Denise Richards to Star in Lifetime's BLUE LAGOON: THE AWAKENING, 6/16

Lifetime premieres the Original Movie BLUE LAGOON: THE AWAKENING, starring Denise Richards and up-and-coming actors, Brenton Thwaites (Home and Away) and Indiana Evans (Home and Away) in the provocative story of teens who fall in love while marooned on a tropical island, Saturday, June 16 at 8:00pm ET/PT. The two-hour film, a modern-day retelling of the classic coming of age love story, also features an appearance by Christopher Atkins (The Blue Lagoon).

In Blue Lagoon: The Awakening, overachieving high school student Emma Robinson (Evans) and slacker Dean McMullen (Thwaites) find themselves on the same class trip to Trinidad. Though they have little in common, Emma and Dean attend a wild party on a boat, and when Emma falls overboard during a police raid, Dean jumps in to save her. The pair drifts in a motorless dinghy until they end up stranded on a deserted island. While their parents desperately search for them, Emma and Dean are forced to rely on each other for survival, and the more time they spend together the more they realize their attraction to one another. Despite their differences, they eventually create a bond between themselves. But as days on the island become weeks and then months, Emma and Dean wonder if they'll ever be rescued or if their life on the Blue Lagoon will last forever. Richards stars as Emma's devoted mother Barbara, who refuses to give up the search for her missing daughter. Atkins, who starred in the 1980 romance/adventure movie The Blue Lagoon, portrays Mr. Christiansen, a high school teacher who helps in the search for Emma and Dean.

Blue Lagoon: The Awakening is distributed by Sony Pictures Television. Judith Verno (Lifetime's Untouchable: The Drew Peterson Story), Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (Lifetime's Drop Dead Diva) are executive producers. The script was written by Matt Heller and Heather Rutman.

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