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Ariel Winter couldn’t be more proud of Luke Benward.
The actress, 27, opened up to PEOPLE about her dynamic with longtime boyfriend at the July 12 screening of Don’t Log Off. The pair produced and starred in the thriller, which was filmed entirely on Zoom at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, and Winter says she has no complaints about the experience.
“For us, it’s actually been really easy,” she reveals. “We’ve produced a couple of things since then, now. He and I work really well together, because he’s a lot more on the creative side than me. I’m a little bit more — I’m literal. I’m more on the business side. I’m kind of like, ‘All right, we get the sound, schedule, budget.’ I’m kind of like that.”
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The Modern Family alum notes that Benward, 30, places more focus on the story itself, making them a perfect team.
“We work pretty well together in life and working together in general,” Winter shares. “It was a good test of like, all right, can we do this or do we need to keep work and relationships separate? But no, it was a great way to do it on a project that we had a bunch of friends [on].”
“It wasn’t something where we were all so stressed to the max,” she adds. “Obviously we’re on deadlines, but it wasn’t crazy like that. We got to test it out on a good set.”
Winter says she was impressed by Benward’s producer skills.
While she had seen the former Disney star direct before, which she “was never surprised” by because she says directing is “like an extension for a lot of actors” to teach their craft, she was proud to see him thrive at producing as well.
“I was a little surprised,” she admits. “I was like, ‘I didn’t expect you to be as great as a producer.’”
“I don’t know if he was surprised on my end,” she jokes before gushing: “I don’t know, I just think he’s great, in general. So I don’t know if I’m ever surprised that he does something great. I’m a stan. I’m a stan for my man!”
Winter also says that the opportunity came at the perfect time for her because producing was “something I’ve always wanted to jump into” and the pandemic gave her the chance to understand it on a deeper level.
“[It was] such a unique experience with it being during the pandemic, getting to learn all the inner workings of the safety protocols, being in such a unique situation and all of that,” she reflects. “It was just really awesome to get to play both roles: star in something, produce it and learn the ins and outs of that, the relationship between an actor, producer and how to be the best producer to your actors, which is hard. But it was really cool. It was a great experience.”
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The Modern Family alum started dating Benward in late 2019 after being friends for years. The pivot from a friendship to a romantic relationship took Winter by surprise, she previously admitted.
“Honestly, it’s been the best thing ever now, but it was pretty bizarre at first because that was never something that I expected at all,” she told Entertainment Tonight in July 2021. “It’s been the biggest blessing for me. He is amazing. He is definitely my safe space.”
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Don’t Log Off was Winter’s first movie role since ending her 11-year stint as Alex Dunphy on Modern Family, making it particularly memorable.
When the project was announced in 2020, one year after she and Benward started dating, he celebrated his girlfriend in a sweet Instagram post, thanking her and the cast for “lending your talents to this out of the box movie.”
“What a time!! Making movies with my fraaaanndsss! 2020 never looked so good!” the caption concluded.
