Paul Rudd Felt Rather Self-Conscious About A Key Romantic Scene In Clueless
There's nothing quite like sitting down to relax with a good ol' heart-gushing rom-com — the jokes are rolling, a happy ending is guaranteed, and you get to watch a couple fall for each other. True love prevails. They all live happily ever after, far from the evil clutches of everyday problems.
If you start to compare rom-coms, however, it quickly becomes clear that few heroines are farther removed from reality than Cher Horowitz of "Clueless." In fact, when writer-director Amy Heckerling created the TV pilot script that would eventually morph into "Clueless," she originally conceived of the main character as "this girl that was just completely happy, no matter what happened." The end result? Cher is so bubbly and confident that you can walk away from the movie feeling like you're unstoppable.
Still, Cher's self-assured optimism wasn't always contagious on set. In particular, Paul Rudd, who was practically destined to play Josh — Cher's ex-stepbrother and not-as-creepy-as-he-should-be love interest — told GQ that one scene left him very self-conscious. To make matters worse, his manager had some harsh comments, too:
"I wanna say that scene on the top of the stairs, we were kind of [improvising it] as we were filming. [...] I was very self-conscious afterward. As far as that kiss goes, I think my manager at the time, when that movie came out, he said, 'Oh, that was not good.' He said I did not do it very well. So I'm like, 'Hey, you weren't there. How would you know?' It's a weird job when you're hired and part of your job is to kiss somebody — and I was very aware I was kissing the girl from the Aerosmith videos, and that there was gonna be a lot of dudes who were going to be very jealous of me."
Making a very weird situation a little less creepy?
Alright, look. I am not a kiss scene connoisseur. As much as I love a good rom-com binge, I cannot give you an in-depth breakdown of where "Clueless" stands in relation to other movies' smooches. However, there are two things I can tell you:
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The idea of a college-aged guy kissing his 16-year-old ex-stepsister is very, very weird (although I also want to remind everyone that Cher tells her father, "You were hardly even married to [Josh's] mother and that was five years ago," long before she develops feelings for Josh — the line is easy to forget, but does a lot of heavy lifting to establish that the pair never had a sibling-like relationship).
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The kiss is a bit awkward. No way around that. But that's a very good thing.
Now, if Paul Rudd's agent wanted to use "Clueless," a teen movie, to skyrocket the actor up to movie star status (or an eventual "Sexiest Man Alive" award), it wouldn't hurt to position him as some suave heartthrob — at least in theory. After all, it's easy to see how an agent might assume that teenage girls would be a teen rom-com's biggest audience — and if they fell for the handsome male lead, they'd keep going to see his new movies.
That being said, if Josh had swooped in with a smooth kiss, the scene would've been far more uncomfortable. A suave, confident kiss necessitates past experience. Suddenly, Josh would seem more romantically experienced and the gulf between him and Cher would widen, making the whole thing way more disturbing. By that same token, the movie's awkward kiss implied that Josh was relatively inexperienced. The playing field might not have been even, but the power imbalance wasn't nearly as severe.
Building a legacy
I want to be totally clear here: as much as I love "Clueless," I'm still not a fan of the dynamics between Cher and Josh. Yes, they have lots of endearing moments on-screen, but I can't fully get over the age difference (or the fact that their parents used to be married). Maybe it's because we've started thinking about the ways that a relationship's power dynamics can be harmful. Maybe it's something else entirely. I don't quite know.
Still, the fact that I (and many others) will look past Cher and Josh's background — which sounds alarming on paper — and consider "Clueless" a playful, feminist celebration of young womanhood (albeit one with its faults) is a testament to how well the movie eases any potential discomfort around the pair's relationship. It never feels like Josh is taking advantage of Cher. He really does seem like a great guy.
Ironically, while a suave Josh might've made for nicer visuals, it's his awkwardness that makes him so likable — and makes his appeal so long-lasting. Replace that with smooth moves and you've got a deeply off-putting character who's preying on a teenage girl. In other words, if it weren't for Paul Rudd's "not good" kiss, "Clueless" might not have been such a fun watch today.