Kirsten Dunst Says Filming Her Iconic Spider-Man Kiss With Toby Maguire Was ‘Miserable’

There are few movie kisses as romantic as the upside-down make-out from Spider-Man (2002), but Kirsten Dunst says the reality was far less passionate.

Even though Dunst briefly dated costar Tobey Maguire while shooting the superhero movie, she said filming their most iconic scene was “kind of miserable” during a recent appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show. “It was pouring with rain, freezing, Tobey couldn’t breathe so it was almost like I was resuscitating him,” the 41-year-old actor explained, per The Independent.

Dunst’s statement echoes Maguire’s own recollection of events. In an old interview, the actor said he was “practically suffocating” during Spider-Man’s kiss with Mary Jane Watson. “There was rain pouring down my nose…and then Kirsten pulls the mask up to [my nose] and it’s blocking the air passage there, so I couldn’t breathe,” he said, per The Hollywood Reporter. “And then she’s kissing me, blocking the air passage there, so there’s nowhere else to breathe.”

He continued, “It was really tough, actually. It was really challenging. They’d yell cut, and I would be [gasping for air], totally out of breath. It was torture. It makes you realize how important oxygen is.”

In the new interview, Kirsten Dunst explained that director Sam Raimi “really wanted to make [the kiss] special” and had given her a “book of famous kisses” to serve as inspiration. Clearly, Raimi got his wish as the romantic rain-soaked kiss has since been referenced on TV shows, recreated by celebrity couples, and inspired a popular TikTok trend.

Like Dunst and McGuire, Rachel Bilson and Adam Brody were dating when they recreated the kiss for a season two episode of The OC, aptly titled, “The Rainy Day Women.” And while Bilson once described it as her favorite episode, she didn’t love filming that scene.

“Let me just tell everybody: kissing upside down is incredibly awkward,” she said on the Welcome To The OC, Bitches! podcast in March 2022. “Not romantic. Wet. I remember the taste of the makeup washing, like, his mouth from the rainwater. I can still taste it.”

I think I speak for everyone when I say, “Ew.”