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15 Actors Who Hated Kissing Their Co-Stars

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Ignacio Weil

Entertainment - May 27th 2026, 19:00 GMT+2

Tom Cruise and Thandiwe Newton Mission Impossible 2 1 — 1. Tom Cruise and Thandiwe Newton – Mission: Impossible 2

The *Mission: Impossible* franchise usually makes danger look polished, expensive, and weirdly aerodynamic, but Thandiwe Newton’s least glamorous memory from *Mission: Impossible 2* had nothing to do with explosions. She later described kissing Tom Cruise as slightly icky and wet, with the heat and repeated takes draining the romance out of the moment. On screen, Ethan and Nyah smolder; off screen, it sounded more like blockbuster intimacy by way of endurance sport. | © Paramount Pictures

Brad Pitt and Kirsten Dunst Interview with the Vampire 1 — 2. Brad Pitt and Kirsten Dunst – Interview with the Vampire

For a generation of viewers, Brad Pitt in *Interview with the Vampire* was peak gothic movie-star fantasy; for Kirsten Dunst, he was an adult co-star she saw more like an older brother. Dunst has been very clear over the years that the kiss felt gross to her, which makes sense given how young she was when the scene was filmed. The movie wanted doomed vampire tenderness, but her memory of it is far more uncomfortable than romantic. | © Warner Bros.

Robert Downey Jr and Gwyneth Paltrow Iron Man 1 — 3. Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow – Iron Man

Tony Stark and Pepper Potts became one of Marvel’s most reliable romantic pairings, which is funny considering Gwyneth Paltrow did not describe the kissing scenes as exactly electric. She has said kissing Robert Downey Jr. felt like kissing her brother, a behind-the-scenes detail that makes their polished MCU banter even more impressive. Somehow, the actors turned a sibling-coded vibe into years of believable superhero chemistry, which may be the real special effect. | © Marvel Studios

Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth The Hunger Games 1 — 4. Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth – The Hunger Games

Katniss and Gale were supposed to carry years of longing, loyalty, and dystopian heartbreak, but Liam Hemsworth had a more immediate problem during some of his kissing scenes with Jennifer Lawrence: her snack choices. He joked that she would show up after eating things like garlic or tuna, then casually mention it right before they had to kiss. Lawrence later said she was not doing it maliciously, which only makes the story feel more perfectly on-brand for her. | © Lionsgate

Scarlett Johansson and Matt Damon We Bought a Zoo 1 — 5. Scarlett Johansson and Matt Damon – We Bought a Zoo

Matt Damon has joked about the obvious absurdity of complaining over a screen kiss with Scarlett Johansson, but his *We Bought a Zoo* story comes with an onion sandwich twist. According to Damon, Johansson had eaten one before they had to shoot a close-up kiss, giving him just enough material to lovingly torment her afterward. He also made it clear the whole thing was more playful than tragic, which is why the anecdote lands as movie-set teasing rather than actual disaster. | © 20th Century Fox

Emma Watson and Rupert Grint Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 1 — 6. Emma Watson and Rupert Grint – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

The Ron and Hermione kiss had been building for nearly the entire *Harry Potter* saga, but Emma Watson and Rupert Grint were not exactly floating through it on clouds of romantic tension. Watson has described the scene as deeply awkward because she and Grint had grown up together, making the whole thing feel much closer to kissing a sibling than a love interest. The fandom got its long-awaited payoff; the actors got one very strange workday. | © Warner Bros.

Ryan Reynolds and Morena Baccarin Deadpool — 7. Ryan Reynolds and Morena Baccarin – Deadpool

*Deadpool* turned Wade and Vanessa’s romance into a chaotic blend of sweetness, filth, and holiday-themed bedroom comedy, but Morena Baccarin did not get the soft-focus version of kissing Ryan Reynolds. She joked that kissing him through the Deadpool makeup and mask felt like kissing a giant latex condom, which is both disgusting and exactly the kind of complaint that belongs to this franchise. The movie sold chemistry but the set apparently smelled like rubber and commitment. | © 20th Century Fox

Matthew Mc Conaughey and Kate Hudson Fools Gold 1 — 8. Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson – Fool’s Gold

Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson had already proved their rom-com chemistry before *Fool’s Gold*, but this reunion added ocean spray, rough conditions, and one famously unromantic kiss. Hudson later recalled a scene where McConaughey had snot on his face, while he defended himself by pointing out they were shooting in the water, not inside a perfume commercial. Their charm survived the movie, but the kiss itself sounds like tropical adventure filmmaking at its least seductive. | © Warner Bros.

Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon Water for Elephants 1 — 9. Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon – Water for Elephants

Robert Pattinson was deep in heartthrob territory when *Water for Elephants* arrived, but Reese Witherspoon’s kissing memory was not exactly a Twilight-adjacent fantasy. Pattinson admitted he had a bad cold during one romantic scene, with his nose running while Witherspoon was stuck in a wig and expected to keep the movie-star mood alive. Period drama may look elegant from the audience, but apparently one ill-timed illness can turn prestige romance into a hygiene obstacle course. | © 20th Century Fox

Blake Lively and Penn Badgley Gossip Girl 1 — 10. Blake Lively and Penn Badgley – Gossip Girl

Penn Badgley gave one of the most diplomatic messy answers possible when he called Blake Lively both his best and worst on-screen kiss. The best part came when they were actually dating during *Gossip Girl*; the worst came after the breakup, when Dan and Serena still had to keep the romance alive for the cameras. Their professionalism deserves credit, because nothing says workplace weirdness like revisiting your ex through a CW love story. | © Warner Bros. Television

Millie Bobby Brown and Finn Wolfhard Stranger Things 1 — 11. Millie Bobby Brown and Finn Wolfhard – Stranger Things

Millie Bobby Brown and Finn Wolfhard’s first *Stranger Things* kiss became one of those coming-of-age TV moments fans replayed endlessly, but Brown has been hilariously unsentimental about it. During a lie-detector interview, she called Wolfhard a lousy kisser and said he had not improved, while Wolfhard later leaned into the awkwardness of being young and inexperienced on camera. Eleven and Mike may have carried supernatural romance; the actors were surviving adolescent embarrassment in HD. | © Netflix

Kit Harington and Sophie Turner The Dreadful — 12. Kit Harington and Sophie Turner – The Dreadful

Kit Harington and Sophie Turner spent years as Jon Snow and Sansa Stark, which made their romantic pairing in *The Dreadful* feel cursed before the cameras even rolled. Turner has said their first kissing scene left them retching because their bond still felt so sibling-like after *Game of Thrones*. The film wanted gothic tension, forbidden feeling, and medieval unease; the actors brought all of that, just not in the way the script probably intended. | © Lionsgate

Orlando Bloom and Zoe Saldaña Haven — 13. Orlando Bloom and Zoe Saldaña – Haven

Orlando Bloom and Zoe Saldaña had the kind of early-2000s pairing that should have looked effortless on paper, but their *Haven* kiss became memorable for the opposite reason. Saldaña reportedly called it gross, and Bloom later fired back that he hated kissing her too, partly because her boyfriend was right there and the whole setup felt awkward. The movie aimed for dangerous island romance; the actors remembered the mechanics, the nerves, and the very unsexy logistics. | © Freestyle Releasing

Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan How I Met Your Mother 1 — 14. Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan – How I Met Your Mother

Marshall and Lily were written as one of sitcom television’s most affectionate couples, so Alyson Hannigan had to kiss Jason Segel a lot during *How I Met Your Mother*. The problem was Segel’s smoking habit, which Hannigan famously compared to kissing an ashtray, pushing him to try quitting so their scenes would be less brutal. Their on-screen marriage looked cozy and adorable; behind the scenes, fresh breath was doing some very heavy romantic lifting. | © 20th Century Fox Television

Sigourney Weaver and Ray Liotta Heartbreakers 1 — 15. Sigourney Weaver and Ray Liotta – Heartbreakers

*Heartbreakers* built its whole scam-comedy engine around fake seduction, bad marriages, and people pretending everything was sexier than it actually was, which makes Ray Liotta’s blunt confession fit the movie almost too well. When asked about his worst on-screen kiss, he pointed to Sigourney Weaver, giving the story a sharp little sting because their scenes are meant to play as messy, glamorous con-artist romance. The film sells the kiss as part of the game; Liotta remembered it as the part he would not exactly nominate for a lifetime achievement award. | © MGM

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Movie kisses are supposed to look effortless: soft lighting, perfect timing, maybe a swelling soundtrack doing half the work. Behind the scenes, though, some of Hollywood’s most famous on-screen romances were a lot less magical, with actors later admitting the kiss was awkward, gross, badly timed, or just painfully weird. From sibling-like co-stars to garlic breath, latex masks, childhood crushes, and full-blown set discomfort, these infamous kissing stories prove that chemistry on camera can be very convincing – even when the actors couldn’t wait for the director to yell cut.

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Movie kisses are supposed to look effortless: soft lighting, perfect timing, maybe a swelling soundtrack doing half the work. Behind the scenes, though, some of Hollywood’s most famous on-screen romances were a lot less magical, with actors later admitting the kiss was awkward, gross, badly timed, or just painfully weird. From sibling-like co-stars to garlic breath, latex masks, childhood crushes, and full-blown set discomfort, these infamous kissing stories prove that chemistry on camera can be very convincing – even when the actors couldn’t wait for the director to yell cut.