{"id":2518341,"date":"2026-07-26T22:48:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T22:48:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2518341"},"modified":"2026-07-26T22:48:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T22:48:32","slug":"blue-lagoon-star-christopher-atkins-says-alcohol-cost-him-iconic-footloose-role-before-getting-sober","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/blue-lagoon-star-christopher-atkins-says-alcohol-cost-him-iconic-footloose-role-before-getting-sober\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Blue Lagoon&#8217; star Christopher Atkins says alcohol cost him iconic &#8216;Footloose&#8217; role before getting sober"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft wp-block-nypost-editor-partner-article-links\">\n<div class=\"inline-module inline-module--syndicated\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__inner\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__header\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__logo\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-nyp-affiliate=\"true\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/12\/21\/brooke-shields-christopher-atkins-recall-uncomfortable-naked-scenes-in-the-blue-lagoon\/\">Christopher Atkins <\/a>claims his drinking cost him the lead role in \u201cFootloose,\u201d which ultimately went to Kevin Bacon.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cBlue Lagoon\u201d actor looked back at his career during a recent appearance at Fanboy Expo Knoxville in Tennessee, which celebrates pop culture and nostalgia,\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/christopher-atkins-says-he-lost-lead-role-in-footloose-due-to-drinking-12022019\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">People magazine<\/a>\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n<p>According to the outlet, the 65-year-old actor said filmmakers behind the 1984 classic wanted to meet with him before making their final casting decision, but he wasn\u2019t able to pull it off.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/01\/09\/entertainment\/blue-lagoon-star-christopher-atkins-gives-health-update-after-undergoing-surgery\/\">\u201cI was a mess\u00a0back then,\u201d<\/a> he told the panel, as quoted by People. \u201cI was partying it up way too much, and they called me in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI said\u2026 \u2018I can\u2019t go in right now. I\u2019ve been drinking and carrying on,&#8217;\u201d Atkins recalled. \u201cAnd they said, \u2018No, they need to see you.\u2019 And I went in, and I just blew that audition\u2026 I mean, it wasn\u2019t even an audition \u2014 I had the part, but I was so messed up that they said, \u2018Yeah, we\u2019re going to have to pass on this guy.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Christopher Atkins claims his drinking cost him the lead role in \u201cFootloose,\u201d which ultimately went to Kevin Bacon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cAnd I\u2019m almost 40 years sober, so there you go,\u201d Atkins added.<\/p>\n<p>The actor also reflected on his breakout role in\u00a0\u201cThe Blue Lagoon\u201d\u00a0during the discussion. The former teen heartthrob was just 18 when he was cast in the 1980 movie <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/07\/14\/entertainment\/blue-lagoon-director-tried-to-force-brooke-shields-into-real-romance-with-co-star\/\">opposite Brooke Shields.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d never done anything before,\u201d Atkins explained. \u201cNever wanted to be an actor \u2014 I only wanted to play baseball. That was my dream.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t know what a camera looked like. I had no idea what a mark was, and I knew nothing. And I had to jump on an airplane and fly all the way to Fiji,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI ended up modeling for [the] Ford Modeling Agency in\u00a0New York City\u00a0and auditioned for \u2018The Blue Lagoon\u2019\u2026 And I kept getting called back and called back and called back. And then [after] a couple of months, I didn\u2019t hear from them\u2026 And then all of a sudden, I got another callback.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cDallas\u201d alum said his \u201cwhole life changed\u201d after the movie\u2019s release.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were young, and so you\u2019re constantly getting this notoriety,\u201d Atkins explained. \u201cAnd the magazines need you to sell their magazines, and you\u2019re hot at that time. And so it does get overwhelming\u2026 There are times when you\u2019re doing interviews, and you have a line of people, and you have to say the same thing to each person because they have the same question.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Lori Singer and Kevin Bacon in the movie \u201cFootloose.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cBut it changes your life, because all of a sudden you\u2019re nothing and then you\u2019re on every single grocery store magazine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Back in 2025, Atkins told Fox News Digital he \u201cdidn\u2019t know that much\u201d about Shields, then 14, before she joined him on the set of \u201cThe Blue Lagoon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI lived on [a] boat off the island [where we were filming]\u2026 she hadn\u2019t come yet,\u201d he said at the time. \u201cShe had another week or so before she was going to get here. The director had put her picture up over my bed so that I could start falling in love with her before the movie started. That was my introduction to Brooke Shields.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The movie was controversial for depicting the two young characters in a sexual relationship. Shields and the movie\u2019s crew have long maintained that she used body doubles for nude scenes and that her hair was glued to her body to avoid exposing her chest,\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/movies\/the-blue-lagoon-turns-35-trivia-for-brooke-shields-and-christopher-atkins-film\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">People magazine<\/a>\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe crew was all Australian,\u201d Atkins said. \u201cBack in the day, all the Australian beaches\u2026 were topless. It was very natural and freeing for the Australians\u2026 And being on a deserted island, there were no tourists, nothing. It was just us on this island\u2026 [And] these two kids, in a natural [and deserted] environment, they wouldn\u2019t wear clothes. It wouldn\u2019t be something that was in the forefront of their minds, that they needed to cover up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs time went on, it just became more and more natural not to have clothes on,\u201d Atkins said. \u201cThe crew made it very, very easy. Randall [Kleiser], the director, made it very, very easy about it. [The scenes] were absolutely important for the film, but it wasn\u2019t grandiose. It wasn\u2019t something that was there for the exhibition of the film. He really wanted this to be as natural and as real as possible. I understood that and got that.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Christopher Atkins and Brooke Shields in \u201cThe Blue Lagoon.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cBy the time I was done leaving that island four and a half months later, it [was] really hard for me to keep my clothes on at a beach,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n<p>People magazine noted that critics largely panned the movie. However, it was nominated for\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/05\/01\/us-news\/missing-oscar-statuette-of-russian-director-is-found\/\">the Academy Award\u00a0<\/a>for Best Cinematography. The outlet reported that the movie grossed more than $58 million worldwide, making it the ninth-highest-grossing film of 1980.<\/p>\n<p>Looking back at his Hollywood career, Atkins said he has no regrets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI got to a point in my life where I married young,\u201d he said. \u201cI wanted to be a dad more than chase the business\u2026 When I was 16, I used to teach sailing in Rye, New York, to little kids. From that measly paycheck that I was getting, I used to put a dollar away for someday when I had kids. That\u2019s how badly I wanted kids. When I had my two kids, I just did whatever came my way to put food on the table for them and keep working.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been blessed,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve done more than 100 movies and television shows at this point. Now my kids have their kids, and that\u2019s pretty remarkable\u2026 I\u2019ve done everything in this business except make my own film. That\u2019s the last box I now want to check off\u2026 That\u2019s what I\u2019m chasing right now, putting some really good projects together\u2026 So there are no regrets.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source pagesix.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christopher Atkins claims his drinking cost him the lead role in \u201cFootloose,\u201d which ultimately went to Kevin Bacon. The \u201cBlue Lagoon\u201d actor looked back at his career during a recent appearance at Fanboy Expo Knoxville in Tennessee, which celebrates pop culture and nostalgia,\u00a0People magazine\u00a0reported. According to the outlet, the 65-year-old actor said filmmakers behind the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2518342,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25177],"tags":[344472,344724,24003,365127,355643,21912],"class_list":["post-2518341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities","tag-academy-awards","tag-brooke-shields","tag-celebrity-news","tag-footloose","tag-kevin-bacon","tag-movies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Blue-Lagoon-star-Christopher-Atkins-says-alcohol-cost-him-iconic.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2518341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2518341"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2518341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2518343,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2518341\/revisions\/2518343"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2518342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2518341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2518341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2518341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}