There are probably tons of people out there who would have jumped at the opportunity to lock lips with Julia Roberts for her 1993 film The Pelican Brief. After all, the timeless beauty hasn't been named the world's most beautiful woman five times for no reason. However, Denzel Washington apparently had no interest in smooching Roberts, so he opted out of a kissing scene.
The actor reportedly decided not to film the scene with Roberts because he did not want to play into Hollywood's biased beauty ideals and alienate fans. Allison Samuels, a writer for Newsweek and the Daily Beast, talked about Washington's decision in her 2007 book, Off the Record: A Reporter Unveils the Celebrity Worlds of Hollywood, Hip-hop, and Sports. According to Samuels, the Oscar-winner had this to say about foregoing that cinematic kiss: "Black women are not often seen as objects of desire on film. And they have always been my core audience."
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