- Home
- “I...
“I did 900 movies in a row”: Lea Thompson Felt She Couldn’t be a Movie Star Anymore After Back to the Future and Movie With Tom Cruise Because of Motherhood
Back to the Future star Lea Thompson stated that her mainstream film career ended after she had her kids. Thompson was a rising star through the 1980s but she was pushed to TV roles in the ’90s. Thompson found success in her role as Lorraine McFly in Robert Zemeckis’ three-part time travel flick. Before that, she was Tom Cruise’s pair in the 1983 film, All the Right Moves.
Thompson met Howard Deutch during her popular teen film Some Kind of Wonderful and married the filmmaker in 1989. She had her first child, actress Madelyn Deutch, in 1991 and her second child, actress Zoey Deutch, in 1994.
Lea Thompson Says She Lost Her Movie Star Status Due To Motherhood
Lea Thompson played the mother of Michael J. Fox‘s character Marty McFly in the blockbuster franchise, Back to the Future. She reprised her role for two more movies in the trilogy and starred in several other roles before she disappeared from mainstream films. Thompson explained her absence during a chat with Justin Long on his podcast Life is Short.
Thompson shared her personal and professional stories including how she met Howard Deutch when she was still engaged to Dennis Quaid. She shared that this period in her life was a crazy time because she was in too many movies as a leading star. She shared on Life is Short:
He had a crush on me. But at this point still I was engaged to Dennis Quaid. So, I had to kind of get out of that before…but it was a crazy time, I mean, I did like 900 movies in a row.
However, she revealed that her mainstream acting streak came to a screeching halt when she became a mother in 1991. She shared that she wanted to do research on the topic because she observed that one couldn’t become a Hollywood star if they had pushed a baby out. She shared:
I did 900 movies in a row, but what happens is it all screeches to a halt when you have a baby. I wanna do the research on this because, once you push a baby out, you can’t be a movie star anymore.
Thompson had the research ready for Justin Long as well. She shared that the only person whom she could think of having a successful career after having a baby was Meryl Streep. She also added that adoptive mothers were not affected by this trope, citing Sandra Bullock and Charlize Theron as examples.
Lea Thompson Moved To A TV Career After Starring In Big Movies
Lea Thompson made her debut opposite Dennis Quaid in Jaws 3-D. Following her debut, she starred alongside Tom Cruise in All the Right Moves. She starred in the action film Red Dawn and the comedy film The Wild Life, before acting in Back to the Future. She went on to grab the leading lady roles in SpaceCamp and Howard the Duck.
She played the role of Amanda Jones, the popular teen girl, in Some Kind of Wonderful in 1987. She revealed to Justin Long that she never got a big film after the 1993 film The Beverly Hillbillies. She shared:
Does your face change that much? Or what happens? I never did a movie after that, a starring role, I did The Beverly Hillbillies, after that I’ve never done a big feature.
After having her second child, she moved to television roles. She landed the title role in the sitcom Caroline in the City. She didn’t enjoy sitcoms much because of the pressure of performing live in front of an audience. From 2005, she starred in the Jane Doe TV anthology series as the lead. She played Kathryn Kennish in 73 episodes of the Freeform show Switched at Birth.
Thompson’s Back to the Future trilogy is now available for rent on AppleTV+. All the Right Moves is also available for rent on AppleTV+.
- https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/i-did-900-movies-in-a-row-lea-thompson-felt-she-couldn-t-be-a-movie-star-anymore-after-back-to-the-future-and-movie-with-tom-cruise-because-of-motherhood/ar-BB1n5cc9?ocid=00000000
Related
The true story of “The Devil’s Bath”: How a long-forgotten suicide-by-proxy epidemic inspired the terrifying new film
Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, the Austrian filmmaking duo behind "Goodnight Mommy," explain the shocking real-life inspiration behind their latest movie.
MoviesTom Hanks and Robin Wright Reunite, Digitally De-Aged, for Robert Zemeckis' 'Here' Trailer
Robert Zemeckis' "Here" is nearly here. The film, which reunites Zemeckis with his "Forrest Gump" stars Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, hits theaters this November. A new trailer has just been released, giving you a great idea what the team is up to now -- watch it above. "Here" is based on Richard McGuire's graphic novel of the same name, which was released by Pantheon Books in 2014, was based on a six-page comic strip McGuire originally published...
MoviesClint Eastwood's Family Guide: Meet the Actor's 8 Children
Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images for Warner Bros Away from the big screen, Clint Eastwood is quite the family man. While the legendary actor has found huge success as an actor and director for projects like Gran Torino and Million Dollar Baby, his greatest role is being a father to his eight children. "I'm a much better […]
Movies‘A Family Affair' Review: Zac Efron and Nicole Kidman's Hollywood-Set Rom-Com Has No Heat
Among the perennial reasons we go to the movies is the onscreen heat between impossibly charismatic stars. The summer of 2024 has delivered the goods in that department so far: Consider the sweltering Anne Hathaway-Nicholas Galitzine romance "The Idea Of You," the disarming, post-Barbenheimer pairing of Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt in "The Fall Guy," […]
Movies3 underrated movies you need to watch in July 2024
From a creepy horror movie starring Nicolas Cage to a romantic drama similar to last year's Past Lives, these three July 2024 movies deserve to be watched.The Latest Tech News, Delivered to Your Inbox
MoviesHow to Watch 'Horizon: An American Saga': Is Kevin Costner's Movie Streaming or in Theaters?
Kevin Costner's Western passion project "Horizon: An American Saga" finally lands in theaters on Friday. The film - which Costner directed as well as stars in - chronicles a "15-year span of pre- and post-Civil War expansion and settlement of the American west." It's the first of a number of proposed films in an expansive planned series. The second movie will land quickly in August. Here's everything you need to know about the new movie, how to...
Movies