From Fassbender and Vikander to Brangelina, 15 Romances that Started on Set

By all evidence, Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender fell in love while making their new film The Light Between the Oceans — and how could they not? In preparation for the romantic drama, Vikander (who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for The Danish Girl) lived in a secluded New Zealand lighthouse with her co-star for a month. “These things of course sort of spill through to what you’re doing,” Fassbender told Vanity Fair. The history of the movies is filled with love stories that began on set, whether sparks flew at the audition (as was the case for Twilight co-stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson) or ignited months after filming wrapped (like Blake Lively’s romance with Green Lantern Ryan Reynolds). Here are 14 other famous relationships that started behind-the-scenes.

Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, Woman of the Year (1942)

Legend has it that when Hepburn was introduced to her leading man on the set of George Stevens’ comedy, she said, “I fear I may be too tall for you, Mr. Tracy” — to which the director replied, “Don’t worry, he’ll soon cut you down to size.” Indeed, the two were well-matched, immediately beginning a romance that lasted 30 years (despite the fact that Tracy, a devout Catholic, wouldn’t leave his wife.) The public loved the couple too, and they co-starred in nine films together from 1942 to 1967.

Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart, To Have and Have Not (1944)

At the age of 19, Bacall made her film debut in Howard Hawks’ classic film noir and fell in love with her 44-year-old leading man. “The early romance was the most romantic experience I have ever had in my life — far surpassing anything I might’ve dreamed of or imagined, it was quite amazing,” she said in a 1994 NPR interview. Married in 1945, Bogie and Bacall remained a couple until his death in 1957 — and while the age difference is difficult to swallow in retrospect, their famous first scene together (“You do know how to whistle, don’t you Steve? You just put your lips together and blow.”) is as sexy as ever.

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, The Long, Hot Summer (1958)

When Newman warned Woodward that he was about to kiss her, the audience for this Southern Gothic drama felt the heat. So did the actors, who were friends prior to filming, but fell in love on set. (Newman was in the process of divorcing his first wife at the time.) The couple were married 50 years, until Newman’s death in 2008.

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Cleopatra (1963)

The legendary affair between these beautiful, volatile stars began on the set of Cleopatra, when both were married to other people. Taylor had met the Welsh actor previously at a party and remembered thinking, ‘Ohhh, boy — I’m not gonna become a notch on his belt.’” Then they began filming Cleopatra. “For the first scene, there was no dialogue — we had to just look at each other,” Taylor told Vanity Fair. “And that was it — I was another notch.” The couple married in 1964, divorced 10 years later, and reunited for a brief second marriage in 1975.

Julia Roberts and Kiefer Sutherland, Flatliners (1990)

Roberts was already a showmance veteran — she’d been in relationships with previous co-stars Liam Neeson and Dylan McDermott — when she hooked up with Sutherland on the set of the sci-fi thriller in 1990. (He was still married to his first wife when shooting began.) The two quickly became engaged, but just days before the planned wedding in June 1991, Roberts left Sutherland for his friend Jason Patric.

Jeff Goldblum and Laura Dern, Jurassic Park (1993)

These two stars became en-raptored with each other while shooting the dinosaur blockbuster, and their on-and-off relationship lasted until 1997. Oddly enough, at the same time Goldblum and Dern began dating, their most recent exes — Geena Davis and director Renny Harlin — also became a couple. They, too, separated in 1997.

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, Daredevil (2003)

“We met on Pearl Harbor, which people hate, but we fell in love on Daredevil,” Affleck said of his relationship with then-wife Jennifer Garner in 2013. In truth, film fans don’t have a lot of love for Daredevil either, and whatever chemistry may have existed between Daredevil and Elektra went largely unnoticed by the audience. Garner and Affleck fared better in real life: They were married for a decade beginning in 2005 and have three children. (The couple separated in 2015.)

Related: Revisiting ‘Daredevil’: Is the Movie (and Ben Affleck) Really as Bad as We Remember?

Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling, The Notebook (2004)

“God bless The Notebook,” Gosling told GQ in 2007. “It introduced me to one of the great loves of my life. But people do Rachel and me a disservice by assuming we were anything like the people in that movie. Rachel and my love story is a hell of a lot more romantic than that.” Ironically, the two actors reportedly hated each other at the start of filming; director Nick Cassavetes told VH1 in 2014 that Gosling once asked for McAdams to be removed from the set. The couple went public in 2005, shared one of the best Best Kisses ever at the MTV Movie Awards, and dated on and off until 2008.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005)

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie set the screen on fire in this action flick/rom-com, which sparked one of the most talked-about romances of our time. Pitt was married to Jennifer Aniston during shooting, and has always sworn that he didn’t cheat on her. However, when Jolie talked about showing the film to her children in a 2008 New York Times interview, she described it as the “movie where their parents fell in love.” Pitt and Jolie have six children and were married in 2014.

Related: Looking back at ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith,’ the Movie that Launched America’s Obsession with Brangelina

Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, Twilight (2008)

The Twilight stars made things easy for Bella and Edward shippers: They fell for each other at the audition, creating a real-life love story to rival the forbidden vampire-human romance. Director Catherine Hardwicke has described the “electricity” between Rob and Kristen during their first reading, which took place on Hardwicke’s own bed and included a make-out scene. Needless to say, both their onscreen and real-life chemistry was enough to wake the dead. The couple stayed together through the release of the final film in 2012, though Stewart has since complained that the relationship was “made into a product” to sell tickets.

Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

They made their first Spanish film together in 1992, and 15 years later, Cruz and Bardem reunited in Spain for this Woody Allen comedy. Their onscreen chemistry was palpable enough to raise eyebrows, but the couple — who were also photographed vacationing together during filming — refused to discuss their relationship with the press. They married in 2010 and have two children together.

Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, Green Lantern (2011)

Romance didn’t blossom right away for these co-stars; Reynolds was still married to Scarlett Johansson when he shot the super-powered flop. But the two became fast friends, and when they were both single a year later, they re-connected on a double-date…with other people. “That was like the most awkward date for the respective parties because we were just like fireworks coming across [the table],” Reynolds admitted in 2016. The actors married in 2012 and have one child together.

Chris Pratt and Anna Faris, Take Me Home Tonight (2011)

Don’t remember this movie? Of course you don’t! Shot in 2007, but unreleased until 2011, the retro-’80s comedy was a major bomb. On the plus side, it introduced Anna Faris and Chris Pratt, one of Hollywood’s most adorable couples. Faris was married to first husband Ben Indra when her and Pratt made the film, but their connection was undeniable. “We met making this movie and we fell in love during that time,” Faris said at the film’s premiere. Her divorce was finalized in 2008, and she married Pratt in 2009; they have one child together.

Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux, Wanderlust (2012)

Like many Hollywood couples, Aniston and Theroux found their way together over the course of multiple films: They met on the set of Tropic Thunder (which he co-wrote) in 2008, then got a little closer while co-starring in the comedy Wanderlust. Theroux had a girlfriend at the time, so it’s unclear how long it took for the actors to pair off — but they went public in May 2011, and married four years later. “Justin was the best thing about this decade,” Aniston said shortly before the wedding.

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