The Blue Lagoon (1980)
Trivia
Jump to:
Spoilers (1)
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.
Most of the nude scenes depicting Emmeline Lestrange include a body double. Brooke Shields always had to have her hair glued to her chest for the other scenes.
When Brooke Shields' original nude body double broke her back, producers ended up asking a woman they had hired to catch and train dolphins if she was willing to do this because she was the same body type as Shields. She agreed, and had no issue doing nude swimming scenes.
Christopher Atkins claimed that after this movie came out, every role he was offered contained a nude scene that "wanted to show off" his buttocks.
Christopher Atkins did 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.
Although the movie had a lukewarm reception in the United States and was disliked by a great many critics, it is a highly popular nostalgic movie in countries like Romania and Hungary, as well as in Brazil, and is frequently rerun on television.
It was the director's original concept to have the two grown characters play the entire film in the nude, which scared off many actors (including Jennifer Jason Leigh, who was the first choice for the female lead). After Leigh passed on the project, the producers offered Diane Lane and Willie Aames the film after screen-testing them together in Mexico, where Lane was shooting a Western, but the pair discussed the nudity together after the crew left and called a few days later to say they wouldn't do the film, either. With shooting set to begin in a matter of days, the desperate director agreed to let Shields make the film predominantly clothed, with a body double employed for the nude scenes. With that settled, the casting director returned to the thousands of audition tapes they had made over the course of a year, and decided Christopher Atkins would be all right if he permed his hair to look more savage.
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.".
On the shoot of the later film Travelling North (1987), actor Graham Kennedy one night watched The Blue Lagoon (1980), a movie which co-starred his co-star in Travelling North - Leo McKern. Kennedy was curious as to how they got a crab to crawl out of McKern's mouth in a tight close-up shot. McKern told Kennedy that the scene was his idea and that there were no special effects nor trick photography. McKern simply put a live crab into his mouth, waited a few moments, and after he heard 'Action!', opened his mouth, and out crawled the crab.
The double for Christopher Atkins was initially one of the seaplane pilots flying staff and crew from the Fiji mainland to the island where the movie was shot. He did most of the nude scenes with Brooke Shields' double as well as a few of the minor stunts.
Shots of the baby swimming underwater were done in an indoor pool using various infants. Some shots of Richard and Emmeline swimming with the baby were done with a dummy.
Lou Diamond Phillips (17) and Molly Ringwald (12) both auditioned for the two lead roles, and even screen-tested numerous scenes together, which are included on the DVD version of the film as bonus features.
- 10 actresses auditioned for the role of Emmeline Lestrange: Rosanna Arquette (19), Linda Blair (20), Jodie Foster (16), Daryl Hannah (18), Tatum O'Neal (15), Michelle Pfeiffer (21), Kelly Preston (16), Molly Ringwald (11), Kathleen Turner (24), and Sean Young (19).
- 21 actresses were considered for the role of Emmeline Lestrange: - Isabelle Adjani (23), Melissa Sue Anderson (16), Kim Basinger (25), Ellen Barkin (24), Justine Bateman (13), Delta Burke (22), Jamie Lee Curtis (20), Bridget Fonda (25), Carrie Fisher (22), Melanie Griffith (21), Mariel Hemingway (17), Anjelica Huston (27), Amy Irving (25), Jennifer Jason Leigh (17), Kay Lenz (26), Lori Loughlin (14), Kristy McNichol (15), Sarah Jessica Parker (14), Dana Plato (14), Jill Schoelen (16), and Ally Sheedy (17).
- Sean Penn lost out to Christopher Atkins on the final day of auditions for the role of Richard Lestrange. Lou Diamond Phillips (17) also auditioned for the role. Matt Dillon (16) turned down the role because of the nudity.
The novel on which the film is based was inspired by the classic French novel "Paul et Virginie" (1788), by Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre.
Gus Mercurio, who played the First Mate at the film's ending who said, "No, sir, they're asleep," after finding Richard, Emmeline and Paddy's boat, also appeared at the beginning of Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991). In the sequel, he's the First Officer on the ship who picks up Paddy (renamed Richard) and gives him to Sarah Hargrave (Lisa Pelikan).
This film is listed among the 100 Most Amusingly Bad Movies Ever Made in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book "The Official Razzie Movie Guide".
The movie is a loose adaptation of the book which was published in 1908. It contains a few scenes from the book, greatly tones down the nudity and sexual content and re-writes the dialog completely.
Included among the American Film Institute's 2002 list of 400 movies nominated for the top 100 America's Greatest Love Stories.
In the United States the film was given an "R" rating, and in the United Kingdom it was given the AA rating before getting a 15 certificate upon its VHS release for its graphic nudity and sexual content. However, when it was released in New Zealand, it was given the R13 rating, which was changed to PG when it was released on VHS. It was also given the PG rating in Australia.
The first of two times that Brooke Shields plays a character stranded on a tropical island. She would do so again in the series episode Quantum Leap: Leaping of the Shrew - September 27, 1956 (1992).
Christopher Atkins would later play Mr. Christiansen in Blue Lagoon: The Awakening (2012).
The film is included on the film critic Roger Ebert's "Most Hated" list.
Milla Jovovich was hailed by critics as "The New Brooke Shields" when she played Lilli Hargrave in the sequel Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991).
