What the Hell Happened to Lea Thompson?

Lea Thompson is best known for playing Michael J. Fox’s mom in the Back to the Future trilogy.  For most of the 80’s, she seemed like an actress poised for stardom.  But when the decade ended, Thompson’s movie career dried up.  From there, she transitioned into television.  First as the star of her own sitcom and then in frequent made-for-TV-movies.  Despite having worked steadily for more than three decades, Thompson never achieved A-list status.

What the hell happened?

Thompson - Little Mermaid
Lea Thompson as The Little Mermaid in 1979

As a child, Thompson took an interest in ballet.  By the age of 14, Thompson was dancing professionally.  She attended the American Ballet Theatre on scholarship and danced in more than 45 productions.  But Thompson ended her ballet career after the director of the ABT, Mikhail Baryshnikov (yes, him) told her that she was “a beautiful dancer, but too stocky.”  That must be the only time anyone has ever referred to Thompson as “stocky”.  Baryshnikov’s feedback along with nagging injuries convinced Thompson to pursue an acting career instead.

provided by MDT actress Lea Thompson - in a Minnesota Dance Theatre
Lea Thompson as The Mouse in The Nutcracker

In 1982, Thompson started appearing in TV commercials like this holiday ad for Burger King.  This Christmas ad co-starred Elisabeth Shue and Sarah Michelle Gellar.  According to Thompson:

“What was interesting about the Burger King thing was that I never knew that Sarah Michelle Gellar was on my lap. I knew that Elisabeth Shue and I had done commercials together, but… My daughter is on Ringer, the Sarah Michelle Gellar show, and plays her stepdaughter, and the first day I met Sarah there, she said, “You know, we’ve worked together before.” And I’m, like, “I don’t think so…” But she had her iPad, and she brought up that commercial. I just can’t believe that nobody had pointed that out to me before! What a great casting director, huh?”

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Lea Thompson – MysteryDisc: Murder Anyone? – 1982

Around this time, laser discs were coming on the scene.  MysteryDisc: Murder Anyone? was a laser disc game that allowed the viewer to play detective and try to solve a mystery by spotting clues in the movie.  Paul Gleason starred as the private dick trying to solve the murder of a wealthy man.  Thompson played the cutest murder suspect in the history of laser discs.

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Lea Thompson – Jaws 3-D – 1983

In 1983, Thompson made her big screen debut in Jaws 3-D.

Dennis Quaid and John Putch played the grown-up sons Roy Scheider’s character from the original Jaws.  Naturally, they grew up and left Amity Island to work at Sea World in Florida.  Incidentally, it should be pointed out that Sea World is located in central Florida and not near any beaches.  This is important because the movie actually takes place in Sea World Orlando.  That’s right, the owners of Sea World thought it would be a good idea to allow the makers of Jaws 3-D to show people being terrorized by a shark at their establishment.  A tourist destination that is completely landlocked.

Oscar-winner Louise Gosset Jr. co-starred as the park manager who is more concerned about his budget than the lives of his staff and guests.  Bess Armstrong played Sea World’s head scientist who conveniently trains dolphins to do things that will be important to the plot.  And Thompson plays a girl who looks cute in a bikini.  Thompson remembers lying about her qualifications to get the job:

“I lied and said I had done a couple of other movies, so when I showed up, I really knew absolutely nothing. Also, I had said that I knew how to water-ski. And I did not. So I had, like, five days to learn really, really complicated water-skiing things, because I had to fit into the Sea World water-skiing show. I don’t even know how to swim! So that was an interesting event. I wiped out a lot. But I pulled it off, I think, because I was a ballet dancer. The acting… was not so good. But I looked pretty good in my bikini, so I think that made up for it.”

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Lea Thompson – Jaws 3-D – 1983

Originally, Jaws 3 was intended to be a parody.  But when Stephen Spielberg caught wind of the plan to do a satire of Jaws, he threatened to end his relationship with Universal.  Roy Scheider said Universal knew better than to even ask him to be in the movie.  He had reluctantly made Jaws 2 due to contractual obligations after backing out of The Deer Hunter.  Supposedly, he signed on to make Blue Thunder to prevent himself from being available to film Jaws 3.

At the time, there was a resurgence in 3-D despite the fact the technology was far from perfect.  Several movies, especially movies which were the third installment of a franchise, utilized the 3-D fad that year.  Jaws 3-D resorted to the cheapest 3-D tricks in the book and featured the least-convincing shark in the history of cinema.  During the movie’s climax when the shark swims towards the camera and breaks into the park’s control room, the shark doesn’t move at all.

The critics blasted Jaws 3-D.  Heck, so did a lot of people involved in making it.  It opened at #1 at the box office, but earned significantly less than the first two films in the franchise.  Still, it did well enough that someone thought Jaws 4 was worth making.

Thompson and Quaid
Lea Thompson and Dennis Quaid – 1983

Thompson and Quaid began dating.  Quaid was recently divorced from his first wife, actress P.J, Soles.  Soon, Quaid and Thompson were engaged.

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Lea Thompson – All the Right Moves – 1983

Later that year, Thompson starred opposite Tom Cruise in the coming-of-age football drama, All the Right Moves.

Cruise played a high school football player hoping to earn a scholarship so he can go to college and get out of a small Pennsylvania steel town.  Craig T. Nelson played his hard-nosed coach who doesn’t like quitters or Scientologists (the second one is implied anyway).  Thompson played Cruise’s girl friend who is worries she may lose him if he leaves town.

To prepare for the movie, the director sent both Cruise and Thompson back to high school.  Cruise was recognized on the first day.  But Thompson went unrecognized for four days.  During that time, a lot of high school guys asked her out and she got busted for smoking.

The movie is famous (or infamous) because the actors did their own nudity in the love scenes.  This was only Thompson’s second movie and she remembers Cruise being very supportive of her while filming the intimate scenes:

“He was so protective of me and interested in making a really good scene, and he did. It’s a really lovely scene. I loved that scene in the movie. Of course, now it’s famous because it’s on DVD, and you can stop it and apparently see his… thing. [Laughs.] I don’t know. So that’s why people still talk about that scene, but the truth of the matter is that it was really beautiful, and he was very kind and protective, and really helped me. And I’ll never forget it. He really helped me learn how to be a better actor.”

Awww.  Now I feel bad about the Scientologist crack.

Reviews were mixed.  Many critics compared it to Flashdance which had a similar theme of an underdog struggling to escape a dead-end job in a small blue-collar town.  The general consensus was that the movie was filled with clichés.

All the Right Moves didn’t fare very well at the box office either.  It opened in limited release in 6th place just ahead of The Right Stuff.  Unfortunately, both movies grossed about the same amount of money but All the Right Moves was playing in twice as many theaters.  The following weekend, it opened in wide release and it climbed up to the #5 slot which is where it stayed for three weeks.  Over the years, as Cruise grew to become one of the biggest movie stars in the world, the movie developed a cult following.

Thompson - Red Dawn
Jennifer Grey and Lea Thompson – Red Dawn – 1984

In 1984, Thompson appeared in John Milius’ Cold War action movie, Red Dawn.

Red Dawn is based on the totally plausible idea *snicker*snicker* that the Soviet Union could successfully invade the United States.  Naturally, a group of high school students led by Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen are America’s last line of defense against foreign occupation.  When the teen militia goes to an old man for help, he asks them to watch over his granddaughters played by Thompson and Jennifer Grey.  Because entrusting your granddaughters to Charlie Sheen makes about as much sense as anything in Red Dawn.

How crazy is Red Dawn?  It opens with a high school teacher lecturing on Genghis Kahn.  The teacher has a drawing of the Mongolian emperor which is actually a caricature of writer/director Milius.  The infamous director was a big fan of the conqueror.  The class is interrupted by the sight of Russian paratroopers landing right outside their classroom.  Naturally, the invaders immediately open fire on the teacher and his students because the Colorado high school is of great strategic importance to their Communist plan.

To really understand Red Dawn, you have to understand Milius.  He was a larger than life figure who prided himself on ruffling the feathers of liberal Hollywood studio execs.  There are stories of Milius bringing his gun collection to studio meetings and brandishing his firearms as the execs were giving him notes.  The original screenplay for Red Dawn was written by Kevin Reynolds (who was infamous for writing and directing Waterworld).  The original script focused on the fractures within the group of teens as the pressures of war broke them apart.  But Milius was more interested in the story of a militia saving America from a foreign power.  You know, the “gun nut” fantasy.

Thompson - Red Dawn Cast
Jennifer Grey and Lea Thompson – Red Dawn – 1984

Thompson fondly remembers filming Red Dawn:

Red Dawn was really the most fun I ever had making a movie, because I love Westerns, and I love the idea of being a tomboy, and riding horses and shooting guns. I remember Jennifer Grey and I being, like, tormented but amazed by the politics of Red Dawn, but the truth is that the story is a fascinating one. The idea was so interesting. And when you see the movie, it’s absolutely fascinating that there’s no… The movie is like a really, really low-budget of its day. You don’t see anything. They talk about how Chicago just fell to the Russians, but you don’t see it. We only talk about it. I think it’s kind of powerful on that level, that it’s more like a play or a book, where the war that you actually do see feels more real as a result.

I dunno, I just had a lot of fun being out on the tundra with John Milius and all the craziness that went along with that. And the guys were all so awesome, and we had such camaraderie. Patrick and Charlie, who was a madman even then. He was awesomely unpredictable even then, but he was adorable. I just had a really interesting time in the ’80s. I tore it up in the ’80s! [Laughs.]

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Lea Thompson – Red Dawn – 1984

Red Dawn was Sheen’s movie debut.  The cast also included Swayze’s The Outsiders co-star, C. Thomas Howell.  Harry Dean Stanton and Powers Boothe had supporting roles.

It’s easy to dismiss Red Dawn as a dumb 80’s action movie.  But at the height of the Cold War, it was met with controversy.  It was the first movie ever released with a PG-13 rating.  And according to the Guinness Book of World Records, it held the record for the most acts of violence in a single movie at the time with a rate of 134 acts of violence per hour, or 2.23 per minute.

Despite mixed reviews and controversy, Red Dawn was a hit at the box office.  It opened at #1 and grossed nearly $40 million dollars which was a good return on the film’s modest budget.  In 2012, in what has to be one of the worst decisions ever, Red Dawn was remade with the Chinese as the 21st century villain.  The original movie looked like a documentary by comparison.

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Lea Thompson – The Wild Life – 1984

Also in 1984, Thompson appeared in the Fast Times at Ridgemont High rip-off, The Wild Life.

Fast Times alum, Eric Stoltz starred as a recent high school graduate.  Chris Penn, brother of the original Jeff Spicoli, co-starred as his roommate.  Thompson played Stoltz’s ex-girlfriend who works at a donut shop.  Naturally she has an affair with a married cop who frequents the establishment.  Rick Moranis, Randy Quaid and Jenny Wright co-star.  The movie was written by Fast Times screenwriter, Cameron Crowe.

Thompson actually filmed a topless sex scene which was cut from the movie.  According to Thompson, this was by design:

“It was a calculation on my part. It was contractually obligated, so I said, ‘If I’m going to have to do this, it’s not going to be stupid. It’s going to be really sexy.’ And that’s what happened, and because of that, it was too sexy for the movie. [Laughs.] It was like, “Wow, this is a really sexy scene!” It didn’t fit with the tone of the movie, so they took it out. So, y’know, it was mission accomplished, actually, on my part. I outsmarted them. That was in the scene with Hart Bochner, by the way. The scene’s still in the movie, but they cut before he unbuttons my blouse. Kind of a funny accomplishment, but take note, teenage girls in exploitation films: Make the scene sexy! “

Reviews were mostly negative and The Wild Life failed to duplicate the success of Fast Times.  It opened at number two and grossed less than half of what Fast Times made.  However, the movie did have an important impact on Thompson’s career…

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Lea Thompson – Back to the Future – 1985

In 1985, Thompson starred in Robert Zemeckis’ time travel comedy, Back to the Future.

Michael J. Fox starred as Marty McFly, a typical 80’s teen who befriends an eccentric scientist played by Christopher Lloyd.  After an encounter with Libyans in the parking lot of a local shopping center, Marty is sent back in time to the 1950s.  Thompson played Marty’s mother who was a boy-crazed teen in the 50s.  When she unwittingly develops a crush on her own son, Marty has to set the timeline right by setting her up with his dad played by Crispin Glover.

But then, you already knew all that.

Originally, Eric Stoltz was cast as Marty McFly.  After a few weeks of shooting, Zemeckis decided to recast the role.  However, Stoltz’s involvement opened the door for Thompson.  Zemeckis watched Stoltz in The Wild Life and was impressed with Thompson so he auditioned her for the role of Lorraine.  According to Thompson:

“For some reason, I just really got her. I got the depressed, beaten-down, drunken Lorraine, and I got the young, silly, oversexed, repressed Lorraine from 1955. Some parts just click in your head, and you just go for it. I remember the audition or screen test—whatever it was—at Amblin, where Spielberg was working the camera. It was just so much fun, playing dress-up and inventing these characters, and then the idea that they let me play four or five more aspects of the same person in Back To The Future II and III… It really was such a gift.”

Back to the Future received positive reviews and was a hit at the box office.  I don’t think it’s an over-statement to say it is one of the most beloved movies of the decade.

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Lea Thompson – Space Camp – 1986

In 1986, Thompson starred in the family adventure, SpaceCamp.

The movie is about a group of teens who get launched into space while attending space camp.  Thompson played an ambitious girl who wants to be the first female space shuttle commander.  Tate Donovan played the arrogant teen who gets the job Thompson wants.  Future Mrs. John Travolta, Kelly Preston, played a valley girl who is actually more intelligent than she appears.  Joaquin Phoenix made his film debut as the youngest member of the team although he was credited as Leaf Phoenix.  Kate Capshaw and Tom Skerritt played the camp’s instructors.

The trouble started on SpaceCamp during filming.  According to Thompson, the production was always behind schedule.  What was meant to be a three-month shoot turned into six.  Thompson said the cast had T-shirts made up that read: “SpaceCamp: It’s Not Just A Movie, It’s A Career.”  They jokingly referred to the movie as SpaceCramp due to the small sets.

“We had to be this sort of weird mime troupe trying to simulate no gravity. They had no idea how to do it, so they were like, “Lea, you’re a dancer, we’ll just hang you from these ropes and just pretend!” I’m like, “Uh, okay, whatever…” So we would literally come in, they’d block, and we’d sit around for the entire day while they tried to figure out how to shoot it. And then they’d get one shot. It was a crazy movie. Very, very difficult and tortured film to make. But we had a great time, we laughed a lot, and we knew each other very well by the end of it.”

SpaceCamp‘s original release date was pushed back after the Challenger shuttle disaster which was eerily like some of the events depicted in the movie.  As Roger Ebert noted in his review of the light-hearted family film, “Our thoughts about the Space Shuttle will never be the same again, and our memories are so painful that SpaceCamp is doomed even before it begins.”

Despite the tragedy, Thompson says that SpaceCamp has a positive legacy:

“I’ve had a lot of people come up to me and say that they became physicists or inventors, how much they loved that movie and how much it inspired them. That was really sweet and something I never really expected.”

Although SpaceCamp has developed a cult following in the years since its release, it opened to negative reviews and disappointing box office.

Thompson - Howard the Duck
Lea Thompson – Howard the Duck – 1986

Later that year, Thompson starred in George Lucas’ adaptation of the Marvel comic book, Howard the Duck.  And yes, in case you are wondering, Howard is the first Marvel character ever to make the jump to the big screen.

Thompson played Beverly, a sexy rocker chic who meets a talking duck from another dimension and… No.  No I’m not going to try to summarize the plot of Howard the Duck.  It defies explanation.

Howard the Duck came at a pivotal time in George Lucas’s career.  He had recently finished the original Star Wars trilogy.  The Indiana Jones movies were hits.  Lucas decided to step down as president of Lucasfilm so he could concentrate on producing movies.  He turned to his old film school friends,  Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz with whom he had written American Graffiti.  While making that film, Lucas first brought up the idea of adapting the Howard the Duck comic book into a movie.

Originally, the idea was to make an animated movie.  But Lucas was obligated to make a live-action film.  So he decided to make a live action adaptation of Howard the Duck with special effects by Industrial Light and Magic.  This lead to a shift from the satire of the comic book to a movie that was driven by special effects.  Also, the character was changed from the source material to be more likable.

At the time, Thompson faced stiff competition for the privilege of co-starring with a guy in a duck costume:

“That was a really long shoot—it took six months to shoot—and it was a really, really hard part to get. It was a gigantic movie. George Lucas was producing, it had a very big budget, and everybody wanted that part. And everybody wanted the part of the duck! Everybody wanted to voice the duck. The people that they had coming were like, Robin Williams, Jay Leno… all these people wanted to be the voice of the duck, and they were turned down. So it was a really big deal.”

Thompson actually sang all of her own songs for the movie.  Thomas Dolby wrote the songs and selected the members of the band, Cherry Bomb.  Thompson’s 80’s hair took over two hours a day to prepare.  She complained that she would have worn a wig had she known it was going to take so long.

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Lea Thompson – Howard the Duck – 1986

Howard the Duck was panned by critics.  It was nominated for seven Golden Raspberry awards including Worst Supporting Actor for Tim Robbins.  It tied for Worst Picture with Prince’s Under the Cherry Moon.  Howard the Duck also bombed at the box office which resulted in studio head Frank Price being terminated.  When the movie flopped, Lucas assured many that in 20 years Howard the Duck would be seen as a misunderstood masterpiece.  Instead, it is remembered as one of the most notorious flops of all times.  According to Thompson:

“That movie is such a famous flop. In a land of a lot of flops, it’s kind of awesome to be in a really famous flop. [Laughs.] I mean, it’s kind of a poster child for flops. A lot of iconoclasts really love that movie. They love to love something that everyone hates. And those are my kind of folks. I’m happy to be part of that club of people who don’t want to be told what’s horrible and just want to enjoy it anyway. Howard The Duck has a lot of fans, and usually when they come up to me, I just think they’re the coolest. Because it takes a lot of strength, a lot of perseverance to love Howard the Duck.”

When Howard the Duck flopped, it put George Lucas in a tight spot.  He was in debt having recently completed building the Skywalker ranch.  He had been counting on Howard the Duck to put him back in black.  When that didn’t pan out, Lucas resorted to selling some of his assets to stay afloat.  His friend, Steve Jobs, offered to buy Lucasfilm’s newly-launched CGI animation division for a very generous price.  That division grew up to be Pixar.

American Film Institute Honors Gregory Peck
Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid

Meanwhile, there was bad news in Thompson’s personal life as well.  Dennis Quaid broke off their engagement after meeting Meg Ryan on the set of Innerspace.

Thompson - Some Kind of Wonderful
Lea Thompson – Some Kind of Wonderful – 1987

In 1987, Thompson co-starred opposite Eric Stoltz and Mary Stuart Masterson in the coming-of-age drama, Some Kind of Wonderful.

Some Kind of Wonderful is basically Pretty in Pink with the genders reversed.  Stoltz played a working class guy hoping to go to college.  Masterson played his tom boyish best friend who just might have feelings for him.  And Thompson played the most popular girl in school whom Stoltz must ask to the Enchantment Under the Sea dance.  Ooops, wrong movie.

Fans of John Hughes’ Pretty in Pink have complained for decades that Hughes got the ending wrong by having Molly Ringwald’s character end up with pretty boy Andrew McCarthy instead of social misfit, Jon Cryer.  So when Hughes wrote and produced Some Kind of Wonderful, he gave it the ending fans demanded.  Hughes’ first choice to play the most popular girl in school was Ringwald.  But Ringwald wasn’t interested in making another Brat Pack movie, so she turned him down.

Originally, Martha Coolidge was attached to direct.  Coolidge prepped the script and cast the lead roles.  She cast Stoltz and Masterson.  Kim Delaney was cast in the Thompson role and Kyle McLaughlin was cast as the vengeful ex-boyfriend played by Craig Scheffer.  But a couple days before shooting was supposed to begin, Coolidge was fired.  Hughes had his producing partner deliver the bad news.

Some Kind of Wonderful Cast
Lea Thompson – Some Kind of Wonderful – 1987

According to Coolidge, Pretty In Pink director, Howard Deutch had been attached to Some Kind of Wonderful until he had a spat with Hughes.  While the notoriously petty Hughes was angry with Deutch, he replaced him with Coolidge who had no idea about the feud.  When Hughes and Deutch patched things up, Hughes decided to fire her and bring back his friend, Deutch.

But Hughes didn’t stop there.  He also wanted to fire most of the cast whom Coolidge had selected.  Delaney and McLaughlin were canned.  Hughes wanted to fire Stoltz as well.  Stoltz was still reeling from being fired from Back to the Future and he was terrified about losing this job as well.  The studio backed Stoltz and decided to keep him.  But according to Coolidge, Hughes was too important to the studio.  So everyone else was let go.

After Ringwald passed on the role of Amanda Jones, it was offered to Thompson.  Originally, Thompson turned the part down.  She was 26 and like Ringwald she was trying to get away from playing teenagers.  But after Howard the Duck flopped, Thompson reconsidered.  According to Thompson:

“I never would’ve done it if it hadn’t been for Howard The Duck. I’d actually turned it down. And then when Howard The Duck was such a bomb, that weekend, Eric Stoltz came and said, “Howard Deutch wants to offer you this movie again.” I’d already turned it down, and I was like, “I’d better take it.” I just kept hearing this voice going, ‘Get back on the horse!’ I was so devastated.”

The decision changed more than Thompson’s career.  She and Deutch fell in love.  They were married a couple of years later.

Some Kind of Wonderful opened to mostly positive reviews although many critics complained that it was derivative of Hughes’ previous works.  Despite the decent reviews, the movie was a box office dud.  It opened at number 6 and quickly fell out of the top ten.  It ended up grossing less than half of what Pretty in Pink earned in 1986.  Since then, the movie has developed a cult following.

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Lea Thompson – Casual Sex? – 1988

In 1988, Thompson starred opposite Saturday Night Live‘s Victoria Jackson and Andrew Dice Clay in the comedy, Casual Sex?

Thompson and Jackson played single girls who enjoyed the freedom of casual sex in the 80’s.  Clay played a buffoon not too far removed from his chauvinist stand-up comedy persona.  Jackson was joined by former Not Ready For Prime Time Player, Mary Gross.

Thompson described how the movie went horribly wrong:

“That was based on a Groundlings sketch, and it was a really interesting movie because we basically shot the movie, then they tested it and pretty much reshot half of it. It was really weird. Andrew Dice Clay was designed to be the complete buffoon, then for some reason they made me marry him in the reshoots. I’ve never seen anything like it. This happens a lot, though. Recently I watched the trailer for it, and they have all these scenes from when he was a buffoon that they’d cut out of the movie but still put in the trailer. So that was bizarre. They actually shot me marrying three different guys in that movie. [Laughs.] The whole thing was really weird.”

My favorite thing about the movie is that they felt the need to include a question mark in the title.  You know that was a focus group decision.  They wanted a provocative title, but they were afraid it would offend some potential viewers.  So they decided to soften the blow with a question mark.  They couldn’t possibly release a movie in which two single girls were definitively having casual sex.  But turn it into a question and it’s okay.  Maybe they are having casual sex and maybe they are not.  Maybe one of them decides to marry the Diceman.

Casual Sex received mostly negative reviews and bombed at the box office.  According to Box Office Mojo, it ran in theaters for only three weeks.

Thompson - Going Undercover
Lea Thompson – Going Undercover – 1987

Later that year, Thompson appeared in the private detective comedy, Going Undercover.

Chris Lemmon starred as a bungling private detective hired by Jean Simmons to protect her spoiled step-daughter, Marigold.  Thompson played the privileged youth who needs protecting during her European vacation for coeds.

Going Undercover was filmed in 1984.  It sat on a shelf for four years before being released in Europe as Yellow Pages.  In the US, it was given the slightly more suggestive title and a poster that sells the sex.

going undercover
Going Undercover

See it’s funny because he’s a private eye and he is under the covers with a hot girl in her lingerie.  The fact that she is holding a flashlight can’t be a good thing.

Thompson - The Wizard of Loneliness
Lea Thompson – The Wizard of Loneliness – 1988

Later that year, Thompson starred in the big screen adaptation of John Nichols’ novel, The Wizard of Loneliness.

Lukas Haas played a young man who goes to live with his aunt and uncle after his mother dies and his father goes off to fight in World War 2.  Thompson and Lance Guest played the boy’s caretakers.  To deal with his loneliness, the boy imagines that he is a wizard in possession of magical powers.

The Wizard of Loneliness was a small movie.  It grossed under $150 thousand dollars at the box office.  Yes, that’s thousand not million.

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Lea Thompson and Emilio Estevez – Night breaker – 1989

In 1989, Thompson appeared in the TV movie, Nightbreaker.

Martin Sheen played Dr. Alexander Brown, a scientist being awarded for his recent medical invention.  He is approached by a former GI who claims to be dying from cancer caused by exposure to radiation when he served as a test subject in the 1950’s.  Sheen’s son, Emilio Estevez, played the doctor in flashbacks.  The young doctor and a colleague played by Thompson interview the test subjects who are completely unaware of the danger of the radiation they are being exposed to.

Thompson - Tales From the Crypt
Lea Thompson – Tales From the Crypt – 1989

Later that year, Thompson played a prostitute who sells her beauty to a pawn broker for $10,000 dollars.  She uses the money to buy new clothes and seduce a wealthy bachelor.  But she is horrified when she starts to age at a rapid pace.

The episode was directed by Thompson’s husband, Some Kind of Wonderful director, Howard Deutch.  Thompson remembers the awkward experience of having her husband direct her in a love scene:

“The funny thing I remember about that is that the guy who played my boyfriend in that was my best friend’s boyfriend—he’s her husband now—so I couldn’t get through the love scenes. I kept screaming in a not-even-remotely sexy way, because it was just so weird. My husband’s yelling, “Act like you enjoy it!” And I was, like, “I can’t! It’s like he’s my brother or something!” I mean, in the end, they actually had to loop it. I was not the consummate professional. [Laughs.] I couldn’t even kiss this guy with a straight face. He’s still one of my best friends. In fact, I talked to him this morning. His name’s Brett Cullen, and he’s a wonderful actor. But I couldn’t act sexy with him. I just couldn’t!”

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Lea Thompson – Back to the Future Part II – 1989

Thompson ended 1989 by appearing in the sequel, Back to the Future Part II.

In the sequel, Marty and his girlfriend (played in the sequels by Thompson’s Burger King commercial co-star, Elisabeth Shue) travel to the year 2015 to prevent something bad from happening to his son.  He accidentally messes up the timeline resulting in an alternate 1985 in which his father is dead and his surgically altered mother (played by Thompson) is a lush married to a wealthy Biff Tannen.  In order to set the timeline straight, Marty must go back to 1955 once again.

Most of the cast of the first movie returned for the sequels including bit players like Billy Zane.  Claudia Wells, who played Marty’s girl friend in the original, dropped out of the sequels to take care of her dying mother.  And Crispin Glover dropped out over a contract dispute.  Reportedly, he was angered to learn that he was being offered less than half of what Thompson was being paid for the sequels.  Glover attributed this disparity to some comments that he made that were critical of the original ending of the first movie.  Glover objected to the ending’s implication that wealth = happiness.

Glover’s role was greatly reduced in the sequels and his character was played by another actor for the few scenes he was in.  Jeffrey Weissman wore facial prosthetics to look more like Glover and he was shown from a distance or obscured by sunglasses.  Glover sued because he had not given permission for his likeness to be used in the sequels.  The case was settled out of court.  Universal offered Glover over $700,000 to drop the case.  They only offered him $125,000 to actually appear in the movie.   The lawsuit resulted in the Screen Actors Guild instituting stricter rules about using actor’s likenesses.

Back to the Future Part II filmed at roughly the same time Thompson shot her episode of Tales From the Crypt.  She remembers the strain of wearing age make-up in both productions,  “I was doing scenes in old-age makeup on that one while I was also doing old-age makeup on this one. So my poor face was beat to smithereens.”

The second movie in the Back to the Future franchise received mostly positive reviews.  But it was not as well-received as the original film.  It was a hit at the box office, but also lagged behind the first film commercially.

Thompson - Back to the Future Part 3
Lea Thompson – Back to the Future Part III – 1990

In 1990, Thompson returned for the final chapter in the Back to the Future trilogy, Back to the Future Part III.

The third film in the series had Marty and Doc Brown traveling back in time to the Old West.  Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis decided to shift the focus from the McFly clan to Doc Brown for the final chapter.  As a result, Thompson’s role was cut down to an extended cameo.  In addition to playing Lorraine, she played Marty’s Old West ancestor, Maggie McFly.

The role of her husband, Seamus McFly, was written for Crispin Glover.  But when Glover dropped out of the sequels, Michael J. Fox played his own ancestor.  Is it just me or does he look like Eric Stoltz in that make-up?

The Back to the Future sequels were filmed back to back with a three week hiatus in between.  The two movies were filmed over an 11-month period.  Zemeckis ended up flying between Sonora and Glendale so he could oversee editing for Part 2 while shooting Part 3.  Reviews were decent and the movie was a hit at the box office.  However, it was the least commercially successful movie in the series.

thompson - Montana
Lea Thompson – Montana – 1990

Thompson also appeared in the 1990 TV Western, Montana, opposite Richard Crenna and Gena Rowlands.  The TV movie was scripted by novelist Larry McMurtry.

Thompson - Article 99
Lea Thompson – Article 99 – 1992

In 1992, Thompson appeared in her husband’s medical comedy/drama, Article 99.

Kiefer Sutherland, Ray Liotta, Forest Whitaker, and John C. McGinley starred as doctors at a VA hospital with too many patients, too much bureaucracy and too little resources.  Sound familiar?  Remember, this movie was released in 1992!  Thompson had a supporting role as another doctor on staff,

Thompson was 8 months pregnant and hiding behind a lab coat when she appeared in Article 99.  She wasn’t originally in the movie, but stepped in when the studio fired the actress her husband had originally cast.  According to Thompson:

“My husband directed it, and there was another actress in that part, but the studio didn’t like her, so they said, ‘You picked the wrong person, so get your wife to do it for very little money, ’cause she’s already there on location in Kansas, anyway.'”

Article 99 recieved mostly negative reviews with many critics calling it a rip-off of MASH.  It opened at #6 at the box office and quickly disappeared.

Thompson - Dennis the Menace
Lea Thompson – Dennis the Menace – 1993

In 1993, Thompson appeared in the first of a string of movie adaptations.  This one was Dennis the Menace.

Child actor, Mason Gamble, played the mischievous Dennis Mitchell.  Thompson and Robert Stanton played his parents.  Walter Matthau played the crotchety neighbor, Mr. Wilson and Joan Plowright played his wife.  Thompson’s Back to the Future co-star, Christopher Lloyd, appeared in a supporting role.

You might ask yourself why anyone would want to re-make Dennis the Menace as a movie.  Writer/producer John Hughes had a problem on his hands when demand for his teen angst dramas died with the Brat Pack.  But he had a major success with Home Alone and its sequel, Home Alone 2.   So he started cranking out kids movies like Dennis the Menace and Baby’s Day Out.  Not to mention Home Alone 3.

Thompson had worked for Hughes previously on Some Kind of Wonderful.  And her husband was a friend of his.  So it makes sense he would cast her as Dennis’ mother.

Despite mostly negative reviews, Dennis the Menace was a modest hit at the box office.

Thompson - Beverly Hillbillies
Lea Thompson – The Beverly Hillbillies – 1993

Later that year, Thompson had a supporting role in Penelope Spheeris’ adaptation of the TV show, The Beverly Hillbillies.

Jim Varney starred as the newly wealthy Jed Clampett.  Diedrich Bader played Jethro.  Former Playboy Playmate and Baywatch star, Erika Eleniak, played Elly May and Cloris Leachman played Granny.  Lily Tomlin appeared as Miss Hathaway.  Thompson and Rob Schneider played a couple of con artists after Jed’s fortune.

Reviews were universally negative.  Roger Ebert wrote: “When directors make a wonderful movie, you look forward to their next one with a special anticipation, thinking maybe they’ve got the secret. If it turns out they don’t, you feel almost betrayed. That’s how I felt after The Beverly Hillbillies, one of the worst movies of this or any year.”

The Beverly Hillbillies opened at #2 behind Demolition Man.  The following weekend, the two movies switched places.

Thompson also appeared in the 1993 TV movie, Stolen Babies.  It was based on the true story of  a Tennessee socialite who ran a black-market baby ring behind the Tennessee Children’s Home Society.

Thompson - Little Rascals
Lea Thompson – The Little Rascals – 1994

In 1994, Thompson continued appearing in movie adaptations no one wanted asked for.  This time, it was a cameo role in Penelope Spheeris’ adaptation of The Little Rascals.  The cast included cameo appearances by celebrities like Thompson as a ballet teacher, Mel Brooks, Daryl Hannah as Miss Crabtree, Reba McEntire, Whoopi Goldberg, George Wendt and Donald Trump as some guy in a bad toupee.

Reviews were mostly negative although Roger Ebert gave it a thumbs up.  It opened at #4 at the box office and grossed just over $50 million dollars in the US.  Not a hit, but not a disaster either.  Universal released a direct-to-video sequel in 2014.

thompson - substitute wife
Lea Thompson – The Substitute Wife – 1994

Thompson also starred opposite Farrah Fawcett and Peter Weller in the Hallmark TV movie, The Substitute Wife.

Fawcett played a prostitute who did not sell her beauty to a pawn dealer for $10,000.00.  Instead, she agrees to take over Thompson’s duties as wife and mother after she dies.  Yeah, Thompson’s dying.  Her husband, Peter Weller, apparently needs the help of a hooker with a heart of gold or else he will loose the family farm.

Thompson - The Unspoken Truth
Lea Thompson – The Unspoken Truth – 1995

In 1995, Thompson starred in the TV movie, The Unspoken Truth.

The movie was based on the true story of a woman whose violent and unstable husband kills a man for talking to her.  Her husband, played by James Marshall of Twin Peaks, convinces her to lie and say she pulled the trigger.  The plan backfires and they both receive life sentences.

Thompson - Caroline in the City
Lea Thompson – Caroline in the City – 1995-2000

Thompson switched gears with the 1995 NBC sitcom, Caroline in the City.  Thompson played a successful cartoonist living in New York, hanging with her friends and dealing with a difficult love life.

The show premiered on Thursday nights as part of NBC’s Must See TV block.  It followed Seinfeld and lead into E/R.  During the first season, NBC had a promotion in which three of their sitcoms crossed over.  So Thompson appeared on Friends.

thompson - friends
Lea Thompson – Friends – 1995

According to Thompson, she was completely unprepared for her new job:

“I’d never been on the set of a sitcom or even auditioned for a sitcom when they gave me that part. And I’d just had my second daughter. In fact, she was actually breast-feeding during network notes, which in a lot of eras probably would’ve been a cause for firing. But anyway, it really was a terrifying experience. I remember I went to see another show taping, because I was like, ‘I have to at least see what it’s like before I have to do it,’ but after I did that, I said, ‘I can’t do this! This is too scary!’

Thompson - Peoples Choice
Lea Thompson – People’s Choice Award for Caroline in the City

Thompson was initially concerned that her character may have been too successful for audiences to relate to:

“The character of Caroline… I kept saying to the writers, ‘She’s got everything. She’s young, she’s got a great job, she’s got this giant apartment in New York. How are you supposed to care about her?’ So it made it interesting to try and make people want to be involved in her life. And to like her, because she kind of had everything except for a man, and I was like, ‘C’mon, guys, can’t you come up with something else besides that?’ [Laughs.] But it still had a lot of fans, we got good ratings, and I’m really proud of it when I watch it now. I’m always amazed at how funny it was.”

While Caroline in the City was not as popular or well-received as Friends or Seinfeld, it was very successful.  That first season, Thompson was awarded a People’s Choice Award for  “Favorite Female in a New Television Series”.  NBC thought Caroline in the City was good enough to stand on its own.  So they moved it to Tuesday nights in its second season.  It aired on Monday nights for its final two seasons.

Lea Thompson - The Right to Remain Silent - 1996
Lea Thompson – The Right to Remain Silent – 1996

In 1996, Thompson starred opposite Robert Loggia in the TV movie, The Right to Remain Silent.

Thompson played a rookie cop and Loggia guided her through her first shift by telling stories of other unusual first shifts.  The cast included Patrick Dempsey, LL Cool J, Christopher Lloyd, Amanda Plummer, Carl Reiner and Judge Reinhold.

In 1998, while still appearing in Caroline in the City, Thompson starred in the TV movie, The Unknown Cyclist and the mini-series, A Will of Their Own.  Warning, this clip from The Unknown Cyclist is not suitable for work:

Thompson - Fish Don't Blink
Lea Thompson – Fish Don’t Blink – 2002

In 2002, Thompson starred in the indie movie, Fish Don’t Blink.

Thompson and professional nerd, Wil Wheaton, played siblings who have been running the family restaurant since the death of their parents.  Thompson’s character was mentally ill forcing the former Wesley Crusher to take care of both his sister and the family restaurant.  On the upside, she is gifted with superhuman hearing.  She can hear conversations from a mile away.  She claims she can even hear her pet catfish talking to her.  Wheaton’s plans to sell the restaurant and place his sister into full-time mental care are interrupted by the arrival of a showgirl and her friend played by Richard Grieco.    Wheaton immediately falls in love with the showgirl only to discover that she is on the run from the mob.

This is a real movie that actually got made even if no one saw it.  

Thompson - For the People
Lea Thompson – For the People – 2002-2003

From 2002-2003, Thompson starred on the Lifetime TV series, For the People.  Since I only have one X chromosome, I have never even heard of it.  And let me tell you, there is precious little out there for a show that aired during the 21st century.  Thompson played a liberal deputy DA in LA who has to deal with a new boss who just happens to be a conservative African-American.  But does she talk to fish?  I didn’t think so.  For the People, which was at best only for half of the people, was cancelled after its first season.

Just for fun, here is Thompson on the Craig Kilborn show in 2002.

Thompson - Stealin Christmas
Lea Thompson – Stealing Christmas – 2003

In 2003, Thompson starred opposite Tony Danza and Betty White in the TV movie, Stealing Christmas.  Danza played a thief in a Santa suit.  I know what you’re thinking.  Bad Santa much?  Believe it or not, Stealing Christmas aired the same week Bad Santa premiered in theaters.  So amazingly enough, it was not a Bad Santa rip-off.

Thompson played the owner of a nursery who unwittingly hires the thief to play Santa.  Do nurseries hire full-time Santas like department stores?  Anyway, she also invites Danza home where he bonds with her fatherless daughter named… get this… Noelle!  Because it’s a Christmas movie!  White played a widow who owns a Christmas shop that somehow manages to stay in business in a small town all year long.

Stealing Christmas debuted on the USA Network and periodically plays during ABC Family’s 25 Days of Christmas.  Because when you have to fill 25 days with Christmas movies, even a Bad Santa clone with the star of Who’s the Boss? if fair game.

The Haunted Lighthouse
The Haunted Lighthouse – 2003

Thompson reunited with her Back to the Future co-star, Christopher Lloyd, for the 3-D movie, The Haunted Lighthouse.  The Haunted Lighthouse was a theme park attraction developed for Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.  It was directed by Gremlins director, Joe Dante and based on a story by R.L. Stine.  Michael McKean co-starred.

thompson - Law and Order
Thompson – Law and Order: SVU – 2004

In 2004, Thompson appeared in guest roles on TV show.  She appeared in three episodes of the NBC comedy-drama, Ed.  Thompson played Tom Cavanagh’s cheating wife.  Thompson also appeared on an episode of Law and Order: SVU (pictured).

Thompson - Jane Doe Series
Lea Thompson – Jane Doe Series – 2005-2008

From 2005-2008, Thompson starred in a  series of TV movies called the Jane Doe series.  Thompson starred as a soccer mom who is secretly a government agent names Jane Doe.  The Hallmark Channel produced nine of these things!

Thompson - Come Away Home
Lea Thompson – Come Away Home – 2005

Also in 2005, Thompson appeared in the family flick, Come Away Home.  Thompson and Thomas Gibson played a couple that leaves their daughter with her grandfather while they go on a second honeymoon.  Their daughter is horrified to discover that her grandpa’s beach house has no TV and no computer.  What are the odds she ends up bonding with the old guy somehow?  Nah.  That would be cheesy.

Thompson - spy school
Lea Thompson – Spy School – 2008

In 2008, Thompson appeared opposite D.L. Hughley in the kiddie action movie, Spy School.  The movie is also known as Doubting Thomas outside of the US.  And I doubt you’ve ever heard of it.

Thompson - J Edgar
Lea Thompson – J. Edgar – 2011

Thompson continued working steadily in TV movies.  In 2011, she appeared in a small role in Clint Eastwood’s biopic J. Edgar starring Leonardo DiCaprio as J. Edgar Hoover.  According to Thompson: “Y’know, when Clint Eastwood asks you to come and play, even if it’s one scene, you go. He says, ‘Jump,’ you say, ‘How high?’ And I was so curious to see how he works… He runs a set like nobody else I’ve ever been around. It’s very quiet, it’s very respectful, but it’s very tense in a way, because you only get one take or maybe two. It’s very church-like, which puts more pressure on the actors, because it’s so quiet and focused. “

Thompson also starred opposite both of her daughters and Judd Nelson in the TV movie, Mayor Cupcake.

Thompson - Switched at Birth
Lea Thompson – Switched at Birth – 2011-2015

From 2011-present, Thompson has been co-starring in the ABC Family show, Switched at Birth.  The show tells the story of two girls who discover they were switched at birth.  Thompson and D.W. Moffett play a wealthy couple who find out that their biological daughter has been raised by a poor single mother.  Thompson describes her role on the show:

“Kathryn is upper-middle-class. She’s a One-Percenter. She’s been sheltered, and she thinks she’s kind of created this perfect little life, and she really doesn’t want to look too far beyond that. And when she finds out that she’s been raising someone else’s daughter for 16 years and her daughter has been raised by someone else, it kind of throws her entire perspective of the world into a tailspin. She deals with it in a really lovely, loving way for the most part, because it’s like she’s all of a sudden put on 3D glasses or something. The world looks completely different to her, because she’s suddenly exposed to people or situations that she never wanted to be, or thought she could be exposed to. She realizes the daughter she’s been raising is part Puerto Rican. The daughter she gave birth to is deaf, and she has to learn sign language. I think it’s really fun to play someone like that, someone that’s been really sheltered and, all of a sudden, their world completely opens up.”

Switched at Birth has been ABC Family’s highest rated show. It has earned praise for its portrayal of deaf characters and has won multiple awards.

Thompson - CSI
Lea Thompson and Elisabeth Shue – CSI: Crime Scene Investigation – 2013

In 2013, Thompson appeared on the hit CBS procedural CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.  This episode reunited her with her Burger King and Back to the Future co-star, Elisabeth Shue.  It’s a shame they couldn’t get Sarah Michelle Gellar on there too.  They could have sung Christmas carols while shilling for fast food.

thompson - left behind
Lea Thompson – Left Behind – 2014

In 2014, Thompson appeared in the reboot of the Left Behind movie series.  The new movie replaces born again loon Kirk Cameron with professional loon Nicolas Cage.

Reviews were terrible and the movie flopped at the box office.

thompson - dancing with the stars
Lea Thompson – Dancing With the Stars – 2014

Later that year, Thompson was a contestant on the popular reality show, Dancing with the Stars.  Thompson, a former ballerina, placed 6th.  She was beaten out by Tommy Chong!  Alfonso Ribeiro from Silver Spoons and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air took home the trophy.

So, what the hell happened?

This may seem like a silly question given the fact that Thompson has been working steadily for decades and is currently on a relatively successful TV show.  So let me start off by framing the question.  The reality is, Thompson’s career is still thriving.  Her longevity is quite impressive.  Other actresses who had bigger movie careers than her have fallen by the wayside.

What I’m really asking here is what happened to Thompson’s movie career.  In the 80’s, she seemed destined to be a big star.  But by the 90’s, her movie career had stalled out.  In 1990, Movieline magazine named her as an actress whose career had been “Nipped in the Bud”.  According to the article:

“It must have been maddening to watch another fresh-faced cutie pie, Meg Ryan, come along and steal the show in mature comic roles in When Harry Met Sally… and Joe vs. the Volcano.  Today Thompson languishes in TV movies, while Meg’s got the career that might have been Thompson’s (as well as Dennis Quaid–Thompson’s former fiance).”

Gonna go out on a limb and say that Thompson got the last laugh on that one.  But the article has a point in that Thompson’s movie career really did die out soon after the Back to the Future franchise finished up.

Part of the problem was that even in her twenties, Thompson was stuck playing teenagers.  Her big attempt to break out of teen roles was Howard the Duck.  When that became one of the most infamous bombs in movie history, it could have signaled the end of Thompson’s career.  Instead she retreated to John Hughes territory with Some Kind of Wonderful.  But that was at best a temporary measure as the John Hughes era was coming to an end and so was Thompson’s ability to play teens.

Following that, Thompson again tried to break out of typecasting with movies like Casual Sex? and by playing a seedy prostitute who turns ugly for Tales From the Crypt.  But none of those projects caught on.  Eventually, Thompson’s movie career consisted of cameo roles in lousy movies.  In light of her success on TV, it seems she was more cut out for the small screen than the movies.

Even Thompson seems to be surprised by the twists and turns her career has taken.  She remarks, “Wow, what a weird-ass career I’ve had, huh?”

I’m not going to sum it up any better than that.

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skewedreality
skewedreality
9 years ago

Wow, great work LeBeau….12 pages!
Lea Thompson and Mary Stuart Masterson…what a choice for Eric Stoltz.

Brad Deal
9 years ago

My father used to watch the Indianapolis Race car series before he died. He would always say that the most successful drivers were the guys who finished 4th, 5th, and 6th. Not the winners. The guys who finished near the top were consistent and always finished the race, year after year. The guys who won would be great when they won, but more times they did not finish at all. Consistency was the key to success. Lea Thompson has worked with some of the greats of Hollywood and she is still here doing the heaving lifting of some lesser roles.… Read more »

RB
RB
9 years ago

Another interesting addition to the series. I appreciate how you constantly hone your craft, Lebeau, when I read through these pages about an actress I remember only from Back to the Future. Yet she’s been in the steady-work crowd and continues to be.

Shemp
9 years ago

In a way, this entry is more “upbeat” than most WTHHT editions! Lea T’s movie career may’ve (pardon me) faltered but she bounced back admirably in/with TV, working steady and not in (a lot of) crap! (Hey, better half-decent TV shows/movies than direct-to-DVD Gorgonzola…and let’s be real here–not all Direct-2 movies are crap and/or forgettable, but MANY of them are.)

Why did her movie career falter? Too many mediocre and/or bomb movies, and LT’s “look” is gosh-darn All-American/WASP-y and perky, and Hollywood already had Meg Quaid and Helen Hunt to fulfill those needs.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  Shemp

You can also argue that Lea had to contend w/ her Burger King/”Back to the Future” co-star, Elisabeth Shue (before she “reinvented herself” in “Leaving Las Vegas”) as the go-to “gosh-darn, All-American, WASP-y and perky” young actress of that era. Perhaps, Lea made the mistake of not fully realizing that she was more gifted as a comedic actress (as evident in for example “Back to the Future” and later, “The Beverly Hillbillies”) and not try so hard to do things that weren’t entirely “true” to her real persona if you will. The movies in which she tried to play “against… Read more »

Craig Hansen
Craig Hansen
9 years ago

Wow, I had to watch that Burger King commerical from 1982 a couple of times. An at-the-time unknown Lea Thompson, Elizabeth Shue, AND Sarah Michelle Gellar, all in the same tv commercial? Consider my mind blown! Lea was right, “What a great casting director!”

Craig Hansen
Craig Hansen
9 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

I think I did a happy dance while watching that BK commercial! Ha ha. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a tv commercial with not one, not two, but THREE future famous movie stars before! I’m eyeballing those other two young actresses in the background, wondering what ever became of them…. This is The Outsiders of tv commercials right here! You struck gold with this find, my friend.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

I’ve know that I’ve posted this before, but since Lea Thompson’s WTHHT is finally up, I’m certain that this will finally get a proper look so to speak: http://cosblog.cosmelentertainment.com/2012/12/03/the-mother-brain-files-underrated-actors-special-lea-thompson/ Hollywood is full of stories in which a successful movie brings an actor momentum and a bad movie winds up killing it. The career of Lea Thompson is one of those stories. Her performance as Lorraine Baines McFly in 1985’s Back to the Future featured not only her comedic timing but also her rare ability to make light of a very awkward situation between mother and son. Young men and young… Read more »

daffystardust
Editor
9 years ago

just a few incidental notes: we recently discussed how I’d first seen Ghostbusters on the big screen with folks from my church, well my church youth group also screened Red Dawn right after it was released on video. None of this seemed odd to me at the time. It was the Reagan era. -Thompson was ideal casting as Dennis the Menace’s Mom, but boy did they whiff on that production. Both the old TV show and the film versions insisted on casting a really fresh-faced and cute kid when the Dennis of the comics is a grubby, freckle-faced monster. The… Read more »

admin
Admin
admin
9 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

When you mention shifting from movies to TV when you have children, I have heard several actors mention consistency as a primary concern. By which I mean : Consistency of income – you have a reliable paycheck as long as the show continues, and with a high-profile show like CitC, I imagine at least a year’s income would have been guaranteed. Consistency of location. You are reliably in the same place in the same city. This is helpful for babies, but even more important for older children, with considerations such as schools etc. This is particularly the case when the… Read more »

daffystardust
Editor
9 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

Ha! Yeah, I guess that’s why I thought it was somebody I already know in person. As soon as she explained that she is a consistent commenter here I completely made the connection and knew who she was. Social media is a strange place sometimes, and Twitter’s keystroke limit can be a challenge.

jeffthewildman
9 years ago
Reply to  daffystardust

Right about Dennis The Menace. That version tried to smash together Dennis and Home Alone and the result wasn’t that successful. Smash was the result and not at the box office. Indeed, this reminds me of something I realized a couple of years ago. John Hughes writing/directing/producing career could be divided into the pre-and-post Home Alone eras. In the pre-Home Alone era he wrote, produced and sometimes directed some really good to great movies and some of the most iconic ones of the era. His best teen films (Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) remain classics… Read more »

jeffthewildman
9 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

Forgot about Thin Ice. Saw that during its brief theatrical run. Found it to be pretty entertaining if derivative of Fargo in spots.

jeffthewildman
9 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

This was what I wrote about it after I saw it: I wasn’t expecting much from Jill Sprecher’s “Thin Ice”. From the description it sounded like a bush league “Fargo”. And while it does borrow quite a bit from the Coen Brothers masterpiece, it manages to offer up some pretty good entertainment in its own right. Greg Kinnear stars as Mickey, an insurance salesman who’s seen better days. His business is on the verge of collapse, his wife has thrown him out on account of his numerous affairs and he’s desperate for money. He thinks he’s hit pay dirt when… Read more »

Carl
Carl
9 years ago

Great article as usual! Just wanted to point out something about the Red Dawn remake. They did not fight a Chinese invasion. It was originally filmed as the Chinese invading the US, but then the producers got worried China would get upset. So they changed it to the North Koreans, going so far as to digitally alter the costumes the soldiers were wearing! It sat on the shelf for a while and only got released because Chris Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson had become famous in the interim. I know this is a Lea Thompson article, but doing such an awful… Read more »

skewedreality
skewedreality
9 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

I actually really liked the original Red Dawn and subsequently refuse to watch the remake.
To be fair, there are few Swayze movies from the 80’s I don’t love (Road House, Young Blood, The Outsiders)..great cheesy stuff.

Brad Deal
9 years ago
Reply to  skewedreality

My son and I loved the original Red Dawn. While the story may be a stretch, it exhibits loyalty, patriotism and all the qualities of our original Minute Men. The girls, Lea Thompson and the other (ahh, what’s her NAME?) were the consummate survivors who ultimately brought the fight to the enemy. As for the remake, the ChinoKorean debacle. I watched it with my son, and nearly cried. Why, why, why?! How could something so good, well maybe average, be made so bad? I mean not bad, but terrible. I had to send my boy to counseling over this… I… Read more »

Craig Hansen
Craig Hansen
9 years ago
Reply to  Brad Deal

I never knew before that Jaws 3D was initially intended to be a parody. So, Spielberg hated the idea of a Jaws parody so much and threatened Universal because it would tarnish the legacy of the original, I presume? This was right when E.T. had been released and surpassed Star Wars as the biggest box office hit of all time for Universal, so he had all the leverage in the world to threaten them at that moment. No wonder they backed off on that parody. Although, watching that “Worst shark effect scene ever” clip you provided, I wonder if that… Read more »

Craig Hansen
Craig Hansen
9 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it Jaws 4 that has one of the silliest movie bloopers of all time, that being MIchael Caine climbing out of the ocean, soaking wet, into a boat, and then in the very next shot sitting down on the boat bone dry?

Craig Hansen
Craig Hansen
9 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

You know, I’ve seen that clip from Jaws 4 before of Michael Caine climbing out of the ocean, soaking wet, and then sitting down bone dry… Watching it again, from the clip you posted, after all these years I finally realized something: the guy climbing out of the ocean, soaking wet, IS NOT Michael Caine. It’s his voice over the scene, but not him: it must be a stuntman, paying his dues by climbing out of the water soaking wet. The only actual shot of Caine is sitting down, bone dry. I guess he was too much a big shot… Read more »

Craig Hansen
Craig Hansen
9 years ago
Reply to  Craig Hansen

MIchael Caine is one of the few actors out there to outright admit he did a movie just for a paycheck. There’s not many of those out there that have done that. A few, but not many. Actually, that has me thinking, if you’re up for a little research that might actually make for a fun article, LeBeau!

Mastro
Mastro
9 years ago
Reply to  Craig Hansen

I read a Caine interview where he said “I never saw Jaws 4- I understand its pretty bad- but I have seen the house I bought from it – and its great!!”

You can’t dislike that honesty.

Brad Deal
9 years ago

No, no, no Lebeau, it’s not how it is, it’s how you remember it that counts. It’s been years since I seen the movie but I remember everything perfectly. The characters are not paper thin, but completely fleshed out, the plot is well defined with no holes, and I had no need of any suspension of disbelief. And Americans don’t rape heroines, only the bad guys. In fact I remember everything now, Red Dawn was one of the most iconic movies of the Cold War. So don’t give me facts, just agree with me, ok? Otherwise I may have to… Read more »

peyton
peyton
9 years ago

Another great article, lebeau. It makes me think what happened to her costar Mary Stuart Masterson. She seemed poised to be the next big thing, but then it almost seems like her movie career dried up.

james
james
9 years ago

You left out Lea’s appearance on “The Larry Sanders Show”. It may be the only time she played herself! Halarious show!

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

When I posted this article on rec.arts.tv on UseNet/Google Groups:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.arts.tv/WCWdecAaOnU

RB
RB
9 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

I wouldn’t worry about whatever some idiot says. Let Adam what’s his name put the level of work into his blog that you have, maintain consistent quality content not to mention vigilant weeding out of spambots – that alone sets this blog apart and made me a fan from the first article I read, not to mention setting a tone that is welcoming of all commenters… The Adams of the world would rather sit back and complain about someone else’s work because they aren’t about to do that work themselves.

Brad Deal
9 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

What the Hell.. Is a UseNet? Who cares?

Do I hate him? You don’t even know him..
He reminds me..of..me.
Now I know I hate him.

From Tombstone (sort of)

I go with RB. Screw these guys

Brad Deal

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  Brad Deal

Oddly enough, I hated a fairly easier time when I posted this on rec.arts.movies.past-films, when compared to rec.arts.tv:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.arts.movies.past-films/jQ6Ml47Xpp8

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

Another user on rec.arts.tv named Barb May has also recently been on my case in regards to me posting the What the Hell Happened to… articles (at least since I posted the Billy Zane one) because according to her/him, it constitutes spam (Barb didn’t like the fact that for the Billy Zane WTHHT article, I posted each and every link/page at the bottom of the opening paragraph) or some jazz like that: https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rec.arts.tv/WCWdecAaOnU/yuSrGOBQRAQJ OK then spam-boy. You want a flame war? You got it. We’ll see how long you last. I bet the owners of the web sites you’re spamming… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Here’s a sampling of what Barb May said when I posted the Billy Zane article to rec.arts.tv:
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rec.arts.tv/AaMN707qPeg/VrovUVJAap8J

Pathetic denial and childish name-calling won’t help you.

You spammed and you were called on it. You know the challenge is valid
and that’s why you can’t afford to ignore it. I’m going to move on now
and I suggest you do the same. If you spam again you won’t be proving to
anyone that you have a “right” to do it, but you will generate
additional backlash that will not be good for the web site.


Barb

valgal
valgal
9 years ago

It seems that around the time Thompson was in Back to the Future, there were some actresses that had the “meh factor”. Not amazing actresses but not bad, pretty but not overly so, most movies were average, etc. Sort of a cookie cutter actress and they all seem to blend together. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Not being critical just throwing some thoughts out into the universe.

HHGeek
HHGeek
9 years ago
Reply to  valgal

Isn’t that the purpose of an awful lot of actresses? Eye candy of a certain predictable type, usually to provide love interest / friend of love interest / potential murder victim, etc.? It depresses the hell out of me, but it seems that’s always been the way, and probably always will be.

gluserty
9 years ago

I don’t know what a “star” is, but looking back, I don’t know, Looking back, I’ve enjoyed the career of Lea Thompson. It’s an unusual industry, being creative but yet being told what you do from directors who are feel equally creavitive. Hey, but she did get married ( I LOVE “Some Kind of Wonderful”; yeah, I’m I guy, but a sensitive doofus at the same token::-).
Nice write up Lebeau;excellent choice.

Myso
Myso
9 years ago

Great read as usual! I spent almost 2 days reading every single one of your WTTH entries:) I got here from a Lifetime movie, and this is where I ended up:) I just remember her from Howard the Duck. I was born after it was released, so I used to watch it on VHS because my parents thought it was age appropriate. Which it wasn’t. But hey, duck boobs and interspecies dating is perfect for young children to watch. There was a lot of sexual content in it.I haven’t seen the movie in years, but that’s all I remember from… Read more »

admin
Admin
admin
9 years ago
Reply to  Myso

Yeah, I viewed “Howard the Duck” on HBO when I was a kid. I liked it fine, and I wasn’t aware at the time that it was a bomb. Then again, I was 10 when i first viewed it, so film reviews weren’t really a factor for me at the time (nowadays, they are a consideration and a reference, but never a deal breaker).

admin
Admin
admin
9 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

I know what you mean. For myself, I become more interested if the film is considered either a masterpiece or a total stinker; I want to see for myself what the hype or vitriol is about.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  admin

Superhero Rewind: Howard the Duck Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsee0RXI1Uk

“Howard the Duck,” (1986). Lea Thompson, Jeffrey Jones. Directed by Willard Huyck.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

https://screenrant.com/howard-the-duck-worst-shocking-trivia-facts/ LEA THOMPSON WAS DEVASTATED BY ITS FAILURE When she signed on to play Beverly, Lea Thompson was on a career high. She’d just had a breakthrough role, playing Lorraine McFly in the mega-blockbuster Back to the Future. The sky appeared to be the limit for her. Howard the Duck brought the dream crashing back to Earth. In a DVD interview, she admits being “devastated” by the movie’s box office failure, saying it felt especially weird coming off a major triumph. As fate would have it, that devastation would prove positive for Thompson. Eager to distance herself from the turkey… Read more »

Myso
Myso
9 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

Oh I forgot about Back to the Future! I’ve seen all of them, but I totally forgot that she was in the movie when I wrote that comment. I just remember her in Howard the Duck because other than Howard, the duck, she was really the only main visible star who was a human. And brain raped. Ugh the opening scene had duck breasts! And it was still marketed towards children! I believe it was PG, which was PG 13 for the 80’s, but it was still marketed towards kids. I remember watching the cartoon Transformer movies and I remember… Read more »

Myso
Myso
9 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

He looks a bit like Daffy Duck, but with a cigar in his mouth! I’ll admit that I’ve never heard of that comic book. I tended to stick with Wonder Woman, Teen Titans, Spiderman, Superman, Batman, Teen Titans, and Justice League comics instead. But of course, children watched it:) It was targeted towards children, but they could have still made it subtle instead of just… weird. I swear, it’s like a fetish movie. Was there that much innuendo in the comics? Seagal was everywhere in the early 90’s! But once you see one Seagal movie, you’ve seen them all. I… Read more »

Myso
Myso
9 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

Spider Man’s Marvel, but I only read a few after religiously watching The Amazing Adventures of Spider Man on Disney. And Wonder Woman is incredible! She was one of my,if not, favorite Super Heroes! I think I stopped reading when all the DC comics started having Alternate Universes. I’m getting back into comics through Avatar the Last Airbender and Young Justice, both of which I enjoyed. Millions of dollars used to get Howard to wear pants? If Marvel had known what the future held, I’m sure they would have drawn pants on him. That’s really strange! Did they appeal? Are… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

So Bad It’s Good: ‘Howard the Duck,’ the Marvel Movie We’d All Like to Forget: http://flavorwire.com/473030/so-bad-its-good-howard-the-duck-the-marvel-movie-wed-all-like-to-forget By Jason Bailey on Aug 19, 2014 9:45am [So Bad It’s Good: ‘Howard the Duck,’ the Marvel Movie We’d All Like to Forget] Bad movies are not a simple matter. There are nearly as many categories of terrible movies as there are for great ones: there are films that are insultingly stupid (Batman & Robin), unintentionally funny (The Room), unintentionally, painfully unfunny (White Chicks), so bad they’re depressing (Transformers), and so on. But the most rewarding terrible movies are those we know as “so… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

What the Duck?

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/9657-A-Look-at-the-Howard-the-Duck-Movie

Well, you asked for it – MovieBob breaks down what exactly the infamous Howard the Duck film was all about.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  Myso

Part of the problem with the Howard the Duck movie is that in the comics, Howard was quite frankly, a douchebag. But in the movie, they in essence tried to make him out to be a character that Michael J. Fox would ideally play.

Also, the Howard comics were very satirical and self-referential. I suppose that in way, the Howard comics were sort of a intergalactic version of the Deadpool comics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_the_Duck

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

The Weird Marketing of Howard the Duck: http://www.denofgeek.us/movies/howard-the-duck/237897/the-weird-marketing-of-howard-the-duck We take a look back at how Universal promoted one of the first Marvel movies…Howard the Duck. One might say that Howard the Duck is one of the most (unfairly) maligned films of the 1980s. Despite that, this article may contain spoilers for one of the biggest, most well-received films of 2014, believe it or not. If you’re not caught up on your summer movie releases, perhaps this article isn’t for you. It’s just tough to discuss one of that decade’s more ambitious flops without discussing one of this summer’s biggest hits.… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

‘HOWARD THE DUCK’: THE ORAL HISTORY http://decider.com/2016/03/11/howard-the-duck-the-oral-history/?_ga=1.192178989.608980329.1302539496 Lea Thompson (“Beverly Switzler”): It was a really big deal to be able to audition for it. I was in Huntsville, Alabama shooting SpaceCamp, trying to buy jewelry so I could look like Madonna. Willard and Gloria were super jazzed that I dressed up for my audition at their house. Lea Thompson: I like “Hunger City.” They’re all pretty good songs. Lea Thompson: There was always the thing hanging over my head that they might dub me. They weren’t really sure about my voice, so I worked really hard on that. I didn’t… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

‘Howard The Duck’ Indirectly Led To ‘Toy Story’ And Other Facts About The Cult Favorite Flop

http://uproxx.com/gammasquad/howard-the-duck-fascinating-facts/

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Break out the Quack Fu, Howard The Duck turns 30 today

http://www.avclub.com/article/break-out-quack-fu-howard-duck-turns-30-today-240395

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

“Fresh Prince’s” Alfonso Ribeiro, Lea Thompson are expected to go “Dancing”:
http://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/dwts-season-19-cast-alfonso-ribeiro-lea-thompson-jonathan-bennett-201439

Ribeiro and the “Back to the Future” star are reportedly joining a cast that includes Olympian Lolo Jones, soap opera hunk Anotonio Sabato Jr. and Janel Parrish from “Pretty Little Liars.”

admin
Admin
admin
9 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

Yeah, I’m looking backward to this.

shitbrick
shitbrick
9 years ago

lebeau my buddy and i had this debate i think caine is better actor then connery he thinks otherwise also he think caine was never a lister even though he top leading man from 60s to 80s

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Lea Thompson: Suddenly, She’s Everywhere, but Don’t Call It a Comeback: https://celebrity.yahoo.com/blogs/tv-news/lea-thompson–suddenly–she-s-everywhere–but-don-t-call-it-a-comeback-202711903.html It is not your imagination that Lea Thompson seems to be all up in your pop culture these days. She paid homage to her role in the Back to the Future movies with a DeLorean in her Dancing With the Stars performance last week, then again later in the week by riding a hoverboard in a cameo appearance in the series premiere of NBC’s A to Z. She also plays Nicolas Cage’s wife in the new Left Behind movie, and her ABC Family series Switched at Birth will… Read more »

boomerX
boomerX
9 years ago

No idea. I always liked her. She has a cute, girl-next-door look and I would have preferred her in all the brat pack movies in place of Mare Winningham. Who’s that? EXACTLY.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  boomerX

Lea Thompson’s main draw I think was that was the girl next door who was attractive but not too attractive to cause discomfort or envy among the female audience.

Brad Deal
9 years ago

Lebeau, Lea’s all over Youtube on Dancing With The Stars….I wish my wife and I could dance even half as good. WTH is for actors who could not get their career into gear…Lea’s career is in cruise control. Sometimes things are not what they seem. Sometimes people are screw ups and can’t help themselves, sometimes they are in the right place at the right time, sometimes they are lucky. But time will separate the wheat from the chaff. Lea is far more successful then most of us realized. We would never have known if you had not written your article.… Read more »

Brad Deal
9 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

Ok Lebeau, I get it. Respect. But now I want to know about Eric Stoltz. It’s unfair to throw out teasers about a WTHH for a guy who gets fired but also gets others hired…..?? And a match maker too? WTH? This sounds like the very definition of a WTHH type guy.

I gotta have it. Write more articles…don’t sleep, don’t eat, just write.

But not too much. Life’s a marathon, not a sprint

Brad

What about Joan?

Brad Deal
9 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

Lebeau, Stop it, stop it, stop it already….you tease with Stoltz and you mention Bridget in the same breath….Get this party started, tap into your feminine side and get some work done. You need to MULTI-TASK. Ahhh, so many WTHH’s and so little time. Now I am going to have to re-read Ms. Fonda’s article…again, because of you. I can’t take the pressure, what am I going to do??? And the Game of Thrones doesn’t start until next year…I’m gonna die ahhh “Brad, Bradley, are you on the Internet again? If you can’t play nice with your internet friends then… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau
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