Back to the Future is arguably one of the best time travel movies of all time. If not also a contender for one of the best movie trilogies of all time. But how much do you know about Back to the Future? Prolly not as much as us, but it’s okay, we’ll tell you all we know. Starting here:
It had over 40 rejections. Screenwriter Bob Gale told CNN in 2010 that the studios kept passing on the script. Sometimes more than once. When a studio changed management they’d bring it back. But the studios said the same thing, “It’s too sweet.” They wanted something more raunchy. “Take it to Disney,” they said.
Disney said it was too raunchy. After hearing “take it to Disney” so often, they finally did. Disney’s take on it at the time? “We can’t make a movie like this. You’ve got the kid and the mother in his car! It’s incest—this is Disney. It’s too dirty for us!”
The DeLorean was a refrigerator first. In the early drafts of the script, the time machine was-basically-a refrigerator. Doc had made a “time-chamber” that was about the size of fridge. They transported it by loading it in the back of a truck.
A little collateral success. John DeLorean wrote Bob Gale-the screenwriter for the films-a letter thanking him for featuring his car in the film. “Thank you for keeping my dream alive.” he wrote.
Doc also had a pet monkey. It was a chimpanzee, actually. Sid Sheinberg, head of Universal, said, “I looked it up, no movies with a chimpanzee make any money.” They creators countered mentioning the Clint Eastwood movies, Every Which Way But Loose and Any Which Way You Can. “That was an orangutan,” Sheinberg said. And so, they settled on a dog.
Michael J. Fox wasn’t the first Marty. At the time Fox was working on a sitcom called Family Ties. They wouldn’t release Fox to do Back To The Future, so Zemeckis had no choice but to go through the typical casting process. Consequently John Cusack, Charlie Sheen, Ralph Macchio, and Johnny Depp all auditioned unsuccessfully for the part of Marty. The successful auditionee was Eric Stoltz.
Christopher Lloyd first turned down the role as Doc. Lloyd was convinced to take the part when he met Zemeckis, who impressed him when he explained his ideas for the movie, and Doc Brown, to the actor. Lloyd also told Zemeckis he wanted to base the character on Albert Einstein and a conductor called Leopold Stokowski. Zemeckis liked the idea, and Lloyd was hired.
The movie was a hit. It was nominated for 3 Oscars (Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound, and Best Original Song for The Power Of Love) and, in taking $389m at the box-office, it was the highest-grossing movie of the year.
And that tops out our list of fun facts all fanboys know about Back to the Future. Want to read more, check out MentalFloss.com where some of these came from.
Power Rangers in Space Reunion Event!
On November 19th and 20th Fanboys Marketplace is hosting a Power Rangers in Space Reunion Event. VIP passes and photo tickets are available now for purchase ahead of time. Click the link here, and we’ll see you in November!
