History Trivia / TheBlueLagoon

** Because the project took a long time to make, numerous directors were attached to the project, including Creator/HalAshby, Creator/JohnGuillermin, Creator/SidneyLumet, Creator/MikeNichols, Creator/ArthurPenn, Creator/SydneyPollack, Creator/HerbertRoss, Creator/KenRussell, Creator/JohnSchlesinger, and Creator/PeterYates.

** Because the project took a long time to make, numerous directors were attached to the project, including Creator/HalAshby, Creator/JohnGuillermin, Creator/SidneyLumet, Creator/MikeNichols, Creator/ArthurPenn, Creator/SydneyPollack, Creator/HerbertRoss, Creator/KenRussell, and Creator/PeterYates.

** Because the project took a long time to make, numerous directors were attached to the project, including Creator/HalAshby, Creator/JohnGuillermin, Creator/SidneyLumet, Creator/MikeNichols, Creator/ArthurPenn, Creator/HerbertRoss, Creator/KenRussell, and Creator/PeterYates.

** Because the project took a long time to make, numerous directors were attached to the project, including Creator/HalAshby, Creator/JohnGuillermin, Creator/SidneyLumet, Creator/MikeNichols, Creator/ArthurPenn, Creator/HerbertRoss, and Creator/PeterYates.

** Because the project took a long time to make, numerous directors were attached to the project, including Creator/HalAshby, Creator/JohnGuillermin, Creator/SidneyLumet, Creator/MikeNichols, Creator/ArthurPenn, and Creator/PeterYates.

* ChannelHop: The project initially started at Mirisch Productions in the early 1960s with funding from Creator/UnitedArtists. However, due to logistical issues caused by UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, the project was delayed. In 1970, producer Ray Stark acquired the rights to the novel from Mirisch after the success of Creator/{{Paramount}}'s ''Film/RomeoAndJuliet1968'' with funding from Creator/ColumbiaPictures, whose executives agreed to move forward with the project.

* DarkhorseCasting: Creator/ChristopherAtkins was a complete unknown when he was cast as Richard. He was discovered by director Randall Kleiser while working as a sailing instructor.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: After its 2012 Blu-ray release, the film has been out of circulation due to complex legal issues that also prevented its 1949 counterpart from being released on home video. The novel's author, Henry De Vere Stacpoole, died in 1951, and the novel was first published in England, meaning that ''Literature/TheBlueLagoon'' in its original book form only entered the public domain in the British Isles on January 1, 2022.

** Around 1955, Jack Warner (one of the Creator/WarnerBros) became interested in filming the novel once he bought the rights from Henry De Vere Stacpoole's estate. Warner became interested in casting Creator/NatalieWood and Tab Hunter playing the KissingCousins, but it's been speculated that ''Film/TheBlueLagoon1949'' put him off the idea, and the rights reverted back to Stacpoole's estate.

** Creator/ColumbiaPictures' involvement with the novel only dates to 1970. After the success of Paramount's ''Film/{{Romeo and Juliet|1968}}'', studios began looking for comparable properties, and Stacpoole's ''Blue Lagoon'' became an obvious possibility. Producer Ray Stark, associated with Columbia, bought the rights that year with the intention of making a starring vehicle for Creator/KurtRussell as Dick and either Creator/SusanDey or Creator/LindaHayden as Emmeline. He did not make the film and sold the rights together with his production company to Columbia Pictures in 1974. This time, David Begelman took over the production rights.

* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: A sequel to the 1980 film has been in the works since 1982; however, conflicts over the motion picture rights to the novel between Creator/ColumbiaPictures and the estate of Henry De Vere Stacpoole, who owned the rights outside the United States[[note]]Author Stacpoole died in 1951 and the novel was first published in England[[/note]], delayed production.

** Because the project took a long time to make, numerous directors were attached to the project, including Creator/HalAshby, Creator/JohnGuillermin, Creator/MikeNichols, Creator/ArthurPenn, and Creator/PeterYates.

* ChannelHop: To recoup their costs, I.W. Schlesinger, who controlled African Film Productions, sold in 1928 the film and its subsequent rights to English filmmaker Herbert Wilcox.

* TheShelfOfMovieLanguishment: It was shot in 2008 as the PilotMovie for a potential TV series based loosely on the 1980 movie but due to the economic consequences of the late-2000s recession, it was edited and retooled as a standalone MadeForTVMovie.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: It was meant to be the PilotMovie of a TV series based on the 1980 film but wasn't picked up.

* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: Herbert Wilcox bought the rights to the novel in 1928 and announced a year later that he would make it as part of a slate of films. Wilcox planned to cast Creator/RamonNovarro and Creator/LouiseBrooks in the leading roles. However, the onslaught of TheGreatDepression halted these plans. Wilcox restarted the project in 1935 and planned to cast either Creator/JoelMcCrea or Richard Cromwell as the male lead and Anna Neagle, whose relationship with Wilcox began in 1931, as a probable female lead. It was going to be shot in color in Honolulu. If Neagle proved to be unavailable, Wilcox would consider casting an unknown for the female lead. He did not make the film, though, and sold the rights to Gainsborough Pictures at the recommendation of Frank Launder, who always admired the novel. Gainsborough announced the film in 1938 as part of ten films. The stars were to be Creator/MichaelRedgrave and Creator/MargaretLockwood, who had just appeared in Gainsborough's ''Film/TheLadyVanishes''; Will Fyffe was to co-star. In 1939, it was announced Gainsborough would make the film as a co-production with Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox and that Lockwood and Redgrave would be joined by Creator/RichardGreene, under contract with Fox, going to play an adolescent version of the male lead. Creator/LindaDarnell, who was newly hired by Fox was to play an adolescent version of Emmeline, just like Creator/BrookeShields in the [[Film/TheBlueLagoon1980 1980 film version]], and Creator/ShirleyTemple, also under contract with Fox, was to play a child version of Emmeline. This version was to be filmed using a triptych-structured narrative, a technique that was not fully realized until the UsefulNotes/FrenchNewWave, and as an epic in the way ''Film/GoneWithTheWind'' was made in Hollywood. Creator/HowardHawks and Creator/CarolReed were considered for the directing job. Plans to make the film were postponed due to UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. The project was reactivated in 1944 and announced two years later with Frank Launder attached to direct. Extensive location searches were undertaken before deciding to make the movie in Fiji. Plans to make the film were postponed due to Britain's currency difficulties, but eventually, plans were reactivated.

** Creator/ColumbiaPictures' involvement with the novel only dates to 1970. After the success of Paramount's ''Film/{{Romeo and Juliet|1968}}'', studios began looking for comparable properties, and Stacpoole's ''Blue Lagoon'' became an obvious possibility. Producer Ray Stark, associated with Columbia, bought the rights that year with the intention of making a starring vehicle for Creator/KurtRussell and Creator/SusanDey. He did not make the film, and he sold the rights along with his production company to Columbia Pictures in 1974. This time, David Begelman took over the production rights.

** The novel did not gain Hollywood's attention again until TheSixties, at the height of MediaNotes/TheBritishInvasion. Walter Mirisch, a top-flight producer at Creator/UnitedArtists, acquired the movie rights to the novel in 1961. In 1964, after the success of ''Film/{{The Pink Panther|1963}}'', Mirisch commissioned Creator/LewisGilbert to write a script based on the novel, to cast Creator/HayleyMills and Music/CliffRichard in the lead roles. Due to delays caused by UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, Mirisch lost interest in the novel, and Gilbert could not reach an agreement with the estate of Creator/HenryDeVereStacpoole for the movie rights, so his script became an original story, ''Film/{{Friends|1971}}''.

** The novel did not gain Hollywood's attention again until TheSixties, at the height of UsefulNotes/TheBritishInvasion. Walter Mirisch, a top-flight producer at Creator/UnitedArtists, acquired the movie rights to the novel in 1961. After the success of ''Film/{{The Pink Panther|1963}}'', Mirisch commissioned Creator/LewisGilbert to write a script based on the novel, with the intention of casting Creator/HayleyMills and Music/CliffRichard in the lead roles. Due to delays caused by UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, Mirisch lost interest in the novel, and Gilbert could not reach an agreement with the estate of Creator/HenryDeVereStacpoole for the movie rights, so his script became an original story, ''Film/{{Friends|1971}}''.
** Creator/ColumbiaPictures' involvement with the novel only dates to 1970. After the success of Paramount's ''Film/{{Romeo and Juliet|1968}}'', studios began looking for comparable properties, and Stacpoole's ''Blue Lagoon'' became an obvious possibility. Producer Ray Stark bought the rights that year with the intention of making a starring vehicle for Creator/KurtRussell and Creator/SusanDey. He did not make the film, and he sold the rights along with his production company to Columbia Pictures in 1974. This time, David Begelman took over the production rights.

* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: A sequel to the 1980 film has been in the works since 1982.

** {{Averted}} with Jean Simmons, who played 17-to-18-year-old Emmeline while giving birth and turned 19 a few weeks before filming.

** The bulk of filming in Fiji took place on the Yasawa Islands. Storms caused the shooting to take three months.

* AccidentallyCorrectWriting: Acting example: Brooke Shield's airy and somewhat absentminded portrayal of Emmeline, one of the most criticized aspects of the movie, is actually accurate to Emmeline's personality in the book.

* DarkhorseCasting: Creator/ChristopherAtkins was a complete unknown when he was cast as Dick.

** The novel did not gain Hollywood's attention again until TheSixties, at the height of UsefulNotes/TheBritishInvasion. After the success of ''Film/{{The Pink Panther|1963}}'', Walter Mirisch, a top-flight producer at Creator/UnitedArtists, commissioned Creator/LewisGilbert to write a script based on the novel, with the intention of casting Creator/HayleyMills and Music/CliffRichard in the lead roles. Due to delays caused by UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, Mirisch lost interest in the novel, and Gilbert could not reach an agreement with the estate of Creator/HenryDeVereStacpoole for the movie rights, so his script became an original story, ''Film/{{Friends|1971}}''.

** When the movie was being shot, director Randal Kleiser marveled at how Brooke Shields was "going from a child to a woman" right in front of the cameras. In the 2023 documentary ''Pretty Baby'', Shields recalls this as him trying to sell her sexual awakening, as if she was in a reality show, despite her not even being in touch with her own sexuality due to growing up in a Catholic household that [[SexIsEvil tied sex to guilt and shame]]. It is suggested that Shields was enforced to star in the film without her consent.
* UnderageCasting: Brooke Shields was only ''14'' during filming while playing a pregnant Emmeline, who is 16-17 in the source book.

* CreatorKiller: The failure of ''Return to the Blue Lagoon'' at the box office destroyed William Graham's career, as he never made a theatrical film again, as well as writer Leslie Stevens (who only wrote one more film before passing away). It also put the brakes on any ''Blue Lagoon'' adaptations for nearly 20 years, and even then it was only a MadeForTVMovie that was intended as a PilotMovie (''The Awakening'').