Kate Winslet says shooting iconic Titanic scene with Leonardo DiCaprio was ‘a mess’

Kate Winslet has revealed kissing Leonardo DiCaprio was “not all it’s cracked up to be” – shattering the allure of the most iconic movie scene of all time.

It’s one of the most romantic scenes in cinema history, and bolstered Leonardo DiCaprio to instant heart-throb status.

But his Titanic co-star Kate Winslet has said kissing DiCaprio during their famous ‘Jack, I’m flying’ scene atop the bow of the boat was anything but sexy.

While re-watching the iconic scene during an interview with Vanity Fair, the Oscar winning actress said, “My God, he’s [DiCaprio] quite the romancer, isn’t he? No wonder every young girl in the world wanted to be kissed by Leonardo DiCaprio.”

Bursting the bubble, Winslet added, “It was not all it’s cracked up to be.”

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

Winslet, 48, who was 21 at the time of filming the 1997 James Cameron epic, went into detail about the logistics of shooting the moment, revealing the pair were positioned at the top of a ladder and so couldn’t be reached by their hair and make-up teams – which became somewhat of a nightmare during endless kissing takes.

“What you wouldn’t know, because Leo looks completely natural, he had to lie on sun beds and there’s a lot of fake tan makeup going on, so I have got hidden [in my bra] his makeup and brushes and sponge, and my makeup, brushes and sponge, and between takes I was basically redoing our makeup,” she said.

The pair were positioned up a ladder, which couldn’t be reached by hair and makeup teams. Picture: Paramount Pictures/20th Century Fox

Winslet continued, “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 he just looked like there was a bit missing from his face because there was this big pale bit from all my makeup getting onto him.

“Oh god, it was such a mess.”

DiCaprio and Winslet are still close friends. Picture: Jason Merritt/Getty Images

All of that to say, Winslet, who still maintains a close friendship with DiCaprio, now 49, said she was incredibly proud of the film for reaching cult status.

As of today, Titanic remains the fourth highest grossing film of all time, making over $US2 billion at the global box office, succeeded by Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), Avengers: Endgame (2019) and Avatar (2009) in the top spot.

“I do feel very proud of it, because I feel that it is that film that just keeps giving,” Winslet said.

“Whole other generations of people are discovering the film or seeing it for the first time and there’s something extraordinary about that.”

Originally published as Kate Winslet says shooting iconic Titanic scene with Leonardo DiCaprio was ‘a mess’