As he branched out from the star-making role of vampire Edward Cullen, actor Robert Pattinson starred with Reese Witherspoon in the 2011 circus-themed romance Water for Elephants. At the time, a kissing scene with Pattinson was on the wish list of countless Twilight fans around the world. But Witherspoon had little good to say about their onscreen love scene, sharing with MTV that the experience “wasn’t appealing” and “wasn’t pleasant.” Read on for the off-putting reason she said kissing the heartthrob was such an awful experience.
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At the time they were making Water for Elephants, Witherspoon was dating her future husband (now ex) Jim Toth. Meanwhile, Pattinson was no stranger to making out onscreen, having done plenty of it with then-girlfriend and Twilight co-star Kristen Stewart.
The actor, then 26, admitted that he found it easy to get carried away during steamy scenes between Bella and Edward, telling NOW Magazine (as quoted by Glamour), “When we start the kissing scenes I forget we’re surrounded by a load of people. I actually end up getting really carried away. It’s only when the kiss is finished that my mind registers there’s actually a set full of people around, and I just walk away embarrassed.”
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When it came to shooting a love scene between the characters of Marlena and Jacob however, Pattinson had a little more trouble getting into things due to a nasty illness.
“The love scene in [Water for Elephants]: I was doing it when I had a really bad cold,” he revealed during the special MTV First: Robert Pattinson, according to MTV.com. “My nose is running all over the place, and it was in one of the additional photography scenes, and Reese had this wig on, and literally, I was wiping my nose on her wig.”
His co-star just how un-sexy the experience was. “He did have a very runny nose, yeah,” Witherspoon told MTV. “It wasn’t appealing; it wasn’t pleasant.”
Fortunately, Pattinson and Witherspoon were already friends. The two met on the set of the 2004 pre-Twilight film Vanity Fair. Despite being less than 10 years her junior, Pattinson had been cast as Witherspoon’s character’s estranged son in an alternate ending that landed on the cutting room floor.
While promoting Water for Elephants, Witherspoon recalled first seeing Pattinson in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, as reported by People.
“He was walking down this corridor and I turned to the director and I said, ‘That’s my son? He’s so good-looking!’ I was like, ‘He’s so hot.'”
Despite the snotty snogging, she spoke highly of their Water for Elephants love scenes in that interview.
“I am so lucky,” the actor said. “He’s so amazing and wonderful and sweet and just the nicest guy too, so you can just add that to the soup.”
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Describing her camaraderie with Pattinson on set, Witherspoon told ET, “[A]ll we do is just laugh and joke around.”
She would soon have the chance to show the depth of their friendship. When news of Kristen Stewart’s affair with her married Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders broke in 2012, Witherspoon offered Pattinson more than a shoulder to cry on. Having experienced her own very public scandal when ex-husband Ryan Phillippe was accused of cheating with his Stop-Loss costar Abbie Cornish, the Legally Blonde star gave Pattinson the space he needed outside of the spotlight by letting him take refuge in her Ojai, CA ranch, according to Us Weekly.