The Back to the Future franchise firmly established its cast as permanent fixtures of pop culture, but right after the time-traveling adventure became a household staple, one of its lead stars was convinced their acting career was completely dead in the water.
Fresh off early successes like All the Right Moves and Red Dawn, Lea Thompson landed what seemed like a dream role headlining a massive studio blockbuster produced by George Lucas. Instead, the infamous 1986 misfire, Howard the Duck, plummeted at the box office and instantly became one of the most widely panned movies of the decade.
Looking back, Thompson believed the high-profile flop ensured she would never work in Hollywood again. In a new podcast appearance on Taboo’s Comics & Kicks, she reflected on the film, widely considered one of Hollywood’s famous failures.
“It was not perfect,” Thompson said of Howard the Duck. “It was not a perfect movie in any stretch of the imagination, but people really love it, and I love my fans.”
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Based on the Marvel Comics character created by Steve Gerber in 1973, the 1986 film made history as the very first feature-length live-action film adaptation of a Marvel comic. Despite backing from Star Wars producer Lucas, the bizarre sci-fi comedy bombed spectacularly at the box office.
Thompson later learned Howard the Duck was the “first Marvel movie” and that it “wasn’t a bomb.” According to Box Office Mojo, the film opened to a $5M domestic gross. However, it would go on to have a worldwide gross of almost $38M total.
Despite the film not being a critical success, Thompson found a massive silver lining by taking on the role of Beverly Switzer. She met her husband, director Howard Deutch, on the set. The couple married in 1989 and are parents to actresses Madelyn and Zoey Deutch.
In an oral history celebrating the John Hughes film Some Kind of Wonderful for Entertainment Weekly, Thompson added further context to her work on Howard the Duck.
She explained, “Howard the Duck came out, and it was a huge bomb. It was very maligned, and I thought my career was over.”
Thompson added, “Howie came back on Some Kind of Wonderful, and he fired (former All My Children star) Kim Delaney, and my friend Eric Stoltz [rode] up to the top of Laurel Canyon and said, ‘Howard Deutch wants you to reconsider the part of Amanda Jones.’ Four or five days later I was shooting.”
Lea Thompson currently works as an executive producer and director on the USA Network drama series Anna Pigeon.
Related: This Beloved ’80s Teen Movie Featured a ‘Back to the Future’ Star and an Iconic Charlie Sexton Track