Lea Thompson and Howard Deutch met while filming Some Kind of Wonderful—he the director, she the lead actress—and 30 years later, their marriage is just that: wonderful.
Although the 1987 film (written by John Hughes) wasn't an immediate success like Pretty In Pink (another Deutch-Hughes collaboration), it's since become a cult favorite. "And I met my wife on set so it's a meaningful movie to me," Howard said in an interview with Salon.
"Of course, how sexy Lea [is] was part of why I wanted her in the movie," he continued. "I had a crush on her that all of my friends teased me about. But there's also something grounded and relatable about her on screen."
Still, nothing happened on set, and the two didn't even start seeing each other right away. At the time, Lea, already a movie star after Back to the Future, was actually engaged to Dennis Quaid, whom she met on the set of her first movie, Jaws 3-D. When that engagement ended, she began dating Howard, 11 years her senior, whom she found to be an "exotic," "complicated" man.
By summer 1989, the couple was married. Lea and Howard welcomed their daughter Madelyn in 1991, followed by Zoey in 1994.
From 1995 to 1999, Howard directed Lea in the NBC sitcom Caroline in the City. Lea went on to perform on Broadway and star in Hallmark movies and the Freeform show Switched at Birth, while Howard's directorial credits include Grumpier Old Men and various episodes of shows including American Horror Story, Jane the Virgin, CSI: Cyber, and Empire.
Clearly, it's a family affair. Madelyn and Zoey are both actresses and even collaborated with their parents on the 2017 independent film The Year of Spectacular Men. The sisters co-star in the movie, which was written and scored by Madelyn, co-produced by Zoey and Howard, and directed by Lea.
"Lea has always been the artist in this family," Howard told Salon. "Our kids got that from her. Just as she did from her parents and how they valued creativity and her gift."
Of her daughters following in her footsteps, Lea told Parade, "I think that in a lot of ways we just feel as if they're going into the family business, and that is lovely. It's kind of sickening sometimes at the dinner table because all we talk about is work, but I have a wonderful, collaborative relationship with both of my daughters."
One particularly ironic piece of advice she told Entertainment Weekly she's given her girls? "It's really not okay to hook up with your director—even though I did."
