14 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About Romantic Movies That Sound Fake, But Aren't

From orgasms to Tom Hanks, this list has something for everyone.

1. Emma Stone had a "meltdown" while attempting to do the Dirty Dancing lift in Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Warner Bros. Pictures

After suffering a freak gymnastics accident when she was seven years old that left BOTH of her arms broken, Stone didn't realize she had an internalized fear of being lifted off the ground until shooting this scene. "I run to do the lift and Ryan lifts me over his head...it was a lot. I had, like, a real meltdown," Stone said. They ended up using a body double for the final shot.

2. The title for 10 Things I Hate About You was inspired by a real-life diary entry from the film's co-writer Karen McCullah.

Buena Vista Pictures

“I had a boyfriend named Anthony that I was frequently unhappy with. I made a list called 'Things I Hate About Anthony.' When Kirsten Smith and I decided to write this, I went through all of my high school diaries," McCullah said. "When I told her about that list, she was like, ‘That’s our title.' Anthony is very proud of that fact. We’re still friends today. Every now and then I'll get a phone call in the middle of night: ‘My nephew doesn’t believe that this title is about me. Tell him.’ On the phone, I’m like, ‘Yes, I hated Anthony in high school.’”

3. While filming When Harry Met Sally, director Rob Reiner showed Meg Ryan exactly how he wanted her orgasm faked...in front of his mom.

Columbia Pictures

"She did two or three [takes], and she did it kind of weakly...I think she was nervous about having to do it in front of the cast, crew, and everybody," Reiner said. "And finally, I said, 'Here, Meg—this is what I’m looking for.' And I sat down opposite Billy and I acted it out. I pounded the table again and again going, 'Yes! Yes! Yes!' and when we were done, I turned to Billy and said, 'Uh-oh, I just realized I had a huge orgasm in front of my mother!'"

4. Universal Pictures almost stopped The 40-Year-Old Virgin from being made because they thought Steve Carell looked like "a serial killer" in early footage.

Universal Pictures

"After the first week Universal pulled the plug. So we had to go in, we had only been shooting for five days, and they said 'we've been watching footage and...you look like a serial killer,'" Carell said. "We hadn't shot any dialogue! It was me riding my bike with a weird helmet and me walking down the street and seeing suggestive posters. Just that week compiled they went 'Oh no, this is NOT a comedy.'"

5. Alicia Silverstone seriously didn't know how to pronounce "Haitians" while filming Clueless, and writer/director Amy Heckerling thought it was so funny, she asked that no one correct her.

Paramount Pictures

Sometimes an actor is just MEANT to be a character, and Silverstone is a prime example. “The first day we shot the scene in debate class and Alicia said, 'Hate-i-ans' instead of 'Haitians,'" Heckerling said. "Everybody started to run up to her to tell her she was wrong. I had to stop them. It’s SO much funnier the way she said it. That was Cher.”

6. The naked break-up scene in Forgetting Sarah Marshall is based on a real-life break-up Jason Segel went through.

Universal Pictures

"That scene is autobiographical. I got broke-up with while naked in real life," Segel said. "My girlfriend had been out of town and she called me from the airport like, 'Hey are you at home? I'm back, can I come over?' And I thought, 'Yeah, okay, I know what's about to happen.' So when she got there I was waiting for her like Burt Reynolds, and she said, 'We need to talk.' Then this break-up commences."

7. Melissa McCarthy's Bridesmaids character was heavily inspired by the Mayor of Flavortown himself, Guy Fieri.

Universal Pictures, Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images

Turns out there's a specific reason why Melissa McCarthy's character Megan was the bomb dot com. "They [the costume team] were like, 'What is it that you want?' and I was like, 'I want to dress like Guy Fieri,'" McCarthy said. "I tried to get this in the movie, but it didn't make it in, but every time I took off my sunglasses, I'd put them on the back of my head."

8. Molly Ringwald wanted Viggo Mortensen to play Jake Ryan in Sixteen Candles because he actually kissed her during his audition.

Universal Pictures

"It was between two men — well, young men. It was Michael Shoeffling, who ended up being cast, and Viggo Mortensen, who had just moved from Denmark,” Ringwald said. "It got to the Jake Ryan shot, and we had the kissing scene. Michael Shoeffling did not kiss me during the audition — and Viggo Mortensen did. He made me weak in the knees. Absolutely.”

9. While filming Love & Other Drugs, Anne Hathaway accidentally flashed the cast and crew during rehearsal.

20th Century Fox

When asked about moments she was "nervous" or"embarrassed" about on set of this 2010 rom-com, Hathaway mentioned one memory stood out above the rest. “The scene where I have to remove my trench coat and be nude underneath,” Hathaway said. “I thought we were filming, but it turned out we were just rehearsing and I got unnecessarily naked in front of a lot of people.”

10. Ryan Gosling landed the lead in The Notebook specifically because he's "not handsome."

New Line Cinema

“[Director Nick] Cassavetes called me to meet him at his house," Gosling said. "When I got there, he was standing in his backyard, and he looked at me and said, ‘I want you to play this role because you’re not like the other young actors out there in Hollywood. You’re not handsome, you’re not cool, you’re just a regular guy who looks a bit nuts.’"

11. While filming a sex scene in No Strings Attached, Ashton Kutcher's main note was that he was taking TOO LONG to finish.

Paramount Pictures

Filming a sex scene makes for some awkward moments, but none more awkward than getting ~critiqued~ on your performance. "Ivan [Reitman, the director] comes in and is like, 'I think you need to orgasm sooner,'" Kutcher said. Apparently, finishing faster proved to be difficult for the actor, all puns intended. "So you’re trying to, but your male machismo is like, 'No, no, it would take me much longer than this!'"

12. While You Were Sleeping's working title was, no joke, Coma Guy.

Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc.

Because, honestly, who doesn't love a super-direct title? "For a year or two, Dan and I were known in LA as the 'Coma Guys,'" co-writer Fred Lebow said. "Dan [G. Sullivan] had a buddy who was a composer, named Mike Himelstein, and he was the one who came up with While You Were Sleeping."

13. Director David O. Russell wrote Silver Linings Playbook with Zooey Deschanel and Vince Vaughn in mind for the lead roles, which ended up going to Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper.

The Weinstein Company

The film that won Lawrence her Academy Award almost looked very different. "I wrote this script five years ago and I rewrote it 20 times," Russell said. "And I thought I was going to make it with Vince Vaughn and Zooey Deschanel before I made The Fighter. And then it didn’t happen, for any number of reasons that were out of my hands."

14. And finally, Rita Wilson convinced her husband, Tom Hanks, to produce My Big Fat Greek Wedding after taking him to writer/actor Nia Vardalos' one-person show.

IFC Films

“Nobody would read [the script] and I didn't have any representation, so I jumped on stage and started doing the material as a one-person show. I thought, 'Well, the agents will come, and maybe I can play a bridesmaid,'" Vardalos said. "The next thing I know, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, who had just formed Playtone, came to the show. Tom called me after and said, ‘I'm gonna make your movie.’”