Kate Winslet on Why Kissing Leonardo DiCaprio in ‘Titanic’ Was “Such a Mess”

“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 quipped. “It was not all it’s cracked up to be.”

The Regime star explained, “We kept doing this kiss, 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.”

And due to residue from her paler-colored makeup, she said DiCaprio looked like “there was a bit missing from his face,” adding, “Oh God, it was such a mess.”

While rewatching the scene, Winslet described this specific shoot as a “nightmare,” between lighting issues and the filming location being inaccessible to the makeup team. The actress also recalled needing to do several takes because she kept hitting her knee on the railing.

“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 remembered of the hectic experience.

“This was a section of the ship, it wasn’t part of the actual whole ship set that we had,” Winslet continued. “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.”

The Avatar: The Way of Water actress 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.”

Though filming had some difficult moments, the 1997 movie went on to be a massive success, winning 11 Oscars, including best picture.

“I do feel very proud of it, because I feel that it is that film that just keeps giving,” Winslet added. “Whole other generations of people are discovering the film or seeing it for the first time, and there’s something extraordinary about that.”