Hollywood star Denzel Washington once revealed why he opted out of a kissing scene with his close pal Julia Roberts. Read on!

Denzel Washington Once Refused To Kiss Julia Roberts For The Movie The Pelican Brief (Photo Credit – Instagram; IMDb)
Academy Award-winning star Denzel Washington is a man of his word so when he refused to kiss his close friends Julia Roberts on-screen, he stuck to his promise.

The actor despite sharing a good rapport with Roberts opted out of a kissing scene out of loyalty to his female African-American fans. Read on to know what he said about it.

Denzel was at the height of his success and so was Julia when the two were filming the 1993 thriller, The Pelican Brief.

The actor at the time shared his reason as to why he refused to kiss Roberts. The award-winning star is best known for his movies like The Equalizer, Training Day, Fences, The Book of Eli, and American Gangster among others.

According to the website Cheatsheet Showbiz, Denzel Washington explained the reason behind not kissing Julia Roberts in The Pelican Brief saying, “Black women are not often seen as objects of desire on film.

They have always been my core audience.” It was also reported that Washington earlier drew criticism from his Black fans for his on-screen kiss with Tom Cruise’s ex-wife, Mimi Rogers in a test screening of 1989 film The Mighty Quinn.

Speaking of the movie The Pelican Brief, Roberts in a different interview stated that she had suggested Washington’s name for the movie.

“I had suggested him from the beginning, and he did amazing things with a character that didn’t look like much on paper,” said Julia Roberts. The Eat., Pray, Love star added, “What more could you want?”

She also added, “I have taken so much sh*t over the years about not kissing Denzel in that film. Don’t I have a pulse? Of course, I wanted to kiss Denzel. It was his idea to take the damn scenes out.”

For the unversed, the Denzel Washington starrer movie went on to earn nearly $200 million at the box office. The film was based on John Grisham’s 1992 novel of the same name.

Mark Wahlberg was never once known to mince words for the sake of being nice to his co-stars.

Kevin Hart, on the other hand, has never been known to hold back from cracking a joke or two, even if it ends up being at his own expense.

And the only thing that these two actors end up having in common, other than their Hollywood careers and the movie Me Time, is their complaints about height along with the relatively short British star and Marvel’s Spider-Man aka Tom Holland.

Mark Wahlberg and Kevin Hart

Kevin Hart Becomes the Subject of Yet Another Short Joke

It is not possible to walk two steps in Hollywood without bumping into Kevin Hart and his inimitable infectious comedic energy. The multitalented stand-up comedian-turned-actor now also has a talk show that surpasses the usual late-night programs in its ability to hold an informal conversation with fascinating results. And one such conversation, unavoidable as it is, had to make the host, Kevin Hart, a victim of yet another short joke when he goes after his guest, Mark Wahlberg‘s age.

Despite Hart doing his best not to make fun of the latter and Wahlberg doing his best to skirt around the subject of Hart’s height, the pair ends up making the viewers laugh at their own expense. And when Hart tries to maintain some semblance of his short guy reputation intact, Mark Wahlberg cracks up saying, “Me and Tom Holland wanna work with you so you can make us look tall.” 

Suffice it to say, Wahlberg (5′ 8″) did do a good job working with both Kevin Hart (5′ 2.5″) and Tom Holland (5′ 8″), and a collaboration between the trio in the near future doesn’t look too impossible.

Kevin Hart and Mark Wahlberg in Me Time
While working on Me Time, despite Mark Wahlberg’s terrifying experience after working on Boogie Nights (the film that shot him to fame), the actor was convinced about collaborating with the comedic and improvisational genius, Kevin Hart.

Director John Hamburg, though at first worried about being rejected by Wahlberg because of the abundance of n-dity presented in the film, reassured him about keeping it respectful [“this wasn’t Boogie Nights — it was going to be tasteful”].

The sheer delightful and often risqué story that was then presented with the on-screen pair in Me Time remains an unparalleled summer treat.

Mark Wahlberg’s Professionalism Knows No Bounds

As mentioned above, it is not really in Mark Wahlberg’s strong suit to mince words for the benefit of others or to put himself on the moral high ground in front of an audience.

The actor has openly spoken about his racial bias as a teenager, apologized to his victim, founded a charitable organization that especially looks to take care of troubled youths, and talked about his faith in the media.

Mark Wahlberg and Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones (2009)

But when it comes to his professional career, Wahlberg is as best as they come – not solely because of his natural acting chops but due to his ability to bring just as much depth and gravitas to his roles as showing a knack for comedic timing.

On an occasion or two, he has also been known to say no to Martin Scorsese despite the latter personally calling him to implore about joining the cast of The Departed. Such feats are not the machinations of an ignorant person but rather one who knows where they want to go with their career.