5 movies so romantic the stars ended up getting together in real life
Valentine's Day is just around the corner, so - in the spirit of love but also heartbreak - take a dive into five celebrity couples whose romances were sparked after acting together.
If you've already started seeing an abundance of pink and red tacky bears, sickly chocolates and overflows of roses adorning the grocery stores, you'll be well aware we're in the lead-up to February 14.
It's a day you're guilt-tripped into purchasing unnecessarily expensive and ridiculous items to supposedly show how much you love your partner, friend, dog or whoever else is the special someone in your life despite how you should do that any day of the year.
And so what better way to celebrate - or commiserate - than reflecting on 10 actors whose on-screen romance blossomed into something more and ended up dating in real life, although, not all of them are still together now.
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UNILAD Ranked presents five films which saw the actors involved end up dating - in order of date, well, because that just seemed fitting.
Gigli (2003)
The rom-com crime movie was written, co-produced and directed by Martin Brest.
It centers around Los Angeles mobster Larry Gigli (Ben Affleck) who's ordered to kidnap the younger brother of a federal prosecutor. When he fails to do so, fellow gangster Ricki (Jennifer Lopez) is sent in to finish the job. Question is, will either of them get the job done or will they get distracted?
Halle Berry was originally meant to star opposite Affleck, but ended up dropping out due to scheduling conflicts with X2: X-Men United (2003), IMDB Pro reports. And it's just as well Berry dropped out otherwise Affleck wouldn't have gone on to work alongside Lopez and strike up a romance.
Lopez was still married to second husband Cris Judd at the time of filming, however she filed for divorce later that year and soon news of her relationship with Affleck became public - Affleck proposing in November 2002.
The pair called off the wedding, went on to marry other people, have kids and then reunited, tying the knot in 2022, before JLo filed for divorce in August last year.
Gigli was also considered a flop - and even dubbed one of the worst films of all time with a shocking Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score of six percent and Popcornmeter of 14 - grossing just $7.2 million against a staggering $75.6 million budget.
However, next up is a film which reigns superior among all rom-coms.
The Notebook (2004)
Based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks, the cult classic is considered one of the best rom-coms of the last few decades with a Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter score of 85 despite a Tomatometer of 54.
It stars Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams as lumber mill worker Noah Calhoun and 17-year-old heiress Allison 'Allie' Hamilton, a young couple of the 1940s who fall in love and battle to keep their relationship alive against all odds.
Despite Gosling and McAdams reportedly not actually getting along too well on set according to Cassavetes, the pair were allegedly thrust into a room together to air their grievances.
And it clearly worked out because the pair ended up dating in the years which followed - reenacting that famous kiss from the movie onstage after winning the MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss in 2005.
The pair parted ways after a couple of years and have since gone on to find other partners - Gosling with fellow actor Eva Mendes and McAdams with Dear John writer Jamie Linden.
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
The heartbreaking masterpiece was adapted from the 1997 short story by Annie Proulx and this year marks its 20th anniversary.
The neo-Western was directed by Ang Lee, obtaining a Tomatometer score of 88 and Popcornmeter of 82.
Set in the 1960s, it centers around cowboy Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) and ranch hand Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) who are hired as sheep herders in Wyoming. Their friendship becomes complicated when Jack makes a drunken pass at Ennis and over the next 20 years or so, despite both marrying, they desperately try and forget but also cling to one another.
Ennis goes on to marry Alma Beers Del Mar - played by Michelle Williams - and Williams reportedly requested the two leads kiss in front of her to help her reach the emotional depths within her character.
Williams and Ledger started dating soon after meeting on set of Brokeback Mountain and went on to have a daughter together - born shortly before the film premiered.
The actors ended up parting ways in 2007 and in 2008, Ledger sadly passed away from an accidental drug overdose.
The Break-Up (2006)
With a screenplay written by Jeremy Garelick and Jay Lavender, The Break-Up sees Gary Grobowski (Vince Vaughn) and Brooke Meyers (Jennifer Aniston) meet at a baseball game, start dating, fall in love, buy a condo and then, well, as the title suggests, break up - and it's an ugly one at that.
While the pair's on-screen relationship may've not been all rainbows - nor the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score of 34 and Popcornmeter of 46 - Aniston and Vaughn reportedly ended up dating from 2005 to 2006 and in an interview with Vogue in 2008, Aniston dubbed her co-star her 'defibrillator'.
Dating the actor following her divorce from Brad Pitt, Aniston said: "He literally brought me back to life. My first gasp of air was a big laugh! It was great. I love him. He's a bull in a china shop. He was lovely and fun and perfect for the time we had together. And I needed that. And it sort of ran its course."
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
Granted, The Amazing Spider-Man isn't exactly classified as a romance but an action/sci-fi, but do you really want to get into an argument about just how magical those kisses are? I think not. Especially if the film's 71 percent Tomatometer and 77 Popcornmeter scores are anything to go by.
And despite it not being a romance per say, that didn't stop characters Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy falling in love nor co-stars Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone who portrayed them.
The pair went on to date for a reported four years, during which they filmed another Spider-Man movie.
Despite going on to break up, Stone told Vogue in 2016 that Garfield remains 'someone [she] still loves very much' - Stone going on to marry Dave McCary and have a baby.
Garfield's latest relationship endeavours are lesser publicly known with many of us holding out hope for a 'real' date between the Tick, Tick... Boom! star and Chicken Shop Date host Amelia Dimoldenberg.
Other notable movies to see stars get together in real life include thriller The Place Beyond the Pines with Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes - and the pair remain together to this day.
No One Wants This star Adam Brody and Gossip Girl queen Leighton Meester are also still together after their relationship blossomed on set of 2011's The Oranges.
And Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem struck up a romance on set of rom-com Vicky Cristina Barcelona too.
Black Swan and I Know What You Did Last Summer can't really be argued as romances, but Natalie Portman and Benjamin Millepied's long-lasting relationship and the iconic couple that is Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. were too wholesome not to mention too.
Sorry if that all made you feel even more painfully single this Valentine's Day - remember self love is a form of affection too.
UNILAD RANKED is a weekly series with a new article released every Friday.
Topics: UNILAD RANKED, Film and TV, Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone
Poppy Bilderbeck