Emotions can run high while filming a movie, especially when actors play love interests. A bad first impression, a wrong remark, or drama occurring in one’s personal life are some scenarios that can cause tension on set…
On the flip side, sometimes the lines between fiction and reality blur, leading to both on and off-screen romance for the leading actors. Here are 8 romantic movie leads who hated each other IRL and 7 who actually fell in love:
Grey admitted that Swayze ultimately convinced her to change her mind about his casting during a screen test, “He pulled me down the hall and said to me, ‘I love you, I love you and I’m so sorry. I know you don’t want me to do the movie.'”
Despite his apology, the pair’s rift wasn’t fully mended while filming the 1987 classic. Grey wrote, “The sexual chemistry between Baby and Johnny was everything, and I was not feeling it. How was I supposed to trust this guy? I couldn’t help but sense Patrick’s impatience with me in rehearsals. It freaked me out to feel I’d finally gotten it with Kenny [Ortega, the film’s choreographer] and was ready to go, only to find out that with Patrick, I didn’t have it at all.” She added, “The tension between us fed a certain real-life struggle and energy into the movie.”
In 2022, Affleck spoke to EW, and described the entire experience as a “perfect storm.”
The now 52-year-old stated, “If the reaction to Gigli hadn’t happened, I probably wouldn’t have ultimately decided, ‘I don’t really have any other avenue but to direct movies,’ which has turned out to be the real love of my professional life. And I did get to meet Jennifer, the relationship with whom has been really meaningful to me in my life.”
“So in those ways, it’s a gift,” he concluded.
4. FELL IN LOVE: Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell
5. HATED EACH OTHER: Marilyn Monroe and Tony Curtis
Monroe responded to Curtis’s 1958 comments in an interview: “You’ve read there was some actor who once said that kissing me was like kissing Hitler. Well, I think that’s his problem. If I have to do intimate love scenes with somebody who really has these kinds of feelings toward me, then my fantasy can come into play. In other words, out with him, in with my fantasy. He was never there.”
In the book MM – Personal, it was revealed that a handwritten note was discovered in Monroe’s archives. The Gentlemen Prefer Blondes actor once again addressed Curtis’s ‘kissing Hitler’ remark, writing: “There is only way he could comment on my sexuality and I’m afraid he has never had the opportunity!”
However, in later interviews, Curtis claimed that he had never uttered the “Hitler” remark or that if he did, he was only joking. In 2008, he revealed to the Daily Mail that kissing Monroe “was awful,” and added, “She nearly choked me to death by deliberately sticking her tongue down my throat into my windpipe.”
6. FELL IN LOVE: Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling
The 43-year-old added, “There were moments on The Place Beyond the Pines where we were pretending to be a family, and I didn’t really want it to be pretend anymore.”
In January 2024, during his acceptance speech for the Kirk Douglas Award for Excellence in Film, he once again expressed his gratitude, “I got to meet the girl of my dreams, Eva Mendes. I have two dream children. I dreamed of one day making movies and now movies have made my life a dream.”
7. HATED EACH OTHER: Meryl Streep and Dustin Hoffman
At the time of filming, life was imitating art for Hoffman. The Tootsie star revealed, “I’m sure I was acting out on her [Streep] throughout the movie. Stuff that I was feeling toward the wife that I was divorcing in real life.”
He later expressed remorse for any misconduct during this period and stated: “I have the utmost respect for women and feel terrible that anything I might have done could have put her in an uncomfortable situation. I am sorry. It is not reflective of who I am.”
8. FELL IN LOVE: Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth
9. HATED EACH OTHER: Sharon Stone and Billy Baldwin
Baldwin fired back to these claims in a tweet, “Not sure why Sharon Stone keeps talking about me all these years later? Does she still have a crush on me or is she still hurt after all these years because I shunned her advances?”
“I have so much dirt on her it would make her head spin but I’ve kept quiet.” He continued, while claiming that he had asked Evans to “allow me to choreograph the final sex scene…so I wouldn’t have to kiss Sharon”.
He ended the tweet with a threat, “Wonder if I should write a book and tell the many, many disturbing, kinky and unprofessional tales about Sharon? That might be fun.”
10. FELL IN LOVE: Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield
Although the couple called it quits in 2015, they have remained close friends. In a 2016 interview with Vogue, Stone revealed, [He’s] someone I still love very much.”
When Garfield appeared on Vanity Fair’s Little Gold Men podcast in 2017, the Academy Award winner discussed how proud he was of his ex: “I’m her biggest fan as an artist. I’m constantly inspired by her work. I’m constantly inspired by how she handles and holds herself. So, for me it’s been bliss to be able to watch her success and watch her bloom into the actress she is.”
11. HATED EACH OTHER: Jennifer Aniston and Jay Mohr
12. FELL IN LOVE: Jenna Dewan and Channing Tatum
13. HATED EACH OTHER: Richard Gere and Deborah Winger
Insecurity about her own acting skills was one of the reasons she would lash out on set. Winger admitted she “took it out on everybody.”
She also didn’t shy away from revealing how she has always felt about the film, “It’s no secret that I didn’t love ‘An Officer and A Gentleman’ then, and I certainly don’t love it now, so at least no one could accuse me of being inconsistent.”
In a 2021 interview with the Telegraph, Winger addressed her infamous comment that Gere was a “brick wall costar,” stating, “I probably could have come up with something nicer.”
However, she claims Gere has never let her forget the insult, “[When] I run into him he says, ‘Are you still saying those things about me?'”, she admitted.
Gere has never publicly responded to Winger’s claims.
14. HATED EACH OTHER: Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling
15. FELL IN LOVE: Also, Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling
However, McAdams and Gosling eventually ended their relationship in 2007. A few months after the couple called it quits, Gosling said in an interview with GQ, “I mean, God bless The Notebook. It introduced me to one of the great loves of my life.”
He continued, “But people do Rachel and me a disservice by assuming we were anything like the people in that movie. Rachel and my love story is a hell of a lot more romantic than that.”
The Barbie actor did not discuss the specifics of their breakup, stating, “The only thing I remember is we both went down swingin’ and we called it a draw.”
