Trivia

While viewing this movie, John Gibbons, a herpetologist at the University of the South Pacific, realized that the iguanas that appeared in the film were a distinct species that had never before been seen or documented by experts in the field. Afterward, he visited Nanuya Levu, the Fiji island where the movie was made, and named the species the Fiji Crested Iguana.

When Brooke Shields' original nude body double broke her back, the producers ended up asking Kathy Troutt, whom they had hired to catch and train dolphins, if she was willing to do this because she was the same body type as Shields. Troutt agreed, and had no issue doing nude swimming scenes.

Most of the nude scenes depicting Emmeline Lestrange include a body double. The underage Brooke Shields always had to have her hair glued to her breasts for the other scenes.

The movie remains one of the most controversial releases of the Twentieth Century. The movie not only hit headlines when it was released, it led to a government inquiry and Brooke Shields was called to testify before the United States Congress. The young actress confirmed that body doubles had been used for any naked scenes and her breasts were always covered by her hair or clothing. During a television interview, she said: "The nude scenes weren't hard because I didn't do them. As far as the love scene goes, it was just like another job.".

Christopher Atkins had done most of his nude scenes without the use of a body double. Reportedly, he had to stand nude every morning before shooting these scenes while a female makeup artist got his body ready. He claimed that after this movie came out, every role he was offered contained a nude scene that "wanted to show off" his buttocks.