Some Kind of Wonderful
Short description
Keith Nelson is an artistic high school student who works part time and dreams of going out with Amanda Jones, one of the most popular girls in school. Amanda has been dating Hardy Jenns, a wealthy and arrogant classmate, and when Keith manages to ask her out, Hardy plans to retaliate. Keith's closest friend is Watts, a tomboy who is in love with him and wants him to give up on Amanda, even as she helps him. The situation forces all three to confront what they actually want from one another.
Howard Deutch directed the film from a screenplay by John Hughes, who also produced it through Hughes Entertainment for Paramount. It was Deutch's second feature, following Pretty in Pink the previous year. Eric Stoltz plays Keith, Mary Stuart Masterson plays Watts, Lea Thompson plays Amanda, and Craig Sheffer plays Hardy, with Chynna Phillips and John Ashton among the credited cast of twenty.
Released in February 1987, the film runs 95 minutes and is a comedy, drama and romance set in the United States. Made for a budget of 19 million dollars, it took in roughly the same amount worldwide at the box office. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7 out of 10 from around 37,000 votes, while on TMDB it has 6.9 out of 10 from about 560 votes. A film critics' rating of 6.9 out of 10, based on 45 reviews, is close to those audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Eric Stoltz and Lea Thompson were friends long before filming began, and in fact, it was Stoltz who persuaded Lea to take on the role of Amanda Jones – at that time, the actress was very upset about the failure and negative reviews of her previous work in “Howard the Duck.”
- During the filming of the movie, director Howard Deutsch met actress Lea Thompson, although at the time the actress was having an affair with Eric Stoltz, however, two years later Thompson and Deutsch got married.
- Marta Coolidge was originally the director of the film. At Coolidge's suggestion, Kim Delaney was to play Amanda Jones, and Kyle MacLachlan was to play Hardy Jens. All three were fired at the last moment when Howard Deutsch took the director's chair.
- Lea Thompson felt she wasn't beautiful enough for the role of Amanda. In a press release, she noted: 'A lot in Amanda’s life depended on her appearance, and I can’t say that everything happens the same way in my life—so I tried to show her inner beauty.'
- The film is named after the song of the same name, “Some Kind of Wonderful,” written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, and first performed by The Drifters in 1961. In 1987, a cover version by The Blow Monkeys was released, which could have appeared on the film's soundtrack, but for unknown reasons, it didn't.
- John Hughes wrote the role of Keith specifically for Eric Stoltz.
- The school scenes were filmed during the summer vacation of 1986.
- Most of the bullies during their time serving their sentence were played by football players from local schools – these guys were chosen because they were much larger and looked somewhat intimidating against the actors.
- At the beginning of the film, Mary Stuart Masterson herself plays the drums. In a 1988 interview, she jokes that she has been haunted by the same nightmare for years – drum lessons.
- Real houses were used for filming the homes of the main characters – most of them are located close to each other. When Amanda and Shane drive Keith home, Amanda explains how to get to his house from hers – following her instructions, you can actually get from one house used in the filming to the other.
- On Eric Stoltz’s advice, John Hughes and Howard Deutch hired Lea Thompson for the role of Amanda.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
