When William A. Graham decided to direct a sequel to the 1980 cultural phenomenon The Blue Lagoon, he knew the stakes. Everyone knew. You can't just remake a movie that launched Brooke Shields into the stratosphere of global stardom without facing some serious scrutiny. People were obsessed with the original. It was everywhere. Naturally, when the 1991 follow-up was announced, the conversation immediately shifted to the Return to the Blue Lagoon nude scenes and how the production would handle its young leads, Milla Jovovich and Brian Krause.
It was a weird time for Hollywood.
The industry was caught between the "anything goes" spirit of the 1970s and the increasingly litigious, protective environment of the early 90s. Milla Jovovich was only 15 during filming. That’s a fact that often gets lost in the shuffle of retro movie trivia. While the film attempted to replicate the "naturalist" aesthetic of the first movie, the reality on the ground in Fiji was a lot more complicated than the shimmering turquoise water suggested.
Navigating the Controversy of Return to the Blue Lagoon Nude Scenes
Let’s be real. The marketing for this movie leaned heavily on the "paradise found" trope. It promised a continuation of the innocent, primal romance that made the first film a hit. But the Return to the Blue Lagoon nude scenes became a lightning rod for critics who felt the sequel was just retreading old ground with even younger actors.
Unlike the first film, which used body doubles for Brooke Shields during the more explicit moments, the sequel had to navigate much stricter labor laws and a different cultural climate. Jovovich has spoken openly in later years about how she felt during that shoot. She wasn't exactly a seasoned pro yet; she was a teenager being asked to carry a multi-million dollar franchise on her shoulders while navigating her own body image.
The production used a variety of "movie magic" tricks. Long hair was strategically placed. Angles were meticulously chosen. They used body doubles—a lot. If you look closely at the wide shots versus the close-ups, you can see the slight shifts in physique that give away the presence of a double. This wasn't just about modesty; it was about the legal tightrope of filming in the 90s.
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The Casting Gamble: Milla and Brian
Brian Krause was 21. Milla was 15.
Think about that age gap for a second. In the context of the story, they are peers, growing up together in isolation. In reality, they were at completely different stages of life. Krause was an adult who had a better grasp of the industry's mechanics. Jovovich was essentially a child being thrust into a hyper-sexualized marketing campaign.
Honestly, the chemistry between them is what keeps the movie from falling apart completely. They managed to sell the "Lilli and Richard" romance despite the awkwardness of the production. Graham, the director, reportedly tried to keep the set "closed" during the more sensitive filming days to ensure some level of comfort for the actors. But on a tropical island with a massive crew, "closed" is a relative term.
You’ve got to remember that the 1980 original actually led to a Congressional inquiry regarding the age of Brooke Shields. By the time 1991 rolled around, Columbia Pictures was hyper-aware of the optics. They didn't want a repeat of the legal headaches that dogged Randal Kleiser a decade earlier.
Behind the Scenes in Fiji
The heat was brutal.
Filming in Taveuni, Fiji, sounds like a dream, but it was basically a logistical nightmare. They were dealing with unpredictable weather, tropical insects, and the constant need to keep the actors looking "perfectly sun-kissed" without actually letting them get sunburned.
The "nudity" in the film is largely suggestive or handled through silhouettes. It’s a trick as old as cinema itself. By playing with light and shadow, Graham could imply a level of exposure that wasn't actually happening on camera. This helped satisfy the "Blue Lagoon" brand—which was built on a certain level of eroticism—without crossing the lines that would have triggered an NC-17 rating or massive legal blowback.
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Why the Sequel Failed to Catch Lighting Twice
If we’re being honest, the movie didn't do well.
The critics hated it. Roger Ebert famously gave it a "thumbs down," noting that it felt like a pale imitation of the original. People weren't just looking for Return to the Blue Lagoon nude scenes; they wanted the lightning-in-a-bottle magic of the first film, and the sequel just felt too manufactured.
It tried too hard to be scandalous while being simultaneously too afraid to actually be provocative. It was caught in a middle ground that satisfied nobody. The audience had moved on to grittier, more realistic dramas. The era of the "sundrenched romance" was fading, replaced by the cynicism of the early grunge era.
Interestingly, Milla Jovovich’s career didn't suffer. If anything, the movie served as a bizarre, high-profile launching pad. She moved on to Dazed and Confused and eventually The Fifth Element, proving she was much more than just a "Lagoon girl." But the experience of that first big lead role, with all its physical demands and public scrutiny, clearly shaped how she handled her later career.
The Legacy of the Lagoon
Looking back, the obsession with the Return to the Blue Lagoon nude scenes says more about the audience of 1991 than it does about the film itself. We were in a transition period. The way we talk about young actors and consent today is radically different from the conversations happening thirty-five years ago.
There’s a specific kind of nostalgia for these movies, though. They represent a version of Hollywood that doesn't really exist anymore—the big-budget, mid-tier romantic epic filmed on location with minimal CGI.
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- The Age Factor: Always check the production dates. Milla was 15, Brian was 21. This context changes how you view the "romance" on screen.
- Body Doubles: Most of the "exposure" people remember was performed by adult doubles, a standard practice to protect underage performers.
- The Director's Cut: Various versions of the film exist in different regions, some with slightly more footage than others, though the core content remains largely the same.
- The Brooke Shields Precedent: The sequel exists only because the first film broke every rule in the book and became a massive financial success.
How to Approach Retro Cinema Critically
If you're revisiting these films today, it's worth looking at them through a modern lens without totally discounting the era they were made in. Understanding the use of body doubles and the legal constraints of the time helps demystify the "scandal" that once surrounded the production.
To get a real sense of the production, seek out interviews with Milla Jovovich from the late 90s. She provides a much more grounded, often humorous take on what it was like to be a teenager trapped on an island filming a sequel to one of the most famous movies of all time. She doesn't hold back on the weirdness of it all.
Ultimately, the film stands as a time capsule. It’s a relic of an era where Hollywood was trying to figure out how to sell "innocence" and "sex appeal" in the same package to a global audience. It didn't quite work, but it gave us one of the most enduring stars of the last three decades and a whole lot of behind-the-scenes stories that are far more interesting than the movie itself.
To better understand the evolution of these types of productions, compare the 1991 film with the 2012 Lifetime remake, Blue Lagoon: The Awakening. You'll see a massive shift in how the industry handles the same themes of isolation and discovery with a much heavier focus on safety and contemporary social norms. This comparison highlights just how much the "wild west" of location filming has changed since the early 90s.