Sharks, Ducks, and Dancing: A Conversation With Lea Thompson

Lea Thompson is an American treasure. She has been acting for well over 30 years and has starred in some of Hollywood’s biggest films. The little girl from Minnesota has carved out a career that seen her work opposite a rubber shark and a man in a duck suit, in addition to the star-making turn as Lorraine McFly in the Back to the Future trilogy. Earlier this week, Thompson was named as a contestant in the new season of ABC’s Dancing With The Stars, and if she brings the same gravitas to this competition as she does her films roles, those other contestants better watch out. We recently sat down with Lea Thompson to talk about her career and life and where she sees it all going. The announcement of the new cast of DWTS had not been made at the time of the interview, and Ms. Thompson did not mention it. On top of great acting, she can also keep a good secret.

Like a good wine, Lea Thompson gets better with age.

Like a good wine, Lea Thompson gets better with age.

Lea Thompson began her feature acting career in 1983’s Jaws 3-D for universal. Curiously enough, when she took the role she didn’t even know how to swim. Now, 31 years later, I asked if she had ever taken the time to learn how.


“You know, I can get around in the water,” Thompson said, “but I can’t really swim. I won’t sink, but I can get around.” And after coming face to face with a rubber, robotic shark, one could expect to have a fear of the ocean, but not Lea Thompson. “No, I love the beach, I love the water. I’m like a freak about the water.”

And speaking of water–or in this case, water-fowl–the conversation quickly turned to Thompson’s turn as Beverly Switzer in 1986’s Howard the Duck. In the film, which was famously produced by George Lucas and which also famously bombed at the box office, Thompson’s Beverly was a rock singer in Cleveland who stumbles across Howard and befriends him, leading to an adventure that missed its mark. Instead of being haunted by the attachment to one of Hollywood’s biggest bombs, Lea Thompson embraces it.

Howard the duck

Lea Thompson had to work extra hard to make this work.

“You know, you’re not alone,” she says when I tell her that Howard is my favorite Marvel character. “There are a lot of fans for that character and that movie. It was the first Marvel comic book made into a movie and it will always have that distinction.” She also sang every song on the soundtrack and I asked her if she still sings. “I do some for different charities and I did Cabaret on Broadway for about eight months. I love to sing, I just never really parlayed that into a career thing.”

When we finally get to Back to the Future, Thompson laughs. It is without a doubt the one project she is asked about most often. I focused my question on Back to the Future II and her performance of alternate 1985 Lorraine, a dark, sad woman whose life became something that she never imagined back in 1955. It is easily one of my favorite performances of hers ever, and she was very touched by my kind words.

“It’s one of my favorite characters I’ve ever created,” Thompson says of “dark” Lorraine. “I put it on my reel (an actors resume) even though it’s over 20 years old. I wish someone would give me a part like that again.” I quickly asked her for her inspiration on the character.  “I played it like a drag queen, like a man playing a woman, which is odd, I know. I just really understood her. And I love that scene that we shot, with a crane and it’s a great shot that they made where I come out of the room and come downstairs and pour myself a drink and Biff is yelling at me. It’s like an amazing shot and I’ll always admire Bob (director Robert) Zemeckis for figuring out how to do that.”

Back to the Future II

Lea’s turn as Lorraine in a dark, twisted 1985 was one of the Back to the Future series’ high points.

The conversation shifts to one of her most current film projects, The Trouble With the Truth. “I love this part, I love this movie. It was such a joyous, upbeat shoot and I was able to bring some magic to the role and whenever you get together to make a movie, you never know if it’s going to have that magic. That all we really strive for is to create that little bit of magic.” The Trouble With the Truth was made in 2011 and ran the festival circuit. It’s now available on-demand and on DVD.

As our conversation drew to a close, we talked about Lea Thompson’s future. She wears a lot of hats as an actress, writer, director, singer and I asked her what she was most looking forward to.

“Directing is a logical step for me,” she said. “I think as you get older, its unnatural not to teach or give back in some way. I see directing giving back to the other actors in a way that I can as an actor, and the crew, and the writers, and actors can be so self-absorbed and I don’t like being self-absorbed.”

Lea has stepped behind the camera as she hopes to help a new generation of actors find their voice.

Lea has stepped behind the camera as she hopes to help a new generation of actors find their voice.

The last question I asked her came back around to her performance in Howard the Duck. After the stinger in Guardians of the Galaxy and the fact that Marvel can seemingly do no wrong, Howard the Duck has never been hotter. I asked Ms. Thompson is she would ever come back–even for just a cameo–if Howard were to ever grace the silver screen ever again.

“Of course,” she said laughing. “I think they should have done that movie like they did Roger Rabbit, with the animation. But they didn’t have the technology then. I’m pretty certain that someone will come along and do it because it has this huge cult following, and the coolest people are Howard the Duck fans.”

Right you are, Lea Thompson. And thank you for in-directly calling me “cool.”

Lea Thompson can be seen in the films The Trouble With the Truth and Ping Pong Summer, and will be on Dancing With The Stars this fall and we wish her the best of luck. She’s already danced with a shark and a duck, so she’s a shoo in to win.

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