimi Rogers’ Hadley Elgin. But for whatever reason, the audience at his screening decided to boo this interracial kiss. After that, the actor thought long and hard about what that meant to his fanbase, which is largely made up of female members of the Black community.

“Black women are not often seen as objects of desire on film,” Washington said in a 2002 profile in Newsweek. “They have always been my core audience.” With that in mind, the award-winning performer became pickier about the number of romantic roles he would take moving forward from that point. And when he did take one, he would rework it to tone down, decrease, or eliminate the amount of affection shared with non-Black co-stars, which was the case with the 1993 adaptation of John Grisham’s legal thriller.

Honestly, this is a thoughtful course of action. Representation is and always will be important. For Washington to remain mindful of that during a period where not enough people in media were taking that kind of consideration is incredibly refreshing. Yes, things have improved a bit since the 1980s on that front, but hopefully the industry as a whole continues to evolve to be more inclusive.