4. Neal McDonough and Virginia Madsen
Neal McDonough has been very open about one rule in his acting career: no kissing or any other intimate scenes unless it’s with his lovely wife. That became a major issue when he was cast opposite Virginia Madsen in the ABC drama Scoundrels. Only a few days into filming, the producers had to replace him for that very reason. McDonough later explained that playing violence on-screen feels fake to him, but intimate scenes feel too real. It has reportedly cost him work, but he has stuck to that boundary.
5. Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington had amazing chemistry in The Pelican Brief, but oddly enough, they never actually kissed despite their characters’ romantic relationship. Roberts later said she absolutely would have kissed Washington and joked that it was his idea to cut the scenes. Washington’s reasoning was more serious. After getting hate messages from Black female viewers over an interracial kiss in a different movie, he decided to be very selective about his romantic scenes. He explained that Black women were rarely shown as objects of desire in film, and they were his core audience.
6. Lindsay Lohan and Charlie Sheen
During Scary Movie 5, Lindsay Lohan refused to kiss Charlie Sheen because she didn’t want to be connected to his very wild reputation. The production allegedly tried to make the scene happen anyway, but they had to use a body double for some of the kissing shots. The funny part is that Sheen apparently did not take it personally and even helped Lohan financially when she was dealing with tax problems.