15 iconic movie and TV scenes actors regret filming

Daenerys fire Dosh Khaleen Dothraki Game of Thrones
Emilia Clarke in "Game of Thrones" HBO
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Movie history is replete with cases of actors who regret shooting particular scenes, especially after said scenes become famous. Admittedly, regretting past decisions is not unique to the acting profession. It’s almost impossible for someone to go through life without regretting something they did or failed to do in the past. However, when the regretful action happens to have been seen by millions of moviegoers across the globe, it assumes special significance.

While a disproportionate number of the cases tend to involve a lack of clothing, the reasons why actors regret filming a scene can vary. For instance, Burt Reynolds regretted nearly getting himself killed while performing a stunt in "Deliverance" (1972), just to uphold his macho persona.

There were cases in which actors had the impression that a shot they had objected to would not make the final cut, but were later shocked to find that it was left in the movie. There are others who simply blamed their own naivety and inexperience for their mistakes. Unsurprisingly, some actors appeared to have been fully aware of the consequences of their actions, but were lured by the promise of a massive paycheck.

Here are the 15 famous scenes that these actors regret ever filming.

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Terence Stamp and Natalie Portman in "The Phantom Menace"

natalie portman phantom menace
Lucasfilm

Terence Stamp had expected to appear with Natalie Portman (Queen Amidala) in his cameo role as Chancellor Valorum in "Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace" (1999), the first installment in Lucasfilm’s "Star Wars" prequel trilogy.

Stamp, who was then about 60 years old, later admitted that the only reason he agreed to work with George Lucas was because he thought he would meet Natalie Portman. Stamp had agreed to do the scene for such lousy pay in exchange for this deal, that he referred to his compensation as “2 and 6 and a toffee apple.”

However, Stamp was disappointed when he arrived on set and asked Lucas where Portman was. Lucas reportedly pointed to a strip of paper on the wall and told him that the paper was Portman. Stamp was then instructed to act with the strip of paper on the wall representing Portman’s character. Stamp later expressed regret about the incident, describing his experience as “boring.”

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Nicole Kidman's domestic abuse scenes in "Big Little Lies"

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HBO

Nicole Kidman has talked about how badly she was affected by her portrayal of Celeste, a domestic abuse victim, in HBO’s TV series "Big Little Lies." Kidman appeared delighted when the show won four awards at the 2018 Golden Globes, including her Best Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie. However, she lamented in an interview with "The Hollywood Reporter" how the domestic abuse scenes left her deeply affected and emotionally drained.

She reportedly described feeling so humiliated and angry that she could not summon the will to get up after shooting the abuse scenes. Kidman recalled director Jean-Marc Vallée putting a towel over her head in-between takes, after he realized how stressful she found filming the sequences.

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Emilia Clarke's revealing scene in season 6 of "Game of Thrones"

Daenerys Targaryen fire Game of Thrones
HBO

Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen, The Mother of Dragons, has appeared in some of the more revealing sequences in the notoriously racy "Game of Thrones" TV series. However, Clarke had cause to regret the scene in the episode “Book of the Stranger”, after she asked her parents to watch the episode.

Clarke might have temporarily forgotten that episode 4 featured one of her major unclothed scenes since she decided to not only recommend it, but she actually watched the episode with her parents.

Her father didn’t hide the fact that he was not impressed. The scene in question depicted Clarke emerging entirely bare from the temple of Dosh Khaleen, unhurt from the fire which just burned the Khals to death.

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Jim Carrey in "Kick-Ass 2"

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Universal Pictures

Jim Carrey was so shaken by the details about the tragic Sandy Hook incident in 2012 that he took to social media to denounce the scenes of gratuitous violence in his film "Kick-Ass 2" (2013). Carrey did this despite taking part in many of the film’s violent scenes himself.

The Sandy Hook massacre occurred only a few months after Carrey finished shooting the superhero comedy film in which he played the role of Colonel Stars and Stripes. By June 2013, two months before the release of the film, Carrey, a known gun control advocate, had concluded that the violence in movies such as "Kick-Ass 2contributed to the real violence in the country.

Presumably as a way of dealing with his guilty conscience, he posted a tweet in which he denounced his own film and condemned the “level of violence” in it.

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Kate Winslet's famous drawing scene in "Titanic"

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Twentieth Century Fox

Kate Winslet, now 42, regretted the famous scene in the blockbuster movie "Titanic" (1997). In the film, her character, Rose, posed without clothing for her lover Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) so that he can create a drawing of her. According to Winslet, she is still being confronted, two decades after the movie, by obsessed fans demanding that she sign a picture of herself from the famous scene.

The Academy Award-winning actress admitted in several interviews that she has found confrontations with rather discomforting. She has made it known to fans that she does not sign those pictures of herself, and that she wants fans to stop asking her.

Kate regrets the drawing scene and believes that her willingness to strip down for that scene was due to a desire to prove herself when she was still a young, aspiring actress.

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Sharon Stone's famous leg uncrossing scene in "Basic Instinct"

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Sharon Stone in one of the most iconic scenes in movie history. "Basic Instinct"/TriStar Pictures

Actress Sharon Stone was reportedly so shocked when she first viewed the final cut of "Basic Instinct" (1992) that she slapped director Paul Verhoeven. However, Verhoeven has disputed Stone’s version of how that scene was shot and denied Stone’s claim that she did not realize how graphic the scene was.

Regardless of the truth about the claims and counterclaims, it is clear that Stone regretted it. It’s reported that the whiteness of Stone’s underwear was interfering with the shot, so Verhoeven asked her to remove them.

In the scene, Stone’s character turns the tables on police investigators with her wit, charm, and a final disarming move — the uncrossing of her legs to reveal her unclad lady parts.

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Rupert Grint and Emma Watson's kiss in "Deathly Hallows 2"

Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Ron Hermione
Warner Bros.

Many fans might have envied Rupert Grint when his character, Ron Weasley, kissed Emma Watson’s character, Hermione Granger, in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2."

However, for the two actors, filming the scene in which their characters finally acknowledged their feelings for each other was an excruciating experience. Grint, then 23, and Watson, 21, are childhood friends who basically have a brother-sister relationship.

Ron later revealed in an interview with "People" magazine that the last thing he wanted to do was kiss Watson. Watson also admitted that she was nervous about the scene. She told "OK!" that her kiss with Grint was her “weirdest” kissing experience on screen and that similarly to Grint she was glad that “one take was enough.”

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Dakota Johnson's scenes with Jamie Dornan in "Fifty Shades of Grey"

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Universal Studios

The cringe-worthy BDSM scenes in the film "Fifty Shades of Grey" (2015) proved a regretful experience for actress Dakota Johnson, who played Anastasia Steele. The character is Christian Grey’s (Jamie Dornan) love interest in the movie. The scenes proved difficult for Johnson due to the fact that Grey’s interests centered on bondage and domination, which involved acts bordering on torture. Both of the actors struggled with the scenes which had to be shot multiple times.

Johnson later admitted that she found shooting the scenes emotionally draining and physically taxing. She recalled resigning herself to the misery and assuming a stoic attitude.

Both actors also admitted that there were times they felt embarrassed and ashamed about being associated with the movie, although Johnson later admitted it opened doors for her.

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George Reeves's scenes portraying Superman as bulletproof

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YouTube screencap

George Reeves, who shot to stardom for his role as Superman in "Superman and the Mole-Men" (1951), regretted the famous scenes in his movie and TV series that depicted his character as bulletproof.

Kellogg’s, which sponsored the "Adventures of Superman" TV series (1952-1956), required Reeves to appear at events in his Superman costume. During one of the events, a boy confronted him with a loaded gun to test whether bullets really bounced off of Superman’s body.

Reeves was shaken by the incident and he refused to appear in public in his Superman suit after that. He also became convinced that portraying a man on TV as bulletproof was dangerous and unwise. Reeves later organized what he called “safety tours,” during which he lectured children and tried to make them understand that no human being was bulletproof.

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Sean Connery hated James Bond's swashbuckling movie scenes

Sean Connery
Associated Press

Despite being nearly synonymous with his 007 character, Sean Connery actually came to hate playing MI6 agent James Bond. Connery particularly regretted his role in multiple scenes that established James Bond as a symbol of philandering, swashbuckling manliness.

For many years, Connery feuded with producer Albert R. Broccoli over the franchise’s unrealistic portrayal of his character. Besides being dissatisfied with his pay, Connery complained that 007 had become boring due to the failure to develop the character further since he had first played James Bond in "Dr. No" (1962).

Connery’s hatred of the character was so intense, that he once said that he wished he could meet “the damned James Bond” in real life and kill him.

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Tony Curtis's kissing scene with Marilyn Monroe in "Some Like It Hot"

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Actress Marilyn Monroe poses for a portrait laying on the grass in 1954 in Palm Springs, California. Baron/Getty Images

A story that was originally circulated as a rumor before it was finally confirmed as truth gives an insight into how Tony Curtis felt about his major kissing scene with Marilyn Monroe. The scene in question took place in the 1959 romantic comedy movie "Some Like It Hot."

A member of the crew had commented after witnessing the kissing scene that Curtis really looked like he enjoyed kissing Monroe. According to eyewitnesses, when Curtis was asked whether he had enjoyed kissing Monroe, he quipped that kissing the actress had felt like “kissing Hitler.”

Curtis denied the story for many years after it was leaked to the media. However, he reportedly admitted to saying it some years before he died. Curtis tried to downplay it by saying he was not being serious at the time and that he said it only to get a laugh.

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Burt Reynolds's stunt in "Deliverance"

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Movie poster

Fans of the ’70s star Burt Reynolds will recall the stunt scene from the movie "Deliverance" (1972) in which Reynolds’s character paddles his canoe over a waterfall.

Reynolds later revealed in an interview with "GQ," for his 2015 memoir "But Enough About Me," that director John Boorman had planned on using a dummy for the scene. However, in line with his tough man image that he was known for, he insisted on doing the dangerous stunt himself.

Reynolds recalled in an interview with "The Hollywood Reporter" how he went down the rapids, hit a rock, and broke his tailbone. The actor was mortified when he learned from Boorman that he had looked like a “dummy” himself anyway when he went over the waterfall in the canoe. Reynolds needlessly risked his life for an effect that probably would have looked the same if he had used the prop.

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Maria Schneider's "butter" scene in "Last Tango in Paris"

maria schneider last tango in paris
Les Productions Artistes Associés

Before she died of cancer in 2011, Maria Schneider admitted that she regretted the infamous “buttering” scene in Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1972 erotic drama, "Last Tango In Paris" (1972). The scene sparked outrage when the film was released, with many moviegoers protesting its vulgarity.

The scene depicted Marlin Brando applying butter to an intimate part of the Schneider’s body. Schneider alleged that Bertolucci and Brando took advantage of her. She claimed she felt exploited as a young actress and that it caused her emotional trauma.

Her allegations made headlines again in 2016, and Bertolucci responded. According to "Variety," the director said that the only information about the scene that was kept from Schneider was that Brando would use a stick lubricated with butter. Bertolucci reportedly said he kept the information from the actress because he wanted to draw a more natural and spontaneous response from her.

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Roger Moore with Grace Jones in "A View to a Kill"

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Eon Productions

Roger Moore certainly did not have fond memories of the love scene that his character, James Bond, had with Grace Jones’ character, May Day. Jones played the henchwoman of Christopher Walken’s character, Max Zorin, in the 1985 movie "A View to a Kill."

Jones’ character was the only Bond girl encounter in which Moore’s swashbuckling character was dominated. Besides, Moore, then age 57, was simply not the right actor for a physically demanding encounter with the eccentric Jones, who was 35.

What made the encounter even more unpleasant for the aging film star was that he and Jones clashed on set before they shot the scene. According to Express, Jones had ignored Moore’s pleas to turn down the volume of the rock music she constantly played backstage, making it impossible for Moore to have his midday nap.

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Gordon Ramsay's shower scene in "Hotel Hell"

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Gordon Ramsay REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

Infamously angry British chef Gordon Ramsay has said he regretted appearing exposed in his reality TV series "Hotel Hell," in 2012. He released a statement in July 2012 apologizing for filming himself in the shower while visiting a hotel for the show.

Ramsay came under fire after being filmed stripping down and getting into an undersized bathtub at the hotel — a seemingly unnecessary scene in a docuseries about hotels.

The show, which premiered on Fox in August 2012, features Ramsay travelling across the country to help struggling hotels and lodging establishments improve their service and overall businesses. The concept is similar to his previous TV series, "Kitchen Nightmares," which also tried to help struggling restaurants across the country.

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