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:
1.HATED EACH OTHER: Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze
Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze did, indeed, not have “the time of their life” on the set of Dirty Dancing.
In his 2010 memoir, The Time of My Life, Swayze revealed that he thought Grey was immature during filming, “She’d slip into silly moods, forcing us to do scenes over and over. She seemed particularly emotional, sometimes bursting into tears if someone criticized her.”
Grey told her side of the story 12 years later in her memoir, Out of the Corner, writing that her reaction to Swayze’s casting in Dirty Dancing was, “‘Please, no. Not him. Anybody else. Please!'”
Artisan Entertainment / ©Artisan Entertainment/Courtesy Everett Collection
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.”
2.FELL IN LOVE: Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck
Lopez and Affleck first met in 2002 on the set of the movie Gigli. Although they didn’t go public with their romance until the following year.
During a 2024 interview with Variety, Lopez revealed her initial reaction to Affleck at one of their first table reads, “They did a read through of the whole thing and I remember just walking in. I think he was outside smoking a cigarette, and I saw him and we just talked for a minute and I sat down and we did the read through.”
The “Let’s Get Loud” singer recalled, “I don’t remember a whole bunch more about it, but I remember being on the set with him every day and loving it.”
Columbia Pictures / ©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
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.
3.HATED EACH OTHER: Julia Roberts and Nick Nolte
Although the duo starred in the 1994 rom-com I Love Trouble, there was more trouble than love behind the scenes. During filming, Roberts sat down with the New York Times to discuss the movie and her other upcoming films. When asked about Nolte as a co-star, she replied, “From the moment I met him, we sort of gave each other a hard time, and naturally, we get on each other’s nerves.” She elaborated, stating that Nolte can be “completely charming and very nice,” but “he’s also completely disgusting. He’s going to hate me for saying this, but he seems go out of his way to repel people. He’s a kick.”
In a 2022 interview with Insider, Nolte was asked if he had reached out to Roberts in the 28 years since the rom-com was filmed, “No, I haven’t. Though it’s buried, [the hatchet]. I mean, it was absurd what we went through. It was partly my fault and a little bit of hers. Julia got married [to singer and actor Lyle Lovett] at the beginning of that film and it was one of those things where I just approached it all wrong.”
Buena Vista Pictures / ©Buena Vista Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
4.FELL IN LOVE: Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell
Although the Hollywood power couple initially met in 1966, it wasn’t until Russell’s audition for the 1984 romantic drama Swing Shift, which Hawn was already starring in, that things began heating up between them.
In a 2017 appearance on Conan, Russell revealed he was “severely hungover” during his audition and put his “worst foot forward” while reading with Hawn. “I didn’t know Goldie at all outside of having worked with her many years before,” the Tombstone actor recalled. “I just didn’t know in my mind what I was going to see. She had a great body, and so the first that came out was ‘Man, you got a great figure.’ And it kind of came out quickly and it could’ve been wrong and she said, ‘Why thank you.'”
The duo had their first date shortly after (which was a wild adventure in itself) and have stayed together for 41 years.
Warner Bros / ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
5.HATED EACH OTHER: Marilyn Monroe and Tony Curtis
Curtis and Monroe, who played lovers in 1959’s “Some Like It Hot,” didn’t even like each other behind the scenes.
According to Maurice Zolotow’s biography, Marilyn Monroe, an infamous event occurred one evening in a screening room, when someone told Curtis, “You seem to like kissing Marilyn,” to which Curtis loudly responded, “It’s like kissing Hitler!”
Silver Screen Collection / Getty Images
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
Though Mendes and Gosling are extremely private about their relationship, they have occasionally spoken about working together. In an April 2023 Instagram post, Mendes clarified a long-held rumor about her and her husband’s first meeting: “We did not meet on set [The Place Beyond the Pines]. The magic started way before, but here’s a little magic captured on camera. Gracias to the incredible director Derek Cianfrance.”
The following month, Gosling spoke to GQ about the ways Mendes changed his life, “I wasn’t thinking about kids before I met her. But after I met Eva, I realized that I just didn’t want to have kids without her.”
Focus Features / ©Focus Features/Courtesy Everett Collection
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
In a 2018 interview with the New York Times, Streep revealed that her Kramer vs. Kramer co-star, Dustin Hoffman, crossed a line during their very first take, “This is tricky because when you’re an actor, you’re in a scene, you have to feel free. I’m sure that I have inadvertently hurt people in physical scenes. But there’s a certain amount of forgiveness in that. But this was my first movie, and it was my first take in my first movie, and he just slapped me. And you see it in the movie. It was overstepping.”
She concluded, “But I think those things are being corrected in this moment. And they’re not politically corrected; they’re fixed. They will be fixed, because people won’t accept it anymore. So that’s a good thing.”
Columbia Pictures / ©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
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
Miley Cyrus and now ex-husband Liam Hemsworth met and fell in love on the set of The Last Song. In a September 2023 TikTok, Cyrus revealed, “In 2008, I needed to do another feature film for Disney and I didn’t want it to be a part of Hannah Montana. Once we had written the screenplay, it was time to audition all the guys who would play Will, my boyfriend in the movie. And we had gotten it down from thousands to the final three, and Liam was a part of that final three.”
The Flowers singer continued, “I think one of the elements that made that movie feel so special was it was watching two very young people fall in love with each other, which was happening in real time and in real life, so the chemistry was undeniable. And that was the beginning of a long 10-year relationship.”
Walt Disney Co. / ©Walt Disney Co./Courtesy Everett Collection
9.HATED EACH OTHER: Sharon Stone and Billy Baldwin
In her 2021 autobiography, The Beauty of Living Twice, Stone recalled that she was told to sleep with Sliver costar Billy Baldwin to improve his performance in the film. She stated that one day, when she “should’ve been on set,” she was told to meet producer Robert Evans in his office to discuss her chemistry with Baldwin.
“[Evan’s] running around his office in his sunglasses, explaining to me that he slept with Ava Gardner and I should sleep with Billy Baldwin, because if I slept with Billy Baldwin, Billy Baldwin’s performance would get better. And we needed Billy to get better in the movie, because that was the problem.” She continued, “If I could sleep with Billy, then we would have chemistry on-screen, and if I would just have sex with him then that would save the movie.”
Stone refused and was shamed for it, “And the real problem in the movie was me because I was so uptight, and so not like a real actress, who could just f*** him and get things back on track. And the real problem is that I was such a tight ass.”
Paramount / ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection
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
Before Zendaya and Tom Holland, there was Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield. The pair met on set and fell in love while shooting The Amazing Spider-Man in 2011.
In June 2012, Garfield confessed to MTV News that he instantly connected to Stone, “We got on really well as people, in between [takes]. That was the fun stuff: In between, we’d just mess around and I felt, ‘Ah, this is different.’ I wasn’t really aware of what was happening in the screen test. She keeps you on your toes and that wakes you up. That was the beginning.”
He went on to describe how overjoyed he was when Stone accepted the role, “Obviously I was so happy that she got the role and decided to do it. Those are the days I’d look forward to, you know? For [my character] Peter as well, because Peter goes through some horrible stuff in the movie. There’s some joy to be had when experiencing his first love.”
Columbia Pictures / ©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
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
Mohr and Aniston starred together in the 1997 romantic comedy Picture Perfect. However, things were anything but perfect behind the scenes. During a 2010 interview with Elle, Mohr was asked about his most awkward interaction with a female celebrity; he responded, “Being on the set of a movie where the leading woman was unhappy with my presence and made it clear from day one.”
“I hadn’t done many movies, and even though they screen-tested some pretty famous guys, I somehow snaked into the leading role. The actress said, ‘No way! You’ve got to be kidding me!’ Loudly. Between takes. To other actors on set. I would literally go to my mom’s house and cry.”
Although, at the time of the interview, he refused to confirm whether it was Aniston or not. Two years later, during an episode of his podcast “Mohr Stories,” Mohr claimed Aniston had been furious when he was cast, “As she’s walking toward us to walk past us, she’s pointing to [co-star] Illeana Douglas and she goes, ‘Six guys they screen tested. Six!’ … And then points at me and goes, ‘The one f*cking guy I hate, that’s the guy they hire. Him!'”
Aniston has never publicly addressed Mohr’s claims.
Oscar Abolafia/Everett Collection
12.FELL IN LOVE: Jenna Dewan and Channing Tatum
Dewan and Tatum first met in 2005 while filming Step Up. The two, who played couple Tyler and Nora, turned fiction into reality while shooting the movie. In a 2013 interview with ELLE, Tatum revealed that when he and Dewan met, he wasn’t ready for anything serious, as he had recently gotten out of a longterm relationship: “I was trying to run from what I knew Jenna was — not someone I was just going to date. But one of my buddies was like, ‘What are you doing, man? She’s dope.’ That night I showed up at her hotel room with a sombrero on, and that was it.”
The following year, at a press conference for film, the duo hinted that they were more than co-stars. Dewan stated, “Channing is a very sweet, loving, funny, giving, caring, compassionate – he’s loving this right now. No, he’s a hard worker. He’s very goal-oriented.”
Tatum responded, “Jenna’s very, she’s obviously very beautiful, but she really, really is as beautiful inside as she is out. She’s really real, too.”
Touchstone Pictures / ©Touchstone Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
13.HATED EACH OTHER: Richard Gere and Deborah Winger
Winger has always been forthcoming about the on-set tension she experienced with co-star Richard Gere while shooting the 1982 Oscar-winning film An Officer and a Gentleman. In a 2009 interview with the Daily Mail, she explained that “Most bad behavior comes from insecurity. Even though I loved what I was doing, I didn’t always know I could pull it off.”
Paramount / ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection
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
In a 2014 interview with VH1, The Notebook director Nick Cassavetes shared a memory from a particularly intense day on the set of the 2004 romantic drama. He recalled, “They [McAdams and Gosling] were really not getting along one day on set. Really not. Ryan came to me, and there’s 150 people standing in this big scene, and he says, ‘Nick come here.’ He’s doing a scene with Rachel, and he says, ‘Would you take her out of here and bring in another actress to read off-camera with me?’ I said, ‘What?’ He says, ‘I can’t. I can’t do it with her. I’m just not getting anything from this.’”
However, Cassavetes revealed that things improved after leaving the two alone to sort out their differences, “[Later] we went into a room with a producer; they started screaming and yelling at each other. I walked out … And it got better after that, you know? They had it out…I think Ryan respected her for standing up for her character and Rachel was happy to get that out in the open. The rest of the film wasn’t smooth sailing, but it was smoother sailing.”
New Line Cinema / ©New Line Cinema/courtesy Everett / Everett Collection
15.FELL IN LOVE: Also, Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling
Cassavetes later told EW, “They fell in love, and became a wonderful, wonderful fiery couple. I still think they got lots of respect and love for each other, but in the beginning, it wasn’t like that.”
Although things were rocky while filming the Nicholas Sparks adaptation, McAdams and Gosling began dating in 2005, one year after the movie was released. The couple pulled off a now-viral stunt at the 2005 MTV Awards when they recreated their iconic kiss from The Notebook upon winning “Best Kiss.”
New Line Cinema / ©New Line Cinema/Courtesy Everett Collection
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.”
