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It’s the story of two young people freed from society’s restraints and allowed to find true love on an island paradise. Or it’s a more tawdry tale about two island-bound cousins who spend most of the film not wearing clothes. Regardless of your personal perspective on The Blue Lagoon, it became a pop culture phenomenon when it hit theaters on July 5, 1980.
Ahead, we’re looking back at some behind-the-scenes stories that fans may not know.
There was controversy regarding the film
Brooke Shieldswas 14 when she played the movie’s heroine, Emmeline. Christopher Atkins, who played her cousin-turned-lover, was 18. And even though Shields and the film’s crew maintained that she used body doubles for nude scenes and that her hair had been glued to her chest to avoid exposing her breasts, it’s next to impossible to discussThe Blue Lagoonwithout the allegations of indecency arising.
Even an otherwise innocent 1980 PEOPLE feature on Shields and Atkins' time together filming in Fiji ran under the headline “Too Much, Too Young?” It also features a quote from gossip columnist Rona Barrett comparing the film to child pornography.
It wasn’t Shields' first controversial movie
The actors filmed under harsh conditions
Filming was a double culture shock for Atkins, who had never acted professionally before being cast in the film. On top of that, the accommodations he and Shields had while filming were rustic.
“There was no water on the island, and there was really no place to live,” he explained in the above video. Cast and crew lived in tents for nearly five months.
Critics loathed it, but audiences didn’t care
The movie, which currently holds an 11 percent “fresh” ratingon Rotten Tomatoes, had few champions among major critics, and Shields' performance won in the worst actress category at the first-ever Golden Raspberry Awards.
That said, the film was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography. Audiences loved that beautiful island imagery to the point thatThe Blue Lagoonraked in more than $58 million, making it the ninth-highest-grossing film of 1980, just ahead ofThe Blues Brothers.
Atkins returned to the island — and you can go, too
The private island that served as the setting forThe Blue Lagoonhas since opened to the public, though not for free. Marketed asTurtle Island, the getaway offers 14 private beaches and books no more than 14 couples at a time. In the above video, filmed in 2015, Atkins and director Randal Kleiser returned to the iconic beach for the first time in nearly 35 years.
It helped scientists identify a new species of iguana
While watchingThe Blue Lagoon, an animal scientist spotted the Fiji crested iguana (Brachylophus vitiensis) in one of the shots of island wildlife. According toa 1981 issue ofNew Scientist, herpetologist John Gibbons got wind of the sighting and eventually traveled to the Fijian island where filming took place. He ultimately identified a new colony of the species.
The Blue Lagoonwas a remake of a book adaptation
There’s a sequel
And not even a direct-to-video sequel, either: a full-fledged cinematic effort released in 1991. In an improbable turn of events, the son of Emmeline and Richard ends up getting stranded on the exact same island along with another nubile young castaway. Brian Krause andMilla Jovovichplay the central couple.
That ambiguous ending isn’t so ambiguous, it turns out
The 1980 movie and the original novel both end on a hopeful note. Stranded for days at sea, Emmeline and Richard are rescued, and a sailor examining their bodies proclaims, “They’re asleep,” implying the couple has survived. The sequel novel, 1923’sThe Garden of God, begins with a correction: “No, they are dead.” Whoops!Return to the Blue Lagoonhas little in common with the book sequel, save for the sad fate of Emmeline and Richard.
There’s also a Lifetime Original Movie version ofThe Blue Lagoon
Because why shouldn’t there be? This will probably be the only retelling of theBlue Lagoonstory to feature a prom scene. One bright point? Christopher Atkins plays one of the teachers on this class trip gone so very wrong.
source: people.com
