Brooke Shields talked about some of the weird questions and comments she got while making the 1980 movie Blue Lagoon in a recent episode of her podcast.
The actress and model, who is now 57, made her film debut in the movie when she was only 14. She got her start in the public eye when she was 11 months old and appeared in a shampoo commercial. The story is mostly about what happens to two young cousins when their ship sinks and they end up on a deserted island in the middle of the South Pacific.
The cousins grew up, found out who they were, fell in love, and had a child together. All of these things happen at the same time.
The fact that Brooke Shields was only 14 when Blue Lagoon came out has added to the controversy over the film’s portrayal of nudity. Christopher Atkins, who played her co-star in the movie, was 18 and a legal adult at the time the movie was made. He did his own naked scenes, while Brooke Shields used a body double.
According to a source, when the actress needed to do a scene without a top, she would stick her long hair to her breasts.
In the most recent podcast episode called “Now What? When Brooke Shields and Michael Atkins got back together, Shields and Atkins talked about the movie and how it could not be made in the present day.
Never again will a movie be made like that ever. I mean, it wouldn’t be allowed,
she said.
To which Atkins replied:
Oh gosh no. Animals were hurt in the movie. We were spearing fish and all kinds of crazy things. Children are naked running down a beach, couldn’t do that now.
He went on to say that the nakedness in the movie was “important” to the director, Randal Kleiser, and that’s why Kleiser made Shields and Atkins get tans for their roles.
We were never eased into it. We got there and they instantly wanted us to be tanned. Remember, they set up those little thatched areas so that we could get tanned without tan lines,
Shields added.
Atkins, who is now 61 years old, went on to say the following about how the two of them reacted to the movie’s naked scenes:
There were scenes where I was butt naked with you, if you remember, sliding down that slide and things like that. And that was a little awkward, but it was kind of funny for me because at this point in time I would just do it. But your reaction was: ‘Ugh, oh god.’
The conversation then turned to how Kleiser tried to force the then-14-year-old and now-18-year-old to be in a real relationship. Shields said:
They wanted us so desperately to fall in love with each other. I did not react well being forced into feeling anything.
I hadn’t even kissed anybody by that age.
Shields, who was a teenager when she was in a now-famous Calvin Klein jeans ad, then talked about how unethical the production was by saying that both of them got hurt and sick while filming.
There were long hours and there was a lot of physical stuff in that movie. Climbing those coconut trees, man, I was chafed up to no end. Running over the coral and stuff, all the bug bites and coral cuts and all the other crazy things. The fevers and everything we had, people don’t know any of that stuff – it’s not easy,
Atkins stated.
Shields agreed, adding,
Any kind of cut you had and you went in the water, bits of the coral would get into the cut and it’d become completely infected and ulcerated. We were like the Wild West but it just happened to be on the water.
And I remember I got pneumonia… In the birthing scene, when I’m supposed to be having the baby, I uncontrollably can’t breathe and have a coughing fit and everyone’s like what a great acting choice, I’m like: ‘I can’t breathe!’
After some bad reviews came out, the movie got a score of 8% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is considered to be very bad.
