10 On-Screen Couples Whose Chemistry Fizzled Off Screen

Denzel Washington And Julia Roberts

While filming the 1993 film The Pelican Brief with Julia Roberts, Denzel Washington made the surprising decision not to kiss his drop-dead gorgeous costar. He was probably one of the only men in the world who would have passed up that chance.

Washington later claimed that he didn’t want to film the kissing scene because he didn’t want to play into the beauty ideals of Hollywood. He explained that black women were part of his core audience and they were rarely seen as objects of desire on screen. Washington felt that he would eliminate a large part of his fan base by kissing Julia Roberts