How many gays of a certain age acknowledge watching 80s nude heartthrob Christopher Atkins in The Blue Lagoon as the moment when they became aware of their sexuality?
Few actors appeared nude at the time. Porn was still in its infancy. But fresh tow-haired twink Christopher Atkins ran around naked as though it was the most natural thing in the world. Which, of course, it is.
Openly gay director Randal Kleiser enjoyed a string of movie successes in the 1980s including The Blue Lagoon and the mega-successful Grease.
“All kinds of people come up to me and say, ‘I found out I was gay when I saw The Blue Lagoon.’ It’s because you had a choice, either person A or person B. Chris was great about the nudity. He was like, ‘Sure, I’ll jump in and swim naked’.”
NSFW! Click Here: nude heartthrob Christopher Atkins full-frontal nude in The Blue Lagoon.
Christopher Atkins won the role in The Blue Lagoon despite exactly zero acting experience.
“I was teaching sailing in Rye, New York. One of the mothers took pictures of me and sent them to Ford Models. Before I knew it, I was modelling with Ford. At Ford, they heard about the open call for Blue Lagoon, and I was one of 4000 people to audition for that movie. For whatever reason, they kept calling me back. Then I didn’t hear from them for three months, and I ended up getting a Gloria Vanderbilt jean commercial.
“I never in a million years expected that my life was going to go down that road–I wanted to play pro baseball. Finally, I got a call from Columbia Pictures, and they said, can you come in and bring a blond curly wig? I thought, ‘Where am I going to find a blond curly wig?’ My mom happened to have something. The next day they called me in and said I had the part. Two days later, I was flown to L.A. and met with hair and makeup people, and they were testing tanning lotions on us and curling my hair. And a few days later, I was on a plane to Fiji.”
NSFW! Click here: another Christopher Atkins full-frontal nude underwater scene.
NSFW! Click Here: nude heartthrob Christopher Atkins full-frontal nude on a rock slide.
Nudity and sex scenes remained controversial in the 1980s. But especially because Chris’s co-star Brooke Shields was only 14 when she shot the movie. She and Chris recently reunited to talk about the movie on a podcast.
“Never again will a movie be made like that,” said Brooke, “It wouldn’t be allowed.
“Animals were hurt in the movie. We were spearing fish and all kinds of crazy things. Children are naked running down a beach.”
Brooke obviously used body doubles for nude scenes but the shots of Christoper Atkins are all Chris.
Christopher Atkins acknowledged his gay following from the beginning of his career and was always comfortable with it.
“I’m a fortunate person in that I have a tremendous gay fan base — and straight fan base. You put them together and that’s a big deal.
“Somebody asked me once, do you know why? And I said, ‘No.’ They told me, ‘When your movie came out, back in the early 80s, it was a huge coming out time for the gay movement. People were starting to come out and be proud.’
“Blue Lagoon came out with male nudity, and you became the poster child for the gay movement. I thought it was fascinating and unexpected. It was the right time in history for that to have happened.”
NSFW! Click Here: Chris full-frontal nude in a later nude shoot for Playgirl Magazine.
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I remember about 15 years ago seeing in Italy one Sunday afternoon this film with nothing cut out, blurred over, cropped or modified in any way. The sick and terrified puritanism of the U.S. is either a huge puzzlement or outright laughing stock in just about all of Europe.
So what?