Even the most perfect first kiss scenes in
movies have interesting stories behind them.
From unexpected difficulties capturing the
big moment on camera, to on-set encounters
that were just plain awkward for everyone
involved, here's a look at the true story
behind some of cinema's most iconic first
kiss scenes.
First kiss scenes don't get much more iconic
than Jack and Rose's sunset smooch on the
bow of the R.M.S. Titanic. The picture perfection
of the Titanic scene was largely a result
of the magnificent sunset that the characters
were bathed in, which was a complete stroke
of luck for the filmmakers, who had to rush
to capture the "I'm flying" scene before the
sun would set. However, credit is due to Leonardo
DiCaprio and Kate Winslet for committing to
the romance of the moment, despite the fact
that off-screen, they were anything but lovers.
In fact, DiCaprio spent much of his time on
the set trying to gross his co-star out.
Winslet would later remember,
"We shot that scene... about four times, and
to be honest with you, by the end of it, we
were just like 'Ugh, we can't kiss each other
anymore.' It just got so boring, and I had
his makeup on me, and he had my makeup on
him."
In other words, as swoon-worthy as the scene
is on-screen, it was just another grueling
day at work for the stars involved.
We've seen plenty of superheroes kiss their
leading ladies, but never quite like what
happens in Spider-Man. After rescuing Mary
Jane from a group of would-be muggers, Spider-Man
hangs upside-down in the dripping rain and
lets her unmask him just enough to plant one
on him in thanks. Little does she know this
is Peter Parker in disguise — he's been
carrying a torch for her forever, so for him,
it's a dream come true.
"Who are you?"
"You know who I am."
"I do?"
"Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man!"
For Tobey Maguire, however, the moment wasn't
nearly as lovey-dovey as it looked.
He told the BBC that, while co-star Kirsten
Dunst did most of the screen work in the shot,
he was suffering in silence. He later remembered,
"Because of all the water pouring down I couldn't
breathe. The rain was pouring up my nose.
Then she was kissing me and I couldn't breathe
out of my mouth! So, I had to hold my breath
while I was kissing her. I would sneak little
breaths out of the corner of my mouth."
Who knew a kissing scene could be the riskiest
bit of an action movie?
Nothing says "let's make out" quite like...destroying
horcruxes?
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part
2, Hermione and Ron finally decided to take
their friendship to the next level after years
of hiding their affection for one another,
even from themselves. Once they defy the odds
by effectively destroying Helga Hufflepuff's
cup in the Chamber of Secrets, though, a wave
literally washes over them and they decide
to finally go there with a kiss.
For Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, who'd been
working together since childhood, it was simply
awkward. As Watson described to MTV News,
"I was like, 'Do I use tongue? Do I not use
tongue? Do I cover my teeth? What do I do?
Do I go first? Oh my God!' I ended up pouncing
on Rupert. I was so desperate to get it over.
After the first take he was like, 'Whoa, there!
Where did that come from?' I was like, 'Sorry!'"
Luckily for everyone, that desperation seemed
to have a different meaning from the audience's
perspective, so all's well that ends well.
Rarely are screen couples' first kisses this
reserved. In Twilight, vampire Edward has
to be extraordinarily restrained when kissing
Bella because his bone-crushing bloodlust
could do a lot of damage to this tiny human
girl if he's not careful.
So, the two take it maddeningly slow before
Edward leaps away from the bed. And while
it seems like all of this is purposeful for
the narrative, Robert Pattinson has hinted
he wasn't happy with how things turned out.
He told MTV News that out of the entire Saga,
it's the one scene he would re-do, because
he had trouble pinning down exactly when to
pull away.
When it comes to stellar adaptations of William
Shakespeare's tragic romance, Baz Luhrmann's
modernized take with Romeo + Juliet is not
to be missed. The film helped jettison Leonardo
DiCaprio into true heartthrob status, thanks
to his dreamy depiction of the title hero,
and Claire Danes became a household name thanks
to her blissed-out leading lady routine.
The young lovers steal a forbidden kiss just
inches away from being caught in the act — it's
all so torrid and innocent at the same time.
The characters share some kiss chemistry that
simply could not be feigned. Or could it?
Not only was the set of the film riddled with
problems, including rampant illnesses suffered
by the cast and crew, but when they first
began filming this scene they reportedly encountered
numerous unexpected hurdles.
First Danes accidentally broke off a piece
of the set. Then, Luhrmann told the young
actors to leap into their first kiss with
passion, so they took the advice a little
too seriously — crashing heads and exploding
into giggle fits. It apparently took around
two dozen takes to get it right — and each
one required the prodding from Luhrmann to
get the two friends to stop thumb-wrestling
and start kissing.
Cartoon dogs can have serious schmaltz, too!
Disney's classic pooch pic Lady and the Tramp
certainly features one of the more memorable
cinematic kisses of all time, when the title
canines share some spaghetti outside of the
Italian restaurant and find themselves at
either end of the same noodle. Lady bashfully
turns away after their lips touch, embarrassed,
but the Tramp nose-nudges the last meatball
to her just as the cooks' rendition of "Bella
Notte" starts to soften, and it's all just
so sweet and tender and classic.
Believe it or not, the scene almost didn't
make the cut. In an interview with Yahoo Movies,
Disney archivist Steven Vagnini revealed,
"Walt [Disney] wasn't convinced that that
would be a very clean-cut scene. As you can
imagine, if you have two pets and they eat
a plate of spaghetti, it's hard to envision
that being too graceful."
Luckily, animator Frank Thomas changed his
mind by rendering a mock-up of what the scene
might look like, and the rest is movie history.
It takes an entire movie for poor Samantha
to finally get an ounce of enjoyment out of
her sixteenth birthday, thanks to her inattentive
family and the fracas surrounding her sister's
wedding.
By the end of Sixteen Candles, though, her
biggest wish comes true. She ends up sharing
a kiss with her high school's resident dreamboat,
Jake Ryan.
Actor Michael Schoeffling almost didn't get
the leading man role, however, and, if it
were up to Molly Ringwald, he wouldn't have...and
the final kiss would've been a lot steamier.
She revealed to Entertainment Weekly that
she was originally rooting for Viggo Mortensen
to win the role after he made her, quote,
"weak in the knees" during their own kiss
during the audition process.
Few romantic dramedies have as lasting an
impact as Love Actually, and when it comes
to the movie's most meme-able scene, the unrequited
love profession by Mark to Juliet has to take
the cake.
After an untold amount of time spent pining
for his best friend's wife, Mark finally musters
the courage to confess his feelings to her
by showing up at her doorstep with a series
of hand-made posters.
Although it seems like less of a last-ditch
effort to win her over and more of a desperate
decision to just get it out of his system
already, it does pay off with a kiss. A pity
kiss, of course, but a kiss nonetheless.
Even Andrew Lincoln looks back on the ultra-memorable
screen kiss with a little bit of disdain,
however, as he viewed his own character to
be more of a scoundrel than a hopeless romantic.
He reportedly even asked writer-director Richard
Curtis,
"Do you not think we're sort of borderline
stalker territory here?"
Even if it wasn't the most desirable way for
a real-life guy to declare his love, it sure
did make for one unforgettable movie moment.
No matter how many times we watch A Walk to
Remember, it will repeatedly break our hearts.
The movie was also Mandy Moore's big break
into acting. When she starred in the now-famous
love story, she was only 17 years old, and
one of the first scenes she had to shoot involved
some onscreen smooching with co-star, and
more experienced actor, Shane West.
Moore, unfortunately, found it extremely awkward,
no matter how adorable it was to the rest
of us. She explained to Entertainment Tonight,
"You have to kiss this person that you don't
know very well and you don't even have a friendship
with yet, so that's always awkward, in front
of, you know, 200 people."
Hey, that's why they call it acting!
On the other hand, West's side of the story
was this:
"You got all these lights blaring off of your
eyes and you actually do see fireworks. [But]
I made sure to tell her that I wasn't going
to do anything that would make her feel weird."
Needless to say, it seemed a bit simpler for
him to jump right into the kissing scenes.
Waiting for Hilary Duff to kiss heartthrob
Chad Michael Murray at the end of A Cinderella
Story was like waiting for rain in a drought.
These actors, on the other hand, had to wait
only three days to film their famous first
kiss up in the bleachers.
Duff later explained to People that she had
only worked with her co-star on one of those
three days, so she wasn't feeling super prepared
for the iconic scene.
To make it less awkward in front of quite
a big camera crew, Duff revealed that the
two actually practiced locking lips in a trailer
before the big moment. She told People,
"It was much better than my real first kiss,
but like, probably way more awkward because
there were 270 people watching."
There may be 10 things that Julia Stiles'
character, Kat, hates about bad boy Patrick
in 10 Things I Hate About You, but there is
one thing she does like. When asked by Cosmopolitan
who the best kisser in the business is, Stiles'
response was the man who played Patrick — Heath
Ledger.
"Do I know you?"
Their iconic first kiss in the film, which
takes place in a pretty unexpected place and
looks like the most fun date ever, left more
than just paintballs flying. Sparks seemed
to fly too as soon as Stiles' character, Kat,
realizes that there may just be more love
than hate involved when it comes to her feelings
for him. Stiles later revealed that it was
actually her first on-screen kiss, and it
was the feature role that ended up catapulting
her career.
Kissing is gross when you're just a kid, so
when young Anna Chlumsky had to plant one
on her co-star Macaulay Culkin in the movie
My Girl, they were both less than enthusiastic.
Culkin spoke about the experience he shared
with his ten-year-old co-star during an appearance
on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, saying,
"We got along very well, but at the same time,
it was also, like, this is so embarrassing."
"Here, practice on your arm like this."
While the two kid characters are pretty curious
in the film when it comes to kissing, there
was a completely different story behind the
scenes. The two little stars made a pretty
cute onscreen couple to audiences everywhere,
but it turns out that young Chlumsky felt
the exact same way as her co-star about the
movie's depiction of young romance. According
to Entertainment Weekly, her response to their
first onscreen kiss was simply "yuck."
Zac Efron has been a part of countless kisses
on screen, and in 2017, he got the opportunity
to snatch a smooch from actress Zendaya in
The Greatest Showman. He later revealed it
was his favorite on-screen kiss he'd ever
been a part of.
"This might be my favorite kiss, ever, just
because at this point, for these characters,
it's so built up. The tension between them
is so strong."
However, Zendaya, on the other hand, felt
like she needed to clarify the facts for fans,
amid rumors swirling about a real-life romance
between the two stars.
"We try to take ourselves out of it and become
these two characters."
She also pointed out to E! News that the movie
makes you wait for the kiss to finally happen.
Romantic tension and missed opportunities
stack up to the point that when they do finally
connect, it's a thrilling moment for the audience
and characters both.
"It doesn't happen. It never happens. They
can't make it work. So I think when it does
happen—"
"The payoff—"
"It's special!"
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