Hollywood actors who famously refused to film kissing scenes with their co-stars

The You star felt so uncomfortable with filming intimate scenes on the set of the thriller series that he asked the show’s creator to axe them altogether in the fourth season.

“I asked Sera Gamble, ‘Can I just do no more intimacy scenes?’ This is actually a decision I’d made before I took the show,” Penn shared on his Podcrushed podcast.

“I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it publicly, but one of the main things was, like, do I want to put myself back on a career path where I’m just always the romantic lead? Fidelity in every relationship, and especially my marriage, is really important to me,” he added. 

The actor has been married to Domino Kirke since 2017. Thankfully, You‘s writers were more than happy to accommodate his request.

Neal is a Hollywood staple best known for starring in Band of Brothers, Minority Report and Justified. 

However, his career began to fizzle after word got around Tinseltown that he refused to kiss any co-stars due to his Christian faith, and Neal even lost out on a role in Scoundrels as a result.

“I was [surprised], and it was a horrible situation for me,” he told Closer of being let go from the show. 

“After that, I couldn’t get a job because everybody thought I was this religious zealot. I am very religious. I put God and family first, and me second. That’s what I live by.”

“It was hard for a few years. But I was not going to lose the fight. And it worked. My career has been phenomenal,” he added. 

“I won’t kiss any other woman because these lips are meant for one woman.” He has been married to South African model Ruvé Robertson since 2003, and the pair share five children.

Former child actor Kirk Cameron is fiercely devoted to his wife, Chelsea Noble, whom he married in 1991, so much so that he found a way around kissing his co-stars on set.  

“I have a commitment not to kiss any other woman,” he told Today. Instead of Kirk kissing actress Erin Bethea while filming Fireproof, Chelsea stepped in as her body double for a makeout scene. 

“So when I’m kissing my wife, we’re actually husband and wife honouring marriage behind the scenes,” Kirk added. “Marriage is a very special and sacred thing to us.”

The ’00s star flat-out refused to plant one on Charlie Sheen while filming their 2013 flick Scary Movie 5, so the crew had to bring in a body double to create movie magic. 

Lindsay was reportedly concerned about Charlie’s dental health, and the pair both signed release forms confirming they weren’t sporting any cold sores.

Luke was starring in the hit HBO series True Blood when he vanished from the screen after season six. 

Although it has never been confirmed, the actor reportedly refused to kiss his male co-star, Nelsan Ellis, while filming the show’s seventh season. 

Notably, the actor’s publicist assured fans that Luke left the series due to scheduling issues, though HBO cited “the creative direction of the character”.

However, Nelsan had some choice words about the matter during an interview with Vulture.

“I can’t approach a character with judgment. 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.”

Denzel Washington knows his audience well. The Oscar winner even had a kissing scene written out of The Pelican Brief, his 1993 film co-starring Julia Roberts, due to the potential reaction of Black women to their interracial kiss.  

“Black women are not often seen as objects of desire on film. They have always been my core audience,” he told Newsweek.

His hesitancy reportedly stemmed from a screen test of his 1989 film The Mighty Quinn, which earned boos from the audience after he kissed actress Mimi Rogers.

Julia hit back at the idea that she refused to kiss him during an interview.

“I have taken so much s*** over the years about not kissing Denzel in that film. Don’t I have a pulse? Of course I wanted to kiss Denzel. It was his idea to take the damn scenes out,” she said. 

One of Will Smith’s biggest career regrets is his refusal to kiss his co-star, Anthony Michael Hall, while filming the 1993 flick Six Degrees of Separation, as he told Entertainment Weekly.

Rather than lock lips with Anthony, Will requested a body double at the last minute, with his decision being fuelled by insecurity.

“It was very immature on my part. I was thinking, ‘How are my friends in Philly going to think about this?'” he told the outlet.

“I wasn’t emotionally stable enough to artistically commit to that aspect of the film. This was a valuable lesson for me. Either you do it, or you don’t.”