Brooke Shields opens up on filming movie ‘Blue Lagoon’: ‘It wouldn’t be allowed’

Brooke Shields opened up on her racy 1980s romance Blue Lagoon in which she starred next to Christopher Atkins.

The actress, who starred in the film when she was 14, was reunited with her former co-star, who was 18 then, on her Now What? podcast, and discussed some of the controversial themes of the movie and what went down behind the scenes, via USA Today.

“It wouldn't be allowed,” Shields said of the movie. “Animals were hurt in the movie. We were spearing fish and all kinds of crazy things. Children are naked running down a beach.”

Atkins, now 61, added, “There were scenes where I was butt naked with you, if you remember, sliding down that slide and things like that. And that was a little awkward, but it was kind of funny for me because at this point in time I would just do it.”

According to BuzzFeed News, the movie was filmed on an island that was on a coral reef, which meant that the water would infect and ulcerate any cut or wound that the cast or crew had. During the film, Shields and Atkins had very little clothing on.

Shields at one point shared that she had to glue her hair to her chest to protect her from exposing herself. “We were wearing little strips of clothing, and my hair was taped to my body to cover my b--bs, which were very minimal anyway,” she said.

On the podcast, the two actors shared that they were often covered in injuries and bug bites. Brooke also ended up coming down with pneumonia during the shoot, but she still filmed her character’s birthing scene while sick.

“The bugs were crazy, the wild crabs were crazy, the wild horses were nuts, and then the infestation of rats,” Brooke shared. “People don’t know that The Blue Lagoon was on an island and that was on a coral reef.”

“Any kind of cut you had and you went in the water, bits of the coral would get into the cut and it’d become completely infected and ulcerated. Ray [Brown] had a green hole in the back of his calf for like three months,” she continued. “We were like the Wild West, but it just happened to be on the water. And I remember I got pneumonia. In the birthing scene, when I’m supposed to be having the baby, I uncontrollably can’t breathe and have a coughing fit, and everyone’s like, 'What a great acting choice!' I’m like, ‘I can’t breathe!’”

Released in 1980, the film follows two cousins, Emmeline and Richard, who are shipwrecked on a tropical island as children. Most of the story is focused on their teenage years, which shows the two characters fall in love and conceive a child.