Christopher Atkins was first seen walking around an island with Brook Shields in the 1980 hit film, The Blue Lagoon. Now he can be seen hanging out in Hollywood with the likes of David Chokachi and Jamie Walters every Sunday night on VH-1's "Confessions of a Teen Idol." Atkins who describes "Teen Idol" as a "show that isn’t about the comet, it's about the comet tail. Fame is the comet. If the fame were presented to us would we want it again," took time to speak with LAist about his career, the show and life after the Lagoon.
What made you want to do the show and what were expecting to come from it?
I was expecting the worse. At the end of the day this is a reality show, so I was definitely expecting the worse. But I was surprised to see that this show was different. I decided to do it because it’s just sort of that time for me. My kids are both graduating from college. I’m now single, I was married for 20 years. If I want to do it the time is now. I think my daughter, as you saw in the first episode, really set the tone for me and for the show. She was crying when I was packing my bags. I didn’t understand why she was crying. So I asked her and she said ‘because it’s your time again.’ That was heavy for my daughter to say.
Often times when were cast members seem to frustrated or ready to quit the show, Scott Baio (one of the show's executive producers and co-hosts) is shown talking them down. How did the fact that Scott is a peer, in the sense that he too was a teen idol, help you guys get through the show?
It helped a lot. He was our liaison. Most of us, except for Eric (Nies), have never been anywhere near a reality show. Scott had that experience with his own reality shows so he was mentor in the whole thing.
Christopher Atkins can be found every Sunday on VH-1's "Confessions of a Teen Idol." Cast photo from left to right: Jeremy Jackson, Atkins, Jamie Walters, Billy Hufsey, Eric Nies, Adrian Zmed and David Chokachi"
The one cast member who was not able to be talked into staying was Eric Nies. Give me your thoughts on him leaving the show.
Well, Eric is really passionate about what he does. He did the show so that he could get his word out, his products, his passion and in his platform. That’s the only reason why he did that show. Because he’s really passionate, he thought it got kind of got cheesy when the women were asking him to take his clothes off, he thought it was against his morals. So he left.
Unlike almost every other reality show where people are forced to live with each other, there has yet to be one moment in the show where you guys don't get along. How accurate is the show's depiction of the relationship that you guys have? Are you surprised at how close you all became?
Absolutely. I was very surprised. Before I signed on to do the show, I was asking myself why would I want to live together with a bunch of guys from the 80s. We’re going to sit there and talk about what good times we had, ok that’s 30 minutes. Episode one is done, now what? That wasn’t how it was at all. The best part about that house was that nobody had an ego. There wasn’t any wild off the hook chair throwing crazy person like you are used to seeing in a reality show. It was completely the opposite of what you are used to seeing. Goes to show that you can have a good reality show without there being a bunch of wackos, the show can be interesting without it being your face. It got to the point where we were too close. The production guys were trying to think of things to throw at us to break us up.
The Blue Lagoon, was an open audition. You beat out 4,000 other guys. Did you have any idea when you went to the audition that it was going to change your life?
Oh God no. I went to an audition to say, that I went to an audition. Then it happened and all of the sudden your doing a movie. It’s kind of hard to imagine. But Randle Kleiser, the director of Blue Lagoon, who also directed Grease, introduced me to John Travolta, you know, so he could give me some words of wisdom. I’ll never forget it, John said, “If you don’t know what to do, don’t do anything because the right thing will happen.”
How did they break it to you that your part required you to be pretty much naked throughout the film?
Obviously they broke it to me ahead of time. Randle was really nervous about that. But I understood. I knew it wasn’t gratuitous nudity, it wasn’t gratuitous sex. It was a major aspect to the film. He was capturing the nature of the story, two kids on this island, they obviously wouldn’t be wearing any clothes. I’m from Rye, NY not from where the hippies are, but you know, I was fine with it. The whole experience ended up being so much fun.
Since you had no real desire to be an actor, was the newly found success and fame tough to handle? Do you think the early success had an impact on the rest of your career as an actor?
I don’t think there’s a way that you don’t change because of the fame or the success. The success, you know I was a guy coming out of Rye, NY on my way to college to play baseball and study sports medicine. Then all of the sudden I get thrown into the movie business. How do you share that with your friends without it looking cocky? I tried to be the same person that I am, I didn’t lose my morals or my integrity, but people look at you differently. As far as success goes, I look at it like this, everyone is out here in California to get the brass ring. Everyone who works in the industry wants to be apart of a big time movie. Not many people are lucky enough to have it, but I was able to get that in the first movie. Yeah, it was all downhill from there, but there was a lot of fun along the way. I mean I got a four movie deal from Columbia Pictures, back then that was pretty unheard of. I did The Pirate Movie, which is now a huge cult movie which is surprising because it wasn't big when it first came out. I actually get more fans telling me that they recognize me from that now than I do with Blue Lagoon. I was trying to get another hit movie behind the first one and it didn’t happen. It wasn’t from a lack of trying. Then over time I realized that there’s a little more to life. I got married and had kids and I didn’t chase it as much. I was still doing stuff, enough to stay afloat but I wasn’t chasing that next big movie. Now with the kids graduating from school and I am single, maybe that Wrestler type role is out there for me. The one that will turn my career around.
On the first episode of the show you said your job is building pools, what is that experience like?
The name of the company is Dreamscape-Pools.com. I work for Debbie Lutz. She is brilliant and great to work for. We have a blast. It really is a lot of fun. We have some great clients too, actually we did John Goodman’s house. I’m definitely not quitting the day, I love it.
Lastly, what's next with the show? And more importantly, what's next for you as far as your career goes?
I can’t give anything away with the show. I will say that there is still the good, the bad, the ugly to come. You’ll see that. As for me I just finished a picture with Rosanna Arquette. Also I got a couple projects that I am working on myself. Right now, just doing publicity for the show and looking forward to my son’s senior season of college baseball. His name is Grant Bomann, he’s a shortstop at UNC Charlotte. He’s definitely a draftable ball player so you just might see him in the big leagues some day.
