Still, the real moment was not as smooth or fun as some viewers might guess. Poulter has since explained why kissing both actresses in the same scene, when he was only 19, felt very awkward for him.
It may sound at first like the kind of complaint that is hard to take seriously, but his comments point to a much bigger change in Hollywood. The way intimate scenes are handled on sets has shifted a lot since then.
In the movie, he plays Kenny, a shy and sexually inexperienced young man who gets pulled into a risky plan to move weed across the US-Mexico border.
The scene was meant to be funny and uncomfortable at the same time, since Kenny is not prepared for the situation he finds himself in. For Poulter, though, that awkward feeling was also part of the real filming experience.
In the role that helped push his career forward, Poulter played a naive young adult who had been left behind by his own family. He then ends up finding a strange new family in the fake Miller group, which is put together by Jason Sudeikis’ drug-dealing character, David, to fool Customs officials at the US border.
After Kenny is pulled into the plan to traffic a ton of weed in an RV, the fake Millers cross paths with another family. Through that meeting, Kenny develops a crush on their daughter, Melissa.
In an interview with the Independent, Poulter, now 33, said the scene was really awkward to film with the two famous stars. He also said his main worry at the time was for Jen and Emma, who he felt sorry for during the shoot.
Even though Poulter found the scene uncomfortable, it clearly stayed with viewers. The moment later won the 2014 MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss, and people have continued bringing it up to him for the past 13 years.
For readers watching it back now, the scene also adds more context to Poulter’s later comments. What may look like a wild comedy bit on screen was still a strange and tense thing for a young actor to perform in front of a crew.
The video also shows why the moment became one of the most talked-about parts of We’re the Millers. It brings together Jennifer Aniston, Emma Roberts, and Poulter in one deeply awkward setup, which is exactly why the scene followed him long after the movie came out.
Still, despite the 24-year age gap between him and Aniston, Poulter said one person in the scene made the experience easier to get through.
“Jennifer was an amazing sport,” he explained, describing how Aniston helped support him through a moment that could have felt even more uncomfortable.
A young actor would be less likely to face that kind of situation in the same way today. In recent years, film and TV sets have changed how they handle scenes involving kissing, sex, and other intimate moments.
Poulter said: “This was before intimacy coordinators, which I really would have appreciated, and I’m sure Emma and Jen would have, too.”
“It’s so disturbing. He’s very young. He was underage,” the Friends star said. “I thought, this is kind of illegal. But then, no, we didn’t. It was just a kiss. That’s not illegal.”
Even with that reaction, Aniston later admitted during an interview with Access Hollywood that the strange scene had actually come from her own twisted idea.
Her comment shows that the scene was meant to lean into the fake family’s messy and strange dynamic. The more uncomfortable the situation became, the more it fit the comedy the film was trying to create.
For Poulter, though, the memory is more complicated. The scene helped make him more recognizable, but it also became the kind of moment strangers still shout about years later.
