“I lost my mum on 7\/7 – but only discovered she was dead 3 days later on TV announcement’<\/a>![\"Bob](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_2025-TCM-Classic-Film-Festival-Day-3-Saturday.jpg\")
Bob Gale speaks onstage at the screening for “Back to the Future” during the 2025 TCM Classic Film Festival, Hollywood(Image: Getty Images for TCM)<\/p>\nWith just two box office flops – I Wanna Hold Your Hand and Used Cars to their name, the duo also wrote the Steven Spielberg\u2019s least successful film, 1941.<\/p>\n
Eventually, Zemeckis broke off to direct Romancing the Stone, with Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas.<\/p>\n
A huge hit, he became a hot Hollywood property and Universal Pictures took on Back to the Future, with Steven Spielberg, who had always loved the script, as executive producer.<\/p>\n
First, Universal\u2019s president Sidney Sheinberg wanted some revisions. First, he wanted the movie to be called Spaceman From Pluto – because of the comic book shown by the boy when Marty crash lands the DeLorean in the barn.<\/p>\n
![\"Robert](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_Robert-Zemeckis.jpg\")
Robert Zemeckis at the premiere of Back to the Future Part II in 1989 in Universal City, California(Image: MediaPunch via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Gale recalled: \u201cEvery single person at Universal loved the title Back to the Future except for Sid. So we went to Steven (Spielberg) and said, \u2018What are we going to do?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cSteven wrote a memo back to Sheinberg saying, \u2018Dear Sid, thanks so much for the humorous memo. We all really got a big laugh out of it\u2019. \u201cSteven knew that Sid was too proud to admit he\u2019d meant it seriously. And that was the end of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
There were other objections from the studio. One was to the car.<\/p>\n
Universal at first insisted on a Ford Mustang, as the company had offered to pay for the placement, but Gale refused. \u201cI said, \u2018No, no no, Doc Brown doesn\u2019t drive a f***ing Mustang. It has to be a DeLorean.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the most momentous mistake was the casting of Marty. Their first choice had been Michael J Fox, who was busy working on his sitcom Family Ties. John Cusack and Johnny Depp auditioned, but the role went to Eric Stoltz.<\/p>\n
Then, six weeks into filming – almost halfway through the schedule – Gale recalled: \u201cThe humour just wasn\u2019t coming through with Eric.\u201d<\/p>\n
Director Robert Zemeckis had to fire Stoltz, recalling it as “the hardest meeting I’ve ever had in my life and it was all my fault. I broke his heart.”<\/p>\n
Reshooting Stoltz\u2019s scenes added $4 million to the movie’s budget.<\/p>\n
![\"Crispin](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_Michael-J-Fox-In-Back-To-The-Future.jpg\")
Crispin Glover played Marty’s dad in 1955, George McFly(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The new Marty, of course, was Michael J Fox, who the movie would turn into a global star.<\/p>\n
Family Ties agreed to release him on condition that the TV show took priority – with Fox filming both simultaneously.<\/p>\n
Zemeckis recalled the actor\u2019s exhausting schedule, saying: \u201cMichael never slept. We shot the daylight exteriors at the weekend, but the whole shoot was pretty much at night. All I remember is never seeing any daylight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fox somehow squeezed in guitar lessons, so he could play Johnny B Goode not for note at the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance – one of the movie\u2019s most memorable scenes.<\/p>\n
Gale recalled his favourite day on the set being the night Fox started.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust seeing how excited he was to be there and knowing that he really was Marty McFly,\u201d he said. \u201cHe had this infectious energy. On that first night of shooting with Michael J Fox we knew this was really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, Stoltz can still be glimpsed in one scene, when Marty punches Biff in Lou\u2019s cafe. There\u2019s a blurred glimpse of Stoltz\u2019s face – kept because it was deemed better than Fox\u2019s reshot version.<\/p>\n
![\"Crispin](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_CRISPIN-GLOVER-BACK-TO-THE-FUTURE-1985.jpg\")
Crispin Glover played Marty’s dad in 1955, George McFly(Image: Alamy Stock Photo)<\/p>\n
After 100 days of filming, shooting wrapped on 20 April, 1985 – with an August release date planned.<\/p>\n
Spielberg remembered the first preview, saying: \u201cExcept for ET, it was the greatest preview I ever sat through.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe audience just never stopped laughing and never stopped applauding every set piece. By the time the lights went up, the preview audience owned Back to the Future.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rapturous reception prompted Sheinberg to move the film\u2019s release to July – when it smashed box offices around the world, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1985 and spent 12 weeks at the top of the US box office chart. It also won an Oscar for best sound effects editing.<\/p>\n
Huey Lewis and the News, who wrote the film\u2019s soundtrack including No1 hit The Power of Love, were propelled to global fame.<\/p>\n
Sequels followed in 1989 and 1990 and it continues to win new fans with a hit West End musical.<\/p>\n
As Gale said: \u201cThere\u2019s something very special about this story that everyone can identify with, the idea of trying to imagine what your parents were like when they were kids – that just touches everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
Where is the cast now?<\/p>\n
Michael J Fox – Marty McFly<\/strong><\/p>\nWent on to star in a string of huge films including Teen Wolf, The Secret of My Success and The Frighteners. He also starred in his own sitcom Spin City and voiced Stuart Little in the film franchise.<\/p>\n
In 1998 he revealed his Parkinson\u2019s diagnosis, becoming a leading voice for research into the disease. Aged 64, he has been married to Tracy Pollan since 1988 and they have four children.<\/p>\n
Christopher Lloyd – Doc Brown<\/strong><\/p>\nEnjoyed a long career in film, playing Uncle Fester in The Addams Family, Commander Kruge in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and voiced Rasputin in Anastasia<\/p>\n
Now 86, he has been married five times, and most recently wed his real estate agent Lisa Loiacono in 2016.<\/p>\n
Lea Thompson – Lorraine Baines-McFly (Marty\u2019s mum)<\/strong><\/p>\nWent on to star in the sitcom Caroline in the City from 1995 to 1999 and the teen drama series Switched at Birth. Competed in Dancing With the Stars in 2014.<\/p>\n
Now 64, she\u2019s been married to her Some Kind of Wonderful costar Howard Deutch since 1989 and they have two daughters, Madelyn and Zoey.<\/p>\n
Crispin Glover – George McFly (Marty\u2019s dad)<\/strong><\/p>\nAppeared in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Charlie’s Angels, Alice in Wonderland and Hot Tub Time Machine.<\/p>\n
Aged 61 and now the author of over 20 books, he has his own publishing company.<\/p>\n
Claudia Wells – Jennifer Parker (Marty\u2019s girlfriend)<\/strong><\/p>\nShunning the limelight to start a men\u2019s clothing brand, the 58-year-old briefly returned to acting in 2011 with a small role in the independent science-fiction film, Alien Armageddon.<\/p>\n
Thomas F. Wilson – Biff Tannen (George\u2019s bully)<\/strong><\/p>\nAppeared in the Back to the Future TV series, before starring in TV show Freaks and Geeks.<\/p>\n
Aged 66, he has been married to wife Caroline Thomas since 1985 and they have four children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The iconic film was released 40 years this week and went on to become one of the greatest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225862,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3935],"tags":[69614,89056,45845,77,89055,89054,16839,3943,48367,11820,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-225861","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-back-to-the-future","9":"tag-bob-gale","10":"tag-christopher-lloyd","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-eric-stoltz","13":"tag-huey-lewis","14":"tag-johnny-depp","15":"tag-movies","16":"tag-robert-zemeckis","17":"tag-steven-spielberg","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Marty](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/2_LLOYDFOX-BACK-TO-THE-FUTURE-1985.jpg\")
Marty McFly and Doc Brown in 1985’s Back to the Future(Image: Alamy Stock Photo)<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1_Zurueck-In-Die-Zukunft-Back-To-The-Future.jpg\")
The time-travelling DeLorean car was originally an ordinary household appliance(Image: FilmPublicityArchive\/United Archives via Getty Images)<\/p>\n