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'We Bought a Zoo' -

In the case of Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson's on-screen intimacy in the 2011 film 'We Bought a Zoo,' there wasn't anything particularly notable, except Damon described their kiss as "hell." Appearing in LADBible TV's 'Agree to Disagree' with 'Oppenheimer' co-star Emily Blunt, the actors were discussing whether they agree or disagree that you have to tell someone when they have bad breath. They both agreed that it was right to tell the person, though subtly, before a producer brought up the topic of bad breath in intimate scenes.

"I had to kiss Scarlett [Johansson]—had to kiss. Can you imagine how horrible that was for me?—but we did," Damon launched into his story, earning a jokingly hard time from Blunt about how bad it must have been to kiss Johansson's soft lips. "It was hell, ok?" Damon laughed and continued. "What happened was we did a shot before lunch and it was like this nice little two-shot that ended in the kiss. And it was really good. And we went to lunch and she and I both thought it was over."

That's where things took a turn. "She ate like an onion sandwich for lunch," Damon said. "And she came in and [We Bought a Zoo director] Cameron Crowe had set the camera up and it was like a tight shot of the kiss. And she goes, 'Oh [ ].' She goes, 'I literally just had I had like an onion sandwich. I thought we did this.'" He said he made fun of her breath and they just got it over with. He did ultimately clarify however, that usually, without the onion sandwiches, "her breath smells like roses."

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'Fear' -

Reese Witherspoon opened up about her experience filming the 1996 psychological thriller 'Fear,' directed by James Foley. Witherspoon wasn't even 20 years old when they started filming, and had asked for a stunt double to do her intimate scenes with co-star Mark Wahlberg, but her boundaries were not prioritized. "I didn't have control over it," she told Harper's Bazaar. "It wasn't explicit in the script that that's what was going to happen," she said, referring to a scene where they get intimate on a rollercoaster and the camera focuses on her face as she climaxes. "So that was something that I think the director thought of on his own and then asked me on set if I would do it, and I said no." However, Witherspoon ended up having to do the scene. "It wasn't a particularly great experience." While she says it didn't leave her traumatized, it was certainly a formative experience that has inspired her to advocate for change. 

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'Desperado' -

Salma Hayek’s breakout film ‘Desperado’ (1995), directed by Robert Rodriguez and co-starring Antonio Banderas, launched her career in many ways, but she has revealed it was also a traumatic experience for her.

In 2021, the actress appeared on podcast ‘Armchair Expert’ and emphasized that Rodriguez and Banderas “never put pressure on [her],” but nonetheless revealed that the love scene was a surprise to her, as it was not in the script. Hayek said the scene was brought to her attention after production began, but she agreed to do it on a closed set.

“When we were going to start shooting, I started to s o b,” Hayek said, explaining that she was afraid of Banderas, though he was "an absolute gentleman," because "he was very free. It scared me that for him it was like nothing."

"I was not letting go of the towel," Hayek said. "They would try to make me laugh. I would take it off for two seconds and start crying again. But we got through it." She added that part of her difficulty was that she kept thinking about her father and brother watching the film later. 

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'The Wolf of Wall Street' - Have you ever fantasized about making love on top of a pile of money? For famed actress Margot Robbie, it was less intimate and more painful. When she got up after filming, she revealed in an interview that her back was covered in thousands of tiny paper cuts. Ouch!

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'Masters of ***' - This hit TV show follows academic leaders in the field of intimate relations. So it should be all hot and heavy, right? Wrong. Lead actor Michael Sheen was suffering from a horrible case of food poisoning during filming. His costar Lizzy Caplan revealed that in between spicy scenes he was vomiting all over the set.

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'Last Tango In Paris' - Marlon Brando was infamous around Hollywood for having trouble memorizing his lines. When filming 'Last Tango In Paris' he suggested using costar Maria Schneider's butt as a teleprompter.

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'Superbad' - If you thought Christopher Mintz-Plasse's intimate scene in 'Superbad' was awkward, that's because it really was! During the time of filming, the actor was 17 years old and legally had to have his mother present. “She got there, and I had fake intercourse in front of her,” Mintz-Plasse said. “Afterwards we didn’t talk about it; we still don’t speak about that moment.”

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'Eyes Wide Shut' -

This iconic film starring then-celebrity couple Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise was originally meant to be much different. Director Stanley Kubrick intended the male role to go to Woody Allen or Steve Martin. However, the passion-filled film was clearly meant for stars with real-life spark!

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'Passengers' - This sci-fi thriller featured Jennifer Lawrence's first-ever intimate scene. The star revealed that she was so nervous that she got drunk right before filming. It also didn't help that her costar Chris Pratt was a married man!

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'Shameless' -

Everyone who has seen the hit TV show 'Shameless' knows just how often Emmy Rossum has to film love scenes. The star said, “We like it to be realistic but not real, but I wear something I call  'pad'… it’s kind of a little triangular panty liner that you stick to you,” she said in a very frank interview.

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'Life During Wartime' -

On the set of 'Life During Wartime' famed actress Allison Janney and her costar Michael Lerner got into a slippery situation. “We had to have (...) up against a wall and they started spraying us with glistening stuff to make us look sweaty, but no one seemed to realize that we were standing on a marble floor,” she said in an interview. “They said action and he … pulled me up against the wall and his feet slipped out from under him and he went crashing down on the floor. It was terrible, but it was one of those moments I’ll never forget.”

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'Love & Other Drugs' -

Anne Hathaway's film 'Love & Other Drugs' features several intense love scenes. The star explained that one time, she got a little ahead of herself on set. Discussing one scene she said, “I have to remove my trench coat and be without clothes underneath, and I thought we were filming, but it turned out we were just rehearsing and I got unnecessarily unclothed in front of a lot of people!” 

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'The Change-Up' - If anyone follows Ryan Reynolds, they know the actor has a great sense of humor. On the set of 'The Change-Up,' however, it was his costar Olivia Wilde who played the best pranks.  

In an interview Reynolds explained, “So in the scene she’s sitting there, and I take her top off, I take her bra off, and she has those pasties on, but she’s drawn these adorable little smiley faces on them. And I forget every line in the scene. Not just from this movie, from every movie I’ve done,” Reynolds said. 

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'Game of Thrones' - When filming the intense love scene between Mother of Dragons Emilia Clarke and Khal Drogo Jason Momoa, the actors decided to ease the tension with a hilarious "modesty sock." Rather than a simple covering, Momoa donned a bright pink fluffy garment.

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'Girls' - No one can say Allison Williams isn't a thoughtful actress! When shooting a love scene with her costar, she covered herself in vanilla ice cream in order to taste and smell like dessert!

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'The Tudors' - Henry Cavill is no stranger to awkward intimate scenes. The actor revealed in an interview that he found himself in a hard situation on set. “A girl had to be on top of me (...), and I hadn’t rearranged my stuff into a harmless position. (...),” Cavill said. “I had to apologize profusely afterwards.”

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'The Seven Year Itch' -

When you think of Marilyn Monroe, you probably remember her in a flowing white gown from the film 'The Seven Year Itch.' Turns out, that iconic scene has a dark backstory. Monroe was forced to film the 15-take shoot in front of over 5,000 New Yorkers who were howling at her.

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'Maps to the Stars' -

If you think Robert Pattinson is hot, this story will definitely affirm it! When filming 'Maps to the Stars' with Julianne Moore, Pattinson revealed things got uncomfortably heated! 

“I sweat like a crazy person,” he said in an interview. “I was trying to literally catch drops of sweat to stop them hitting her back! Afterwards she was like ‘Are you having a panic attack?’ It was so embarrassing.”

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'Fifty Shades of Grey' - The 'Fifty Shades' film franchise is filled with elaborate passion scenes. So, how did the actors retain a slight sense of modesty? Jamie Dornan claimed he had to wear a "wee bag," which would be fine except printed on the side was the label "Inmate #3."

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'The Legend of Tarzan' - Margot Robbie is one tough actress. Just ask her costar Alexander Skarsgård! While filming a love scene Robbie was instructed to playfully punch him, however, she hit him so hard he bruised.

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'Desperate Housewives' - To say it was a pleasure for Jesse Metcalfe to shoot a love scene with Eva Longoria may be an understatement. The actor revealed in a radio interview that after shooting he "needed a minute" to... relax.

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'Bridesmaids' - The opening scene of 'Bridesmaids' features Jon Hamm and Kristen Wiig in one of the funniest intimate scenes in film history. Hamm later revealed that during the entire shoot he was terrified of physically crushing his costar.  "I am not a small human being. I weigh at least 200 pounds [90 kilos] and I'm 6-foot-2 [1.88 m]," he said. "And Wiig is a twig; she's a skinny little thing. I told her, 'Just punch me in the side if I'm hurting you.'"

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'A Dangerous Method' - Keira Knightley is all business when it comes to love scenes. While filming 'A Dangerous Method' she told her costar Michael Fassbender, "I’ve got a security guard outside. You touch me and he’s gonna break your legs!"

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'True Blood' - Things definitely got awkward on set of the hit vampire series 'True Blood.' Lead actress Anna Paquin was directed through a spicy scene by her real life husband Stephen Moyer.

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'Crank 2' - Filming an intense scene in front of camera crews is awkward enough, let alone doing it in public! Jason Statham said his worst moment was in 'Crank 2' when he filmed without cothes in a crowded shopping mall.

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Kate Winslet - Famed actress Kate Winslet has filmed several intimate scenes throughout her career. However, somehow the experience never gets less weird. "I hate it! Listen make no mistake, I just get on it," Winslet shared. 

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'Basic Instinct' - Sharon Stone's role in 'Basic Instinct' undoubtedly changed the entertainment world forever. However, she didn't know it would! The star revealed that she was tricked into her famous underwear-less interrogation scene by a vengeful director.

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'Neighbors' - Sometimes even seasoned movie stars aren't camera ready. Dave Franco said that the morning before filming his intimate scene for 'Neighbors,' he woke up with a giant pimple on his butt!

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'The Last Man on Earth' - Kristen Schaal revealed just how close she got with her costar, Will Forte. “If you fart on your scene partner it’s the most intimate you can get," she said.

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'House of Lies' -

If anyone can find the humor in something awkward, it's Kristen Bell. The star filmed a love scene with Adam Brody while she was seven months pregnant. Brody said they "sandwiched" her baby in between their stomachs.

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'At Any Price' -

Zac Efron got the chance to film a spicy scene with his childhood crush Heather Graham. Rather than keeping it cool, Efron revealed he was completely nervous and shaking!

See also: Iconic movie moments that were improvised

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