Christopher Atkins was 'jealous' of Blue Lagoon costar Brooke Shields' success after the film

Christopher Atkins is getting candid about the envy he felt toward Brooke Shields and her success after starring opposite her in the 1980 film, The Blue Lagoon. 

“Absolutely. I was jealous,” he said on Tuesday’s episode of the Behind the Velvet Rope podcast. “I kept wishing, I guess, or [was] jealous that I wasn’t in an ‘A’ movie again. Do you know what I mean?”

Based on the 1908 novel of the same name, Blue Lagoon followed the lives of Richard (Atkins) and Emmeline (Shields), two cousins who are shipwrecked on an island as children and later become lovers. Atkins was 18 and Shields was 14, respectively, when they filmed the drama, which became a breakout role for Shields.

While he's still landing film and television roles, Atkins noted that he longs to return to the big screen in another box office hit like Blue Lagoon. He added, "Because I consider myself an actor, that's what I've done for 43 years, that’s my business, this is what I do, I still, to this day, dream of being in an 'A' movie again.”

But that's not his only career goal. Atkins also explained that there are “two boxes that I still have to tick in this business.”

“I wanna make my own picture. Now I've done everybody else's movie, from tiny little thing to major motion pictures, and I'm in the business and I want my turn,” he said. “And so I have some projects that I'm working on now. And then one just came up and the other thing is I want [to] direct one.” 

In December, Shields and Atkins sat down on her Now What? podcast for a conversation about how a film like Blue Lagoon "wouldn't be allowed" to be made these days, noting how they weren't "eased into" the film, which required them to be naked in front of each other.

"You were right next to me, and that was even stranger because you were only 14 at the time," Atkins said. He later added, "There were scenes that I was butt-naked with you, if you remember, sliding down that slide and things like that. And that was a little awkward, but it was kind of funny for me because, at this point in time, I just did it. But your reaction was, 'Ugh, oh God.'"

"I was like, 'Oh God, why do I have to look at this?'" Shields replied. "'I've never seen one of those before, and I'm not going to start now!'"

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

Related content:

• Brooke Shields says she isn't ready to take Blue Lagoon director's call in wake of documentary
• Brooke Shields recalls waking from a seizure with Bradley Cooper holding her hand
• Brooke Shields recalls 'petulant' ex Andre Agassi breaking trophies over her Friends role