In this ET flashback from 1984, Michael Douglas talks about making Romancing the Stone -- and the awkwardness of movie love scenes!
When Romancing the Stone opened in theaters 30 years ago this week, audiences were pleasantly surprised by the clever writing, frothy humor, solid production value and legitimate thrills the film had to offer. To celebrate the film's anniversary, we're flashing back to our sit-down with the film's star and producer, Michael Douglas, who explained that they make it look easy on the big screen, but it's a lot harder to pull off movie magic than you'd think, especially when you're in the middle of a sexy love scene and you have an embarrassing back spasm!
"We were twisted a certain way in lighting it -- I saw it, it was really beautiful, isensual, sexy, looks gorgeous -- I started getting a back spasm from one way from staying in one position take after take," said Douglas, then 39 years old, with his trademark winning smile. "And I got a lot of ribbing on that one."
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Director Robert Zemeckis' (Forrest Gump, the Back to the Future trilogy) first box-office hit, Romancing the Stone centers around a bestselling romance writer named Joan Wilder (played by Kathleen Turner) whose personal life is anything but exciting. When her sister is kidnapped in Colombia, she travels to save her in Cartagena, only to have her trip derailed and her life saved by Jack Colton, an exotic bird smuggler and real-life embodiment of the swashbucking hero of her novels. The two then set off on an adventure to save Joan's sister and claim a fortune.
"The beauty of doing those pictures is when you see it on the screen, it looks effortless," said Douglas of the production that shot in Mexican locations. "But to make that magic -- it's tough!"
