Love Scenes Actors Regret Filming - Watch Full Video

Set in swimming pools, libraries, spaceships and pretty much anywhere else you can think of, audiences love watching characters act out wildly unrealistic love scenes. But the less-than-thrilling truth behind filming a Hollywood love scene is that it involves choreography, trust, intrusive make-up, legal contracts, and a whole lot of awkwardness.

For this reason, most actors agree that shooting a romantic moment is one of the most uncomfortable parts of their job. Some even refuse to shoot them altogether, or insist on toning down the more sensational aspects. As a famous example, after getting her big break playing a sex worker in Pretty Woman, Julia Roberts now refuses to do nude scenes and anything else she deems too risqué. For instance, she asked to de-raunchify a love scene between her and Clive Owen's characters in the 2009 thriller Duplicity, saying that the hot and heavy stuff is "not really what I do."

But not every actor has approached love scenes with Roberts' reluctance — or her star power. And unfortunately, that means that some look back on certain steamy scenes with a pang of regret. Whether it's down to the wrong scene partner, the wrong setting, or even injury, these are the love scenes actors regret filming, and why they'd take them back if they could.

Jennifer Lawrence felt guilty over her Passengers sex scene

Jennifer Lawrence has had romantic scenes with several of Hollywood's dreamiest leading men, including Bradley Cooper, Liam Hemsworth and Nicholas Hoult. She's won a highly coveted Best Kiss MTV Movie Award (and been nominated twice more.) But 2016's sci-fi drama Passengers was the first time Lawrence shot a love scene that went beyond kissing, opposite another famously handsome co-star, Chris Pratt. And Lawrence wasn't entirely comfortable with the premise.

"It was weird — and everything was done right, it wasn't anybody's fault, nobody did anything wrong. It's just a bizarre experience," she said. Her discomfort stemmed from guilt that Pratt was married (to actress Anna Faris) at the time. Lawrence recounted, "It was going to be my first time even kissing a married man, and guilt is like the worst feeling in your stomach."

The scene came back to haunt Lawrence months after Passengers had left theaters. Pratt and Faris announced that they were separating in August 2017, and unfounded rumors started spreading that Lawrence was somehow involved. Lawrence called it the weirdest rumor she'd heard about herself, pointing out that the split came two years after they'd shot Passengers together. Fortunately Faris took the high road, writing in her memoir Unqualified that she and Lawrence are on friendly terms, and that Lawrence, "was apologetic even though she didn't need to be, because she hadn't done anything wrong."

Salma Hayek was bullied into performing a love scene

Salma Hayek fought for years to tell Frida Kahlo's story on the big screen. So she was overjoyed when Harvey Weinstein's studio Miramax agreed to fund the project, with Hayek starring and producing.

But in a 2017 op-ed, Hayek wrote that Weinstein started sexually harassing her, becoming enraged when she turned down his advances. After it became clear that she would not give in to his demands, Hayek said that Weinstein tried to destroy her Kahlo biopic.

According to Hayek, Weinstein told her five weeks into filming that she had to appear in a fully nude love scene with another actress, or he would cancel Frida. Hayek felt she'd exhausted all other options and shot the scene, but it took a mental toll on her. On the day of shooting, she had what she describes as a nervous breakdown: "My body began to shake uncontrollably, my breath was short and I began to cry and cry, unable to stop". It wasn't that she was uncomfortable about acting an intimate scene with another woman: It was that she felt forced into it by Weinstein.

Hayek was nominated for multiple awards for her portrayal of Kahlo, and became the first Mexican actress nominated for the Best Actress Oscar. A spokesperson for Weinstein denied Hayek's version of events. In March 2020, Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison for sex crimes against two different women.

Margot Robbie does not recommend trying this at home

Now she's an Oscar-nominated actor, DC super villain and owner of a production company focused on magnifying female filmmakers. But the first time many American viewers met Margot Robbie was when she played Naomi Lapaglia, the fictionalized second wife of real-life conman Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street.

The film required Robbie to perform several memorable love scenes with DiCaprio, but the one that left a mark — literally — involved rolling around in piles of fake money. Robbie said it caused an unexpected injury. "I got a million paper cuts on my back from all that money!" she said, adding that the crew told her, "You look like you've been whipped a million times." Her takeaway: "It's not as glamorous as it sounds. If anyone is ever planning on having sex on top of a pile of cash: don't."

There was another love scene in the film that posed different kinds of challenges on set. If you've seen Wolf of Wall Street, you can probably guess that it's the one in the nursery. Robbie said she had to perform those moves (and lines) in front of an all-male crew of 30 — plus DiCaprio — for 17 hours in a very cramped bedroom. She described it as "very weird," but said, "you have to bury the embarrassment and absurdity, really deep, and fully commit." But stay away from fake money.