Pretty in Pink was director Howard Deutch’s first feature. Before that he worked in advertising (as did Hughes), had directed music videos and created movie trailers. “I didn’t really think that I was ever going to get a chance,” Deutch told us in a phone interview. “[There was] resistance at Paramount, [but] John fought for me. That’s why it happened.” Deutch’s next film was the Hughes-penned Some Kind of Wonderful, starring Lea Thompson, whom he married in 1989.