Three Things About Back to the Future

Back to the Future, a story all about traveling back in time to change the present, had several twists of fate that almost kept it from being the classic film it is.

First, the film almost didn’t get made. The film was conceived of and written by Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis. Both were desperate for a successful film after having had numerous collaborative failures (Zemeckis’ first two films flopped). But Back to the Future would not be that comeback project. It was rejected more than 40 times by various studios. Allegedly, the story was not considered raunchy enough to compete with the successful comedies of the era.

But then Zemeckis had a very unlikely and unexpected success directing Romancing the Stone in 1984. In fact, studio insiders were so sure that Romancing the Stone would flop that, after viewing a rough cut of the film, the producers of the then-under-development Cocoon fired Zemeckis as director of that film.

But the success of Romancing the Stone led Universal to purchase and greenlight Back to the Future.

Second, Michael J. Fox was always the director’s leading candidate for the role of Marty McFly, but it almost didn’t happen. Fox was tied down by his work on the TV show Family Ties and his producer there refused to show Fox the script for fear it would complicate filming of the TV show. So, after considering other actors, like Johnny Depp, Ben Stiller, Charlie Sheen, and Robert Downey, Jr., Eric Stoltz (Mask) was hired and the film began shooting. But within a few weeks, it was clear this was not a role for Stoltz. Steven Spielberg (whose production company Amblin was overseeing the film) got the proposal to Fox, who accepted the part without even reading the script. It would become his great breakout role.

Third, without Russian intervention, Lea Thompson might not have gotten the leading female role. In 1980, Thompson was dancing with American Ballet Theatre's Studio Company. The artistic director at the time was Mikhail Baryshnikov, who had defected to the West just 6 years before. After seeing Thompson dance, Baryshnikov told her, "You're a lovely dancer, but you're too stocky." Thompson said it was "my epiphany when I decided to stop dancing and not be a ballet dancer. It was a wonderful moment because I could've been banging my head against the wall for another 10 years." She left ballet and went into acting. Just four years later, Zemeckis saw work she was in and hired her for the role.

As it was, the film was on a veritable supercharged Delorean schedule of filming and production. It took just 107 days to shoot, and it was ready for release within six months. It cost $19 million to make and grossed nearly $400 million in the US and abroad in its first year. A stunning success by any measure...

While some initial reviews were a bit tepid or critical, the film has over time come to be seen as one of the great films of all time, both as a drama and as science fiction. A 2014 poll of 2,120 entertainment-industry members by The Hollywood Reporter ranked Back to the Future as the 12th best film of all time, just behind Star Wars. In 2007, the United States Library of Congress selected Back to the Future for preservation in the National Film Registry for being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.

And while the film received just one Academy Award (for sound production), it racked up far more critical acclaim abroad. Notably, one year after its release, it set records for sales and rentals on VHS. Remember those? No? Well, hop in this DeLorean and we can go back and learn about the wonderful world of 1984.

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