Lea Thompson with Tom Cruise in 1983's "All the Right Moves." (Getty)
Before Lea Thompson found fame as an actress in 1985’s “Back to the Future,” she scored her first big break opposite Tom Cruise in 1983’s “All the Right Moves.” The star was quick to surprise her, she said.
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The film explores how a high school student (Cruise) clashes with his headstrong coach in a struggling Pennsylvania steel town.
“[The producers] wanted me to show my breasts twice in the script,” the 57-year-old recently recalled to Closer Weekly. “I didn’t even audition because I didn’t want to take my shirt off, but I got the part and was like, ‘OK.’
"Tom managed to talk them out of one of the [nude] scenes, and in the second, he said, ‘Well, if she has to be naked, I’ll be naked, too.’ That’s pretty badass! I’ve always been grateful to him for standing up to the producers.”
Lea Thompson with Tom Cruise.
And her time with “Back to the Future” co-star Michael J. Fox was just as wonderful.
The film told the story of 17-year-old high school student Marty McFly (Fox) who is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, scientist Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd). Thompson played his mother Lorraine Baines.
The pair appeared together in 1989’s “Back to the Future Part II,” and 1990’s “Back to the Future Part III.”
Thompson told the magazine she still keeps in touch with the 57-year-old actor.
“[Those memories are] continuing because we’ve been doing panels together,” she explained. “He’s so funny, clever and self-deprecating, yet strong. If you want an old memory… I didn’t realize he was a star then. We shared a little trailer [on set], and we couldn’t get out because these neighborhood girls [trapped us inside]. I was like, ‘I guess he really is famous!’”
Lea Thompson with Michael J. Fox.
But it was in 1987’s “Some Kind of Wonderful” where she met the man that truly changed her life — director and future husband Howard Deutch. The duo have been married since 1989 and share two daughters.
Thompson admitted she didn’t know Deutch was “the one” right away while filming.
“No, I don’t think so,” said Thompson. “I definitely liked him and he had a crush on me, but I never really dated anyone like him, and I had a boyfriend [Dennis Quaid] at the time.
"Just day by day we ended up staying together, and I love him more than ever. He’s so funny, and he’s been such a good partner and dad. It’s magical to stay with someone that long. You go through a lot of ups and downs, but it’s been good.”
Thompson pointed out their marriage, like any other, faces its ups and downs. Still, the pair are happily willing to make it work.
“We’re stubborn, lazy or both,” she said on sticking it out. “I’m happy we got through the rough patches. It’s hard — just having kids and getting older are stressful. I really appreciate him as a friend and partner. My parents divorced, so I didn’t grow up thinking people always stay married forever.
“Even as a little girl, I knew [my parents] shouldn’t be married… [But] my mother remarried and I was crazy about my stepfather, much closer to him than my father. I’m happy to have him in my life.”
And working in Hollywood has become a family affair. Closer Weekly pointed out Thompson directed “The Year of Spectacular Men,” which comes out June 15. It was written by her 27-year-old daughter Madelyn Deutch and it stars her younger daughter 23-year-old Zoey Deutch.
“Madelyn came back from college and, lo and behold, her little sister Zoey was a movie star,” said Thompson. “She’d had all these terrible relationships and said, ‘Wow, it’s been my year of spectacular men.’ I said, ‘Write a movie about it!’
“We worked for four years on it, so even though it’s hugely collaborative with Maddie and Zoey, it’s really the first thing I’ve created, the first that feels like it’s my own.
"[And] I learned a lot about Maddie and Zoey as professionals. They’re both really hard workers, really good at their craft and to the people around them. It’s fun to get to know them as they become full-fledged women.”
Thompson has maintained a successful, steady career as a star, all while being a hands-on mom and supportive spouse — and she has zero regrets.
“I have a great husband, great children and a great life!” she said.
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