Love Scenes We Never Got To See

Considered among the most influential sci-fi films of all time, Ridley Scott's "Alien" centers on a crew of astronauts whose ship is attacked by a violent, predatory extraterrestrial, leaving it up to Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley to save the day as the lone survivor. The character of Ellen Ripley would become a pop culture icon, as a surprising heroine who drives the most badass moments in the entire film.

One thing viewers (including IndieWire) loved about Ripley was that the film didn't "shy away from the characteristics that keep her human and relatable." But one moment that would've shown Ripley's vulnerability — and possibly watered down her lasting image as a strong, no-nonsense woman — never made it past the script. 

In an early version of the screenplay, there was a love scene between Ripley and another crew member. When Weaver objected to its inclusion upon signing on for the film by asking Scott, "Would you really get it on while this thing is running around?" — the point was taken and it was excised. 

In a way, Weaver's question is amusing because of all the sci-fi and horror films that have come along since 1979 that do pause the action for actors to "get it on" gratuitously. The lesson those filmmakers haven't learned is that the lack of a love scene kept the movie's tone intact and minted Ripley as a female icon who didn't have to rely on sexiness or nudity to appeal to audiences.

This John McNaughton-directed thriller became a surprise hit by mixing an old-fashioned noir mystery with very adult, steamy subject matter, boasting one of Bill Murray's most off-the-wall performances and career-making work from breakout Denise Richards. 

Ostensibly the story of a Miami detective (Kevin Bacon) investigating the sexual assault of a high schooler by her guidance counselor (Matt Dillon), the film is filled with so many twists and turns, double-crosses, and underhanded dealings, that by the end you'll need a notepad and pen to track all the shifting alliances. 

One key relationship, however, didn't make the final cut: A romance between Dillon and Bacon. In some ways, the subplot would have been fairly revolutionary for its time period; in others, this is a film where characters are constantly revealed to be in bed together, so it would make a lot of sense. This was to be shown during a memorable "Wild Things" moment where Bacon's character emerges from a shower, displaying full-frontal nudity. While that scene did make it into the film, it was originally going to be much more eye-opening. 

"The movie almost came with another surprise for people to talk about, because Matt was gonna climb in the shower with me," Bacon later divulged. "I thought it was great because the whole movie is about secrets coming out, right? As reveals go, that one was just huge. Unfortunately, the financiers didn't like the idea of men making out. They felt it went too far. They felt it wasn't right." 

Dillon, however, was happy to see the subplot dropped. "I was relieved when they got rid of that scene," he explained in 2005. "Kevin seemed pretty attached to it, though."

"In the original version of the scene, Matt walks into his bathroom to take a shower and there's Kevin," he recalled in 2023, saying that the scene never even got filmed. "They were supposed to look each other up and down and then wham — go at it." 

According to the filmmaker, one of the actors — he won't say which — put the kibosh on it.  

"I love surprise, and I love stuff that I don't see coming," he said of that particular day of filming. "But in that moment it was like 'You win some, you lose some; we're moving on.'"

Sam Raimi's eagerly-anticipated debut of the Friendly Neighborhood Webslinger contained one of the most iconic kissing scenes of its era; before Raimi was involved, however, James Cameron intended something far naughtier than kissing in the rain.

When Cameron was attached in the early '90s, his "Spider-Man" got far enough that the future "Titanic" and  "Avatar" auteur submitted a 47-page "scriptment" that told the story of the origin of Spider-Man, using variations on Electro and Sandman as the baddies. Even after Cameron left the project, some elements were retained by eventual screenwriter David Koepp. 

Years later, Cameron's scriptment leaked online, and readers were intrigued to learn of one parallel that included a somewhat graphic sex scene. 

As Cameron described it, Spider-Man takes M.J. to the top of the Brooklyn Bridge, tying her down with his webbing. Cameron intended for their sex to resemble actual biological spider mating rituals. 

"Courtship among the spiders is highly ritualized. It varies from species to species. The male spider may circle the female, or wave his front legs... to signal that he is not prey," Peter Parker says in the script, raising his hands in what is described as a dance-like movement. "In certain crab spiders, such as Xysticus, the male will attach strands of silk to the female... tying her limbs."

A raunchy one-off from the minds of "South Park" co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, this "Thunderbirds"-influenced parody centers on a team of jingoistic counter-terrorists who recruit a theatre actor to help them take on the nefarious forces of North Korea. This being a Parker/Stone production, fans can expect three things: lots of bad words, a take-no-prisoners attitude, and a willingness to go to some deep, raunchy places.

Sure enough, "Team America" made headlines with a prolonged sex scene between two of the puppets, featuring so many ridiculous sex positions that it briefly earned the film an NC-17 rating from the Motion Picture Association of America. 

Parker and Stone ultimately cut the film's original sex scene down. Since the MPAA doesn't tell filmmakers what needs to be cut, this resulted in the inevitable guessing game, resulting in a reported 9 cuts before the film was finally approved to be rated R. This ultimately meant that for the film's theatrical release, they had to lose some seriously sick moments.

Reportedly, these scenes involved urination, defecation and other such acts. In subsequent uncut and international releases of the movie, some of these graphic moments were added back in; some still reportedly remain on the cutting room floor, perhaps never to be seen.

"The sex scene was basically more than twice as long," Parker would explain in 2004, adding that it would likely be easier to release the footage in a foreign cut than a domestic one. "That would just point something out — that America is the only country that can't see the whole puppet sex scene [on the big screen.]"

The first "Twilight" film, based on a series of novels by Stephenie Meyer, was a box office smash when it was first released in 2008, and it would become a huge cultural influence for years to come. Surprisingly, the titillating romance between Robert Pattinson's vampire Edward and Kristen Stewart's teenage Bella was quite tame, however, even for a PG-13 movie. As the series continued adapting Meyer's books, they eventually began to mature alongside the characters — and the romantic interactions escalated with the fourth film: "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1." 

Following the marriage of Edward and Bella, the two consummate their relationship, despite Bella being a human. After kissing nude in a lake, the two take it to the bedroom, where Edward proceeds to (quite literally) destroy their bed in the midst of love-making. While it's  a lot steamier than anything fans had previously seen in the film franchise, it was actually toned down quite a bit from the filmmakers' original intent.

Certain elements needed to be excised, and the scene had to be re-filmed due to guidelines from the MPAA about what constitutes as PG-13; it was a tough line to walk for the actors.

"It had to be transcendent and otherworldly, inhuman," Stewart said of the scene. "Better sex than you can possibly ever imagine." 

There's no shortage of steamy love scenes in "Fifty Shades of Grey," the film adaptation of E.L. James' volcanic novel. The film launched the careers of Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, playing sexually inexperienced graduate student Anastasia Steele, who starts a romantic relationship with billionaire Christian Grey, who introduces her to the world of BDSM. Throughout this film and the two sequels that would follow, the pair engage in sexual activities that range from romantic to beyond the imagination of many.

Some of the more infamous moments from the original book, however, didn't even make it to the film. One of the more infamous of these involves the removal of a tampon; although a memorable moment from E.L. James' novel, it wasn't even a question that it would be cut from the film. Speaking to Variety in 2015, director Sam Taylor-Johnson admitted: "It was never even discussed."

Few movie characters are as despicably inappropriate as Jennifer Aniston's character from the "Horrible Bosses" films; the fact that she's a woman only makes it even more off-the-wall. 

In 2011's "Horrible Bosses," she was cast as a dentist making relentless, unwanted sexual advances towards her hygienist Dale, played by Charlie Day. In response, Dale and his friends (played by Jason Sudeikis and Jason Bateman) conspire to kill each others' bosses and free themselves of their misery.

Aniston reprised the role in "Horrible Bosses 2," escalating the action significantly and finally getting her man — somewhat. In the film's final act, Dale wakes up from a coma after having been shot. He learns that his former boss has become a helpful, almost familial presence while he was out. This is explained in a quiet moment between the two, as Julia reveals to Dale that she sexually assaulted him while he was in his coma, and is making plans to next seduce his wife. It's a crazy reveal, and according to Aniston, the filmmakers originally planned to not just tell it, but show it.

"It was kind of, not even mutual," she stuttered when Conan O'Brien asked her about the deleted sex scene. "Charlie Day's character is in a coma, and I exploit him whilst he is in a coma. So, it was a sex scene that was [vile]; they removed it. But I bet it will be on the DVD extras."

As it turns out, the scene was not restored for the DVD, and in the years since has not surfaced publicly in any way. Most likely, Aniston is breathing a sigh of relief.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has long been conservative when it comes to love scenes; that tradition was broken somewhat with 2021's "Eternals," when Richard Madden and Gemma Chan's characters shared the first on-screen sex scene in an MCU movie. But that barrier was nearly broken in a much more profound way, if the Disney+ series "Loki" had played out as originally envisioned. 

In the documentary "Assembled: The Making of Loki" on Disney+, head writer Michael Waldron can be seen standing in front of a whiteboard filled with potential series ideas. A pause and a zoom reveals to eagle-eyed viewers that some potential ideas included a montage where Tom Hiddleston's God of Mischief travels through various time periods, collects the Infinity Stones — and "doing crazy mischief, AKA sex."

Another bullet point reads: "Has the Gauntlet, holds [p]ower, more sex, bi, alien, etc.," leading some to believe that this sequence would have included him having relations with aliens. Although "Loki" ultimately didn't go down this particular road, the series did take the opportunity to explore the character's sexuality in its third episode, where it was revealed that Loki is bisexual.