Production
Deutch and Hughes were not happy with the ending of their previous collaboration Pretty in Pink (1986); in the script and the original cut of the film Andy (Molly Ringwald) wound up with her best friend Duckie (Jon Cryer). Test audiences disliked that ending, however, so a new ending was shot where Andy wound up with Blane (Andrew McCarthy).
With Some Kind of Wonderful, Hughes decided to re-tell the story, but with the sexes of the main characters switched. Hughes named the three main protagonists—Keith, Watts, and Amanda Jones—as an inside-joke tribute to the Rolling Stones (Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, and the Stones' song "Miss Amanda Jones", respectively). Hughes wanted Ringwald to play the female lead role of Watts, but she declined in order to pursue more adult roles; she also thought the character of Amanda seemed too similar to the character she played in The Breakfast Club. Hughes took this refusal personally, and it led to the end of Hughes's and Ringwald's working relationship.
Martha Coolidge was signed to direct Some Kind of Wonderful. Mary Stuart Masterson was cast as Watts. In addition to Masterson, Coolidge cast Eric Stoltz as Keith. Coolidge's vision of the film, which was darker than the eventual product, attracted Stoltz to the role. Unhappy with Coolidge, Hughes fired her and hired Deutch to direct. Original cast members Kim Delaney (Amanda Jones) and Kyle MacLachlan (Hardy Jenns) were fired shortly after. Deutch offered Lea Thompson the role of Amanda, but she initially turned him down. However, after the Thompson-starring Howard the Duck flopped at the box office, she accepted a second offer to take the role. Deutch and Thompson started dating after filming was completed, and they got married in 1989.
This film would have marked a third collaboration of both Eric Stoltz and Lea Thompson, the first being The Wild Life (1984), and the second being Back to the Future (1985), where both Stoltz and Thompson had been cast, but just five weeks into filming Back to the Future, Stoltz was let go from the production and replaced with Michael J. Fox, while Thompson stayed on. This film was shot in Los Angeles in the summer of 1986. Locations include San Pedro High School, Hancock Park, and the Hollywood Bowl.
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