Betsy Russell said that filming her topless scene on horseback wasn't easy. It was out in the open in a huge pasture with several people around watching. "It was a weird feeling flashing out there in the middle of a field on horseback," she said in an interview. "It was a freezing day and I caught cold. We had to do the scene three times. The first horse almost ran away with me, and they decided to improve the second take, so we did it a third time. I got the feeling the only reason they shot it so many times was so the producers could keep watching my tits bounce around." To make matters more stressful, old acquaintances showed up on the day she was shooting her topless scene. "I hadn't seen these people in years. They turned up on the set, outdoors in the middle of nowhere. The director made them leave. It was hysterical. I learned that day not to take it all too seriously."
When asked during an interview right after this film was released if she would consider getting naked in other films, Betsy Russell said only if it was in a prominent movie like An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) and not if it was gratuitous nudity. But she ended up doing gratuitous nude scenes in her next three films because they were the only ones offered.
Betsy Russell said in an interview that she agreed to take the role and perform the nude scenes because after doing only a handful of commercials and three or four guest shots on TV she knew it would be tough to break into movies without getting naked, especially in the early 80s. "I did Private School because I knew it would get my foot in the movie door. It got me started in the right direction. I knew what I was getting into when I accepted the part," she said. "I wasn't really self-conscious doing the scene because I have no hang-ups about my body." She believes, in fact, that her generation of teens and twenties had an entirely different attitude toward nudity in films and at beaches and in swimming pools than their parents and grandparents. "We didn't totally equate nudity with sex like other generations do. Nudity just didn't mean as much to us. My generation had a different attitude about our bodies. We were more open and less inhibited. But it doesn't mean our values or morals were any less worthwhile than our parents. In fact, my parents weren't upset by my topless scene." Then she added, "I wouldn't pose for Playboy though, and they were after me for quite a while. There's no reason to do that unless you're desperate for money and have no acting aspirations."
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