40 Fun Facts About Some Kind of Wonderful

Keith, Watts and Amanda Jones in Some Kind of Wonderful are named in tribute to which rock band?

The Rolling Stones supplied all three names: Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and the 1967 album track Miss Amanda Jones. Writer John Hughes meant it as an inside joke.

Some Kind of Wonderful retells which earlier John Hughes film with the sexes of the lead characters switched?

Pretty in Pink had its ending reshot after test audiences rejected the best friend winning, so Hughes told the story again with a boy at its centre.

The actors who play Keith and Amanda in Some Kind of Wonderful were both cast in which 1985 blockbuster?

Back to the Future kept one of them as Lorraine but replaced the other with Michael J. Fox several weeks into the shoot.

Which future Full House star plays Keith's youngest sister, Cindy, in Some Kind of Wonderful?

Candace Cameron took the small part of Cindy Nelson in the same year that she began her long run as D.J. Tanner.

In Some Kind of Wonderful, Keith spends his college savings on which gift for Amanda Jones?

Diamond earrings swallow the whole fund, which infuriates his father, and by the final scene Keith has given them to Watts instead.

Which instrument does Keith's tomboy best friend Watts play in Some Kind of Wonderful?

Drums define Watts so completely that the original John Hughes script called the character simply Drummer Girl.

Which star of earlier John Hughes teen films turned down a lead role in Some Kind of Wonderful?

Molly Ringwald wanted more adult parts and felt the script echoed her earlier work with Hughes; the two never made another film together.

At which famous outdoor concert venue do Keith and Amanda sit on the empty stage in Some Kind of Wonderful?

The Hollywood Bowl is where Keith hands over his gift and the pair accuse each other of using the date to prove a point.

What do Keith and Watts rehearse together before his big date with Amanda in Some Kind of Wonderful?

A kiss is what Watts suggests practising, with her standing in for Amanda, and Keith only grasps what it meant after the party.

Which actress plays Amanda Jones in Some Kind of Wonderful and married the film's director two years later?

Lea Thompson first turned the part down and accepted only on a second offer; she and the director married in 1989, and both their daughters became actresses.

Which actor, a Golden Globe nominee as Rocky Dennis in Mask, plays Keith Nelson in Some Kind of Wonderful?

Eric Stoltz signed on for the darker film an earlier director had planned, and stayed when she and two of his co-stars were replaced.

Which actress, later the star of Fried Green Tomatoes and Benny & Joon, plays Watts in Some Kind of Wonderful?

Mary Stuart Masterson was singled out by several critics, who praised both her look and her performance as Watts.

Where does aspiring artist Keith Nelson earn his money after school in Some Kind of Wonderful?

A gas station with a repair shop employs Keith as a mechanic, and Amanda's boyfriend pulls in there to warn him to stop staring at her.

Keith's father Cliff insists that he study which subject at college in Some Kind of Wonderful?

Business is the only major Cliff will accept, because Keith would be the first in the family to go to college and art can wait for his spare time.

On Keith's big date with Amanda Jones in Some Kind of Wonderful, which job does Watts take on?

Chauffeur is the part Watts plays all evening, driving the pair in a vintage luxury car and watching from the bleachers as they talk.

How does Keith deliberately land himself in detention alongside Amanda Jones in Some Kind of Wonderful?

Sets off the fire alarm, and the plan backfires: Amanda charms her way out of the punishment and Keith is left with the school troublemakers.

Which Some Kind of Wonderful character arrives with friends from detention to rescue Keith at the party?

Duncan, the skinhead who bonds with Keith over artwork in detention, faces down the host; the end credits list him only as Skinhead.

Which wealthy boyfriend of Amanda Jones invites Keith to a party as a trap in Some Kind of Wonderful?

Hardy Jenns plans to have Keith beaten up in front of the guests, a scheme Keith learns about in advance and walks into anyway.

The actor who plays Keith's father in Some Kind of Wonderful is best known as Sergeant Taggart in which film series?

Beverly Hills Cop paired John Ashton with Eddie Murphy and Judge Reinhold, and he worked with John Hughes again a year later on She's Having a Baby.

The actress who plays Mia, Amanda's blonde rival in Some Kind of Wonderful, later sang in which pop trio?

Wilson Phillips took Chynna Phillips to number one with the single Hold On in 1990, three years after she made her screen debut as Mia.

Who directed Some Kind of Wonderful, his second John Hughes script after making his feature debut a year earlier?

Howard Deutch had made music videos for Billy Idol and Billy Joel, and returned to the film shortly before shooting to replace the director who had replaced him.

Which member of Keith's family overhears the plot against him at the mall in Some Kind of Wonderful?

Laura, the sister who spends the film mocking Keith, hears the scheme while showing her friends she can now mix with the popular crowd.

What does Amanda Jones do to her rich ex-boyfriend once he backs down at the party in Some Kind of Wonderful?

Slaps him, moments after Keith tells the bully that his reign over the school has ended, and then she walks out at Keith's side.

What does Keith lead Amanda Jones to see inside a museum after hours in Some Kind of Wonderful?

His portrait of her hangs among the gallery's works because the guard on duty that night is the father of a friend from detention.

Which small British car does Watts drive Keith to school in during Some Kind of Wonderful?

Mini Cooper, and an old one: when it refuses to start, Keith ends up riding home with Amanda in her friend's car instead.

Which actor plays Amanda's wealthy boyfriend in Some Kind of Wonderful before starring in A River Runs Through It?

Craig Sheffer won the role in a late recasting, and years later played a Keith himself: Keith Scott on the teen drama One Tree Hill.

Which future Casey Jones of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles plays the skinhead in Some Kind of Wonderful?

Elias Koteas was praised by reviewers in this early role, long before his run as Al Olinsky in the Chicago P.D. franchise.

The actor who plays Keith in Some Kind of Wonderful later appeared as drug dealer Lance in which 1994 film?

Pulp Fiction brought him an Independent Spirit Award nomination as Vincent's dealer, seven years after he played the lovestruck teenager Keith.

The actress who plays Amanda Jones in Some Kind of Wonderful later starred as a cartoonist in which NBC sitcom?

Caroline in the City ran for four seasons from 1995, with her in the title role as a comic-strip artist living in Manhattan.

London folk-rock band Lick the Tins covers which Elvis Presley hit on the Some Kind of Wonderful soundtrack?

Can't Help Falling in Love was played so fast by the band that three polkas were added to the end of the track to bring it up to length.

Which studio released Some Kind of Wonderful, a year after it released Ferris Bueller's Day Off?

Paramount Pictures did more than distribute the film: its own studio lot is listed among the shooting locations.

Which critic gave Some Kind of Wonderful three stars and admired how it rethinks the boy-gets-girl formula?

Roger Ebert, writing in the Chicago Sun-Times, liked that the film questions whether its hero is even chasing the right person.

Which Valley Girl director was signed to make Some Kind of Wonderful but was replaced before filming began?

Martha Coolidge cast the actor who plays Keith, and the two actors she chose for Amanda and her boyfriend were replaced after her exit.

The school scenes in Some Kind of Wonderful were shot on which real California campus?

San Pedro High School, in the harbour district of Los Angeles, hosted the school scenes of a shoot that began in August 1986.

The actor who plays the museum guard in Some Kind of Wonderful was the first member ever expelled from which body?

The Motion Picture Academy expelled Carmine Caridi in 2004 after pirated films online were traced to the awards screeners sent to him.

The director of Some Kind of Wonderful next filmed which John Hughes comedy starring Dan Aykroyd and John Candy?

The Great Outdoors, released in 1988, completed a run of three Hughes scripts for the director and gave Annette Bening her film debut.

Which Leeds band covers the 1960s song Miss Amanda Jones on the Some Kind of Wonderful soundtrack?

The March Violets also appear in the film, playing their own single Turn to the Sky live, and they broke up later that year.

Which Buzzcocks frontman wrote and performed Do Anything for the Some Kind of Wonderful soundtrack?

Pete Shelley recorded the song as a new piece for the film, and went on to compose the theme for Channel 4's Tour de France coverage.

Which Scottish band formed by brothers Jim and William Reid plays The Hardest Walk in Some Kind of Wonderful?

The Jesus and Mary Chain built their sound on pop melody buried in guitar feedback, an approach that went on to influence shoegaze.

The actress who plays Keith's mother in Some Kind of Wonderful is best known as Tracy Quartermaine on which soap?

General Hospital introduced Jane Elliot as the ruthless Tracy in 1978, and her film work in 1987 also included the comedy Baby Boom.