While movies have a habit of introducing new celebrity couples, it’s rare that said real life couples will then head back to the screen to portray a fictitious relationship. While some couples, like Ben Falcone and Melissa McCarthy, have basically made a life of it, for others, starring in a movie together seems to have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Whether it’s the intensity of diving into complicated on-screen pairings, or the pressure of working on (and then promoting) a feature film, it seems starring in a movie together can make or break a celebrity couple.
Below, eight times real-life celebrity couples starred in movies together – and what became of their off-screen relationships.
Zoe Kravitz & Channing Tatum
Blink Twice
Although Zoe didn’t star in Blink Twice, she was its director and had a cameo as a stewardess. Meanwhile, she hired Channing to take the lead role. Although the relationship wasn’t confirmed until after filming wrapped, behind-the-scenes pics suggest something was going on.
Jennifer Lopez & Ben Affleck
Gigli, Jersey Girl and more…
You could almost tell Bennifer‘s entire romance through their movie/tv/music video catalogue, with the two sharing the screen several times. It all started in 2002, when the pair met while filming Gigli, the rom-com flop that is widely thought-of as one of the worst movies of all time. This was then followed by JLo’s Jenny From The Block music video, and the oft-forgotten Jersey Girl in 2004.
It was all over by the time that was released, after Ben filmed Daredevil and Elektra with his soon-to-be wife Jennifer Garner.
After Ben and JLo reunited romantically nearly 20 years later, they shared the screen a further two times: in JLo’s full album music video, This Is Me… Now: A Love Story, and the accompanying documentary, The Greatest Love Story Never Told. Furthermore, although they don’t share the screen, Bennifer also collaborated on the yet-to-be-released film Unstoppable, in which Lopez stars and Affleck served as producer.
Lopez filed for divorce in 2024 after two years of marriage.
Related: Jennifer Lopez & Ben Affleck’s Complete Relationship Timeline
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt
Mr & Mrs Smith, By The Sea
These two famously met on the set of Mr & Mrs Smith while Brad was still married to Jennifer Aniston. They went on to star in By The Sea 10 years after their first on-screen adventure. By The Sea, written and directed by Jolie, was a film about a struggling married couple, with many assuming it contained parallels to the couple’s real life. Brad and Ange split in 2016, a year after the film’s release. As of 2024, their divorce is not finalised.
Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt
Friends
Although it’s not a feature film, Brad Pitt did have a guest starring role on Jen’s hit sitcom Friends while the two were married. They split roughly four years later.
Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise
Eyes Wide Shut
After meeting on the set of Days Of Thunder, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman had one of the highest-profile marriages in Hollywood. In 1999, they filmed Eyes Wide Shut, directed by Stanley Kubrick. Nicole has since said she though Kubrick “mined” her relationship with Cruise for inspiration for the film, which was about a couple struggling with infidelity.
“There were ideas he was interested in. He’d ask a lot of questions. But he had a strong sense of the story he was telling,” she told the Los Angeles Times. “I do remember him saying, ‘Triangles are hard. You have to tread carefully when it’s a triangle.’ Because one person could feel ganged up on. But he was aware of that and knew how to manage us.”
Tom and Nicole divorced in 2001 after 11 years of marriage.
Emily Blunt and John Krasinski
A Quiet Place
One of Hollywood’s most charming couples has to be Emily Blunt and John Krasinski. Although they didn’t meet on the set of a film, they later starred together in Krasinski’s 2018 debut as a writer/director, A Quiet Place. John and Emily have been married since 2010 and share two children.
Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone
Melissa McCarthy and husband Ben Falcone have made over 15 projects together over the course of their nearly 20-year marriage (and counting…). The most famous is surely Falcone’s cameo in McCarthy’s 2011 hit Bridesmaids. After that, they’ve done several further comedy projects including Conan, Tammy, Spy, The Heat, The Boss, which are most written, directed and/or produced by Falcone (with the odd guest role), and starring McCarthy.
Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem
Vicky Cristina Barcelona, The Counsellor and more
These two have been making movies together long before they were an item-and long after they became one. They first met while filming the Spanish film Jamon Jamon in 1992, but it seems love struck years later when they reunited for the 2008 film Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Since then, they’ve appeared in several further films together, including The Counsellor, Loving Pablo, and Everybody Knows. And although they didn’t share the screen, they were both part of the Pirates of The Caribbean franchise, with Cruz appearing in On Stranger Tides and Bardem in Dead Men Tell No Tales.
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This article originally appeared on Marie Claire Australia and is republished here with permission.
