Here's How Jim Parsons Really Felt About Filming Iconic TBBT Kiss Scene
Both Jim Parsons and Mayim Bialik wanted to finish filming Sheldon and Amy's first kiss as soon as possible.
Let's face it, without Jim Parsons' Sheldon, The Big Bang Theory wouldn't be half as funny, witty, and popular. Parsons seems to have been born for the role. And the high acting bar he set for himself affected the entire cast, who were all encouraged to give it 110 percent while filming alongside him.
But Parsons didn't dominate every scene. He sometimes had to rely on his co-stars for a variety of reasons. One such scene was the first kiss between Sheldon and his then-girlfriend Amy, played by Mayim Bialik.
The iconic scene takes place, fittingly, on a train in season 7, on Valentine's Day, in the Locomotive Manipulation episode.
The kiss was a big step for Sheldon, but filming the scene was torture for Jim Parsons because he had come down with a cold the night before and was running a fever. But the filming schedule was tight, and he had no choice but to turn up on the set and film the scene. Naturally, such an important scene took several takes to get right, really putting Parsons and Bialik through their paces.
In a book about the show, Jim talks about how the illness was an unpleasant and somewhat ironic surprise, seeing how he usually takes good care of himself and is always in perfect condition on set. ()
Jim says he felt really bad about it and couldn't believe it was happening.
Mayim Bialik, meanwhile, approached the situation as a true scientist, gargling after each take, according to Parsons.
Seeing how sick her partner was and not wanting to catch a cold from him, she rinsed her face with peroxide between takes. It was a smart move on her part too, but she later confessed it was one of the hardest days on set for her. Parsons' fever and Bialik's incessant gargling completely ruined the mood, but, being the good actors that they are, they delivered a top-notch performance, creating a most romantic scene.
In an interview for the book, Bialik reflected on all the hard work that went into the scene and talked about how happy she was that the scene turned out so sweet, adding that she really loved it and that she didn't get sick.