The actress starred in the film directed by Randall Kleiser (‘Grease’) when she was 14 years old.
Among all the eighties cinema, few films can be more questionable than The Blue Lake. And not only because the film, directed by Randall Kleiser (Grease), is poorly made and unrealistic, but because of the age of its protagonists: when they took part in this survival story, with romantic scenes, Brooke Shields was 14 years old, and Christopher Atkins, 18.
Shields acknowledged in the latest episode of her podcast Now What? (via Decider). “There were animals that suffered during filming. We skewered fish and did all kinds of crazy things. Children ran bare along a beach,” the actress continued.
“I was embarrassed that you don’t see,” Christopher Atkins noted. “There were scenes where I was with you [Shields] in a ball, going down a slide and stuff like that. It was a little awkward, but also fun for me because at that time I was just going to do it.”
By then, despite her young age, Shields had already starred in a controversial campaign for Calvin Klein and a no less controversial film, The Little Girl (Louis Malle, 1978). Perhaps because of that experience, she was able to set some limits, such as not showing her breasts: “They glued my hair to my body to cover my chest,” she says now. “But I don’t know what they were trying to cover up.”
“Do you remember the stickers?” she continues, addressing Christopher Atkins. “They attached these flesh-colored things to my nipples because the nipples were my limit, which was normal for this movie.”
Brooke Shields also remembers the pressure for her and Atkins to become a couple in real life, which never happened. “They were desperate for us to fall in love with each other,” she says. “And I remember thinking, ‘Well, let’s get to know each other first before trying to force the situation to fall in love.’”
“It didn’t sit well with me that they were trying to force me to feel something,” Shields continues. “I wanted to be left alone.” Although his relationship with the actress was purely professional, Atkins fondly remembers the chemistry between them. “There were a lot of great moments. I think there was a lot of innocence in that movie, which made it work even better.”
