Lea Thompson: 'Howard The Duck destroyed my film career

Back To The Future actress Lea Thompson has spoken about the “devastating” effect her part in Howard The Duck had on her career.

The star - who shot to fame playing Michael J Fox’s mother Lorraine in the iconic movie trilogy - was riding high on the first film’s success when she took on the role of Beverly Switzler in the Marvel character’s 1986 big screen adaptation.

But the movie bombed and took the actress’s credibility with it.

“It was devastating - in the course of a year I was in the biggest hit and the biggest bomb, so that probably destroyed my film career,” she told podcast Celebrity Catch Up: Life After That Thing I Did.

“Even though I did some good films after that, it was really difficult.”

However there was a silver lining to starring in the ill-fated film.

Thomson said: “Because of that, I had turned down [John Hughes film] Some Kind of Wonderful - and the week after Howard The Duck opened my friend Eric Stoltz brought me the script again and said ‘would you do this movie now?’

“And I was like ‘yes!’ and that’s where I met my husband [director Howard Deutch] - so sometimes the worst thing turns out to be the best thing.”

Although Howard the Duck was initially met with scathing reviews, it has gone on to become a cult classic - something which Thompson finds curious.

“It’s interesting that it still has such legs,” she said. “People love Howard The Duck and those are some of my favorite fans, because anybody that goes: ‘I don’t care what anybody says, I think it’s really cool’ is my kind of person.

“I wear my Howard The Duck scarlet letter like a badge of honour.”

Lea Thompson's new film Unplugging is released on Digital Platforms 13th June.

You can hear the full chat with Lea on Celebrity Catch Up: Life After That Thing I Did, which is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and all major platforms.