Before Lea Thompson was pinned by George McFly in Back to the Future, she was pinned by a mystery man in MysteryDisc: Murder, Anyone?. She looks that same now as she did when she was 20 in that 1982 movie.
Switched at Birth is back on ABC Family tonight at 8p for the second part of its fourth season and there is a lot of change going on. As you have seen in the promos, there is surprise pregnancy coming up. That isn’t the only thing that is happening, Lea Thompson previewed what is coming up for her character Kathryn Kennish.
The Kennishes have always been wealthy and lived a lavish lifestyle, but they will be having some financial difficulties this season. John has always been the breadwinner in the family, but that is all about to change. That role reversal is going to put a strain on their marriage. That isn’t the only problem they are going to have because of their money issues. Thompson explained, “I think it’s going to be a real strain on our marriage because Kathryn and especially John are used to kind of being mama and papa bear, so kind of just like throwing money at problems and we’re not going to be able to do that anymore.”
The role reversal is because Kathryn has gone through a metamorphous since the show debuted. She went from being a stay at home mom to a successful author. Thompson explained, “My character ends up being as kind of awesome surprising Renaissance woman. You think she’s kind of shallow at first and she doesn’t seem that complicated.” Then she added, “She’s a woman of great perseverance and talent.”
A talent she learned for the role is Sign Language. Anyone who has learned a language later in life (as in after you graduate), knows it is a talent. She told me what it was like to learn to talk with her hands. She said, “It’s really difficult in a lot of ways but really beautiful because you realize like in any language there’s a lot of ways to say one thing.” Even though it is difficult to learn, she finds it exciting and wishes she knew it better.
She told me that she thinks people tune in every week to see the cast talk in this beautiful language. As an actress, she enjoys being able to talk with her hands for once. She explained, “When you’re acting, you’re told to kind of keep your arms down which actually feels really handicap because a lot of time when you’re excited, you want someone to understand, you use your hands to help them understand.” Then she elaborated, “So it’s fun to have that freedom to use your hands.”
Not only did she learn the language, she learned about their culture. What surprised her most is, “there’s a whole bunch of deaf people that, if today, a fairy godmother could give them hearing, they wouldn’t do it, but they appreciate being deaf.” Sharing that, “They see it as not a handicap but an actual blessing, virtue. That never would have occurred to me, not in a hundred years.”
As of now that is something that the drama has not touched upon, but there is so much more that it has. It has helped us to hear what it is like to be deaf, and they are just like you and me. Deafness is just one aspect of this show, and there is always a reason to tune it. There are laughs, there are tears, and there is always something entertaining about Switched at Birth. So make it appointment viewing because it has definitely earned that title.
Believe it or not, it has been 30 years since Back to the Future came out. To honor the milestone, Marty McFly (Michael J Fox), his mom Lorraine (Lea Thompson) and Doc (Christopher Lloyd) reunited for the London Film Festival and Comic Con. Even though the movie came out in 1985, they haven’t aged a day since. Maybe it is time they do Back to the Future 4?
2015 is a big year for the trilogy for another reason because that’s the year that Back to the Future 2 took place. Recently, I spoke with Lea Thompson about that and I asked her what it is like living in this version of 2015 after living in the other one. She told me, “I think when we were doing Back to the Future 2, I think we all knew it was a kitchy version of the future. It was very dark and kitchy.” Then she added, “I don’t think any of us actually thought that 2015 would look like that. When you’re doing a movie about the future, you kind of have to put flying cars in even though it will never happen.” She explained, “Nobody wants to get in a flying car, I just don’t want to. It’s too dangerous.” She concluded the question with, “It’s interesting because in the 2015 version of Back to the Future, I was like 85 or something. Getting old is weird anyway, but to have it be marked by that is kind of an interesting experience for me.”
Her character didn’t look 85 in the movie and she doesn’t look 54 today. She still looks like the teen she played in the film that changed her life and many fans’ lives all over the world.
Thompson has been working nonstop since the Back to the Future franchise and on August 24th you will be able to see her in Switched at Birth‘s midseason premiere on ABC Family.
The cast of Switched at Birth works hard for the money and today they found a new way to earn ever more of it. They installed a strip joint on the set and Lea Thompson and her TV husband DW Moffett look very comfortable with it. Why it is there, we don’t know. We will just have to tune into ABC starting on August 24th to find out.
Lea Thompson is 53 years old and her body still has all the right moves.
The Switched at Birth actress shared a photo of herself in a bikini and Howard the Duck would find it something to sing about. I mean even Marty McFly would have dirty thoughts about his mom if he saw her looking like that back in our future.
Don’t you want to have Casual Sex? with her? Sorry that movie title played in perfectly for that question?
