Kate Winslet Explains Why ‘Titanic’ Kiss Scene With Leonardo DiCaprio Was a ‘Nightmare’

Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio’s romance in Titanic is one for the ages. However, to hear the actress explain it, at least one kissing scene between the two of them was an absolute “nightmare” to film. During an interview with Vanity Fair, Winslet rewatched some of the more iconic moments from the 1997 movie and offered a little behind-the-scenes detail.

“My God, he’s quite the romancer, isn’t he? No wonder every young girl in the world wanted to be kissed by Leonardo DiCaprio,” Winslet remarked while watching a kissing scene from the “flying” moment in the movie, then adding, “It was not all it’s cracked up to be.”

“We kept doing this kiss,” Winslet recalled, “and I’ve got a lot of pale makeup on and I would have to do our makeup checks – on both of us, between takes – and I would end up looking as though I’d been sucking a caramel chocolate bar after each take because his makeup would come off on me.” Because of Winslet’s makeup being paler, when it rubbed off on DiCaprio he began to look like “there was a bit missing from his face,” she said, adding, “Oh God, it was such a mess.”

Between lighting issues and the makeup team not having access to the filming location, Winslet described this specific shoot as a “nightmare,” also remembering that she kept hitting her knee on the railing, which caused numerous retakes. “Leo couldn’t stop laughing, and we had to reshoot this about four times because [director James Cameron] wanted a very specific light for this, obviously, and the sunsets kept changing where we were,” she shared.

“This was a section of the ship, it wasn’t part of the actual whole ship set that we had,” Winslet went on to say. “We had to climb up a ladder to get to it. Hair and makeup couldn’t reach us. Now, what you wouldn’t know because Leo looks completely natural but he had to lie on sunbeds and there’s a lot of fake tan makeup going on.”

Winslet added that she even had “his makeup and brushes and sponge and my makeup and brushes and sponge” hidden in parts of her dress, “and between takes, I was basically redoing our makeup,” which was “quite funny.”

Ultimately, it was all worth it. Titanic is one of the most successful and acclaimed movies of all time, winning near-countless awards, including Best Picture at the Oscars. “I do feel very proud of it, because I feel that it is that film that just keeps giving,” Winslet said. “Whole other generations of people are discovering the film or seeing it for the first time, and there’s something extraordinary about that.”