‘It Was Such A Mess’: Kate Winslet Reveals How Her Titanic Kiss Really Went Down

Kate Winslet said her iconic Titanic kissing scene with Leonardo DiCaprio was “not all it’s cracked up to be”.

“Oh my Lordy,” the British star told Vanity Fair while rewatching the scene from James Cameron’s 1997 Oscar-winning film again. “This might be really cringe.”

“See, I look at that and I just see how much I couldn’t breathe in that bloody corset,” she continued.

“Oh, this was a nightmare, shooting this, because Leo couldn’t stop laughing and we had to re-shoot this about four times because Jim wanted a very specific light for this.”

Kate explained that the sunsets on set “kept changing,” however, making the kissing scene an elongated ordeal. She also said they “had to climb up a ladder” to reach the “sawn-off bit” of set in question, which proved to be a challenge for the makeup department.

“So we kept doing this kiss and I have a lot of pale makeup on, and I would have to do our makeup checks — me, on both of us — between takes,” she told Vanity Fair. “And I would end up looking as though I had been sucking a caramel chocolate bar after each take.”

Kate also recalled repeatedly “bumping my knees on that third railing”.

“Oh, God,” she said. “It was such a mess.” She further decried the fact that her “boobs are practically up to my chin” during the scene.

The actor explained that her famous co-star had to “lay on sun beds” during production and used “a lot of fake tan” for his character, and said they spent hours “giggling, covered in each other’s makeup”.

Kate previously recalled how “free” and “magnetic” Leo was at the time, and told Entertainment Tonight last December that he “had this effervescent energy.” She said they “connected on so many levels” while filming, as Leo was “very smart” and “very, very curious”.

“He was really fascinated with the period, the details to do with the boat, the lower classes, where those people had come from … [and] paid for their tickets,” Kate told the outlet, adding: “I certainly can’t imagine it being anyone other than Leo.”

Kate confessed that her co-star was “quite the romancer” on-screen at the time: “No wonder every young girl in the world wanted to be kissed by Leonardo DiCaprio.”

However, “it was not all it’s cracked up to be,” she said.

Kate, who was only 22 years old when “Titanic” launched her into stardom, said she’s still “very proud” of the movie. She argued “there’s something extraordinary” about the 27-year-old project becoming a “film that just keeps giving” – before sharing a minor quibble.

“It doesn’t mean that people don’t get me to try and re-enact this every time I’m on a flipping boat,” Kate admitted, “which does my head in.”