# How do people who kiss on-screen avoid falling in love? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 2, 2022, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-who-kiss-on-screen-avoid-falling-in-love/960357 "2022-03-02T17:24:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2022, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-who-kiss-on-screen-avoid-falling-in-love/960357/41 "2022-03-05T22:57:18Z")
Hey, halitosis worked for Clark Gable. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2022, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-who-kiss-on-screen-avoid-falling-in-love/960357/42 "2022-03-05T23:53:07Z")
Gable had false teeth. Vivien Leigh did _not_ enjoy kissing him. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-who-kiss-on-screen-avoid-falling-in-love/960357/43 "2022-03-06T01:53:05Z")
Gable was somewhat lax in his hygiene, even for those baths on Sunday times. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-who-kiss-on-screen-avoid-falling-in-love/960357/44 "2022-03-06T01:57:53Z")
Yes, I saw _ **It Happened One Night** _. He reminded me of a Russian with whom I once had to share a cabin. Phew! 🤢 ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-who-kiss-on-screen-avoid-falling-in-love/960357/45 "2022-03-06T04:35:00Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > A possibly-apocryphal tale of Sean Connery says that before filming a sexy scene for one of the Bond films, he told the actress, “Something is about to happen. Or it isn’t. I apologize in either case.” The way I read it several years ago was George C. Scott telling an actress “One of two things is going to happen. I apologize in either case.” Funny as hell, whoever said it. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-who-kiss-on-screen-avoid-falling-in-love/960357/46 "2022-03-06T05:53:35Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > From my perspective, I can’t imagine why the mere act of kissing someone be automatically connected with falling in love with them. There’s a surprisingly large number of people who view kissing as more intimate than actually having sex. If you go on certain parts of Reddit, Youtube, etc., you’ll find prostitutes who say that they refuse to kiss any of their customers. (And no, it’s not usually related to fear of disease; it’s a perceived intimacy issue.) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-who-kiss-on-screen-avoid-falling-in-love/960357/47 "2022-03-06T05:56:38Z")
Yeah, that’s an old trope or whatever you want to call it. It was even in Pretty Woman, if I remember right. (Well, it’s not really so much a trope, as it’s not just a literary/narrative/dramatic idea, but the whole “prostitute that won’t kiss” is common enough an idea in mainstream culture, I think. At least I’ve pretty much always been aware of it.) ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-who-kiss-on-screen-avoid-falling-in-love/960357/48 "2022-03-06T12:24:23Z")
If I understand correctly, open mouth kissing in acting does not involve the use of the tongue (unless, I suppose, it’s being done explicitly for the camera). That’s one way that there is a distinction in “intimacy” between an acting kiss and the real thing. ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-who-kiss-on-screen-avoid-falling-in-love/960357/49 "2022-03-06T17:19:21Z")
I work in the theatre and have a small amount of training in intimacy choreography, and have worked with experts in that discipline. The field of intimacy choreography has come a long way in the last 10 years, and it is now fairly standard in film and on stage to have a choreographer ensure those scenes are done safely for everyone involved. The main techniques are, briefly, rigorous consent for every action, keeping every little action very specific, and keeping the language de-sexualized, e.g. “I am going to place my right hand on his hip, light touch, pull toward me a quarter turn,” etc. The actual language is generally a little more technical than that, but just to give an idea. These scenes are highly choreographed, like dance, and keeping it very technical removes a lot of the loadedness. The trick for the actors then is to then make it _look_ like it’s super sexy (assuming that’s what you’re going for in the scene). More info on intimacy direction [here](https://www.americantheatre.org/2018/10/23/intimate-exchanges/?fbclid=IwAR2xxIh5eoLTtYo3Lfd023dSjvoIx5ny3vIRqRaxdYEn2DxqsQJBsWrYR0Q) and [here](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/15/theater/need-to-fake-an-orgasm-theres-an-intimacy-choreographer-for-that.html) and [here](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/01/02/lifestyle/film-theater-intimacy-coordinators-directors-redefine-how-practice-safe-sets/). ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-who-kiss-on-screen-avoid-falling-in-love/960357/50 "2022-03-06T19:44:17Z")
I read that it was Wallace Beery whose personal hygiene caused his actress costars to dread their romantic scenes. Maybe there were several leading men who _needed a best friend to tell them…_. Or maybe it was a Hollywood way to disparage an actor. Lip-readers to the fore: While Aileen Pringle was being lovingly carried by Conrad Nagle in the silent film _Three Weeks_, and was supposed to be whispering endearments, she was telling him “If you drop me you bastard, I’ll break your neck.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-who-kiss-on-screen-avoid-falling-in-love/960357.md?page=2)