The Movies That Made Us, season 2 premiere recap: Back to the Future

The season 2 premiere of Netflix series The Movies That Made Us looks at the Robert Zemeckis classic Back to the Future, and the immense challenges it overcame to make it on the screen. It all started with writers Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale at USC film school. After writing the flop 1941 for Steven Spielberg, Gale and Zemeckis pitched their time travel story idea to Columbia Pictures president Frank Price. Basically, they had a very rough sketch of an idea of a time-traveling kid in high school with his father.

Many things were different from the Back to the Future we know and love today. The time machine was originally a fridge, the Doc was called “Professor,” and this Professor Brown had a pet chimp named Shemp instead of a regular dog named Einstein. Frank Price decided against making the movie at Columbia but moved the project to Universal. After Zemeckis had a hit with Romancing the Stone, it added some viability to his future projects.

The Movies That Made Us reminds us how projects change

As Back to the Future was closer to being made, Professor Brown’s chimp became a dog, the Professor became Doc, and the character of Marty’s mom had her name changed to Lorraine (Lea Thompson). A few other strange details are brought up by The Movies That Made Us, including that executive Sidney Sheinberg wanted the movie titled “Spaceman from Pluto.” Apparently, Steven Spielberg sent a memo calling Sheinberg’s memo hilarious and that he appreciated the joke). They also originally wanted Michael J. Fox for the role of Marty, but he wasn’t the easiest to get due to his stint on the popular sitcom Family Ties.

So the original cast of Back to the Future consisted of Eric Stoltz, Crispin Glover, Thompson, Melora Hardin, Thomas F. Wilson, and Christopher Lloyd (who originally was uninterested in the role). Eventually, the creators decided to make the time machine a car, and art director Andrew Probert and effects supervisor Kevin Pike designed the DeLorean. Another change: They removed the atomic bomb test ending, perhaps finding it too bleak. It was also believed that the now-famous clocktower ending made the film cheaper and perhaps more memorable.

The departure of Stoltz and other details

The Movies That Made Us elaborates on why Stoltz was replaced: He was taking the movie too seriously, treating it as more of a drama. Of course, Back to the Future does contain a few dramatic moments, as plenty of comedies and adventure flicks do, but Stoltz was also a method actor, and not everyone works well with such a co-worker. Obviously, on-screen chemistry is a huge part of Back to the Future’s success, so it’s easy to imagine how that might have negatively impacted production. However, the drama didn’t end there, as Crispin Glover and Zemeckis had disagreements (in fact, Glover was replaced in the sequels, which resulted in a lawsuit by Glover for using his likeness).

Gary David Goldberg, the Family Ties producer, ultimately agreed to let Michael J. Fox play Marty, which was apparently to the relief of Stoltz himself. The Movies That Made Us delves into another perhaps overlooked controversy: Due to being taller than Michael J. Fox, Melora was replaced by Claudia Wells in the role of Marty’s sweetheart, Jennifer Parker. Due to all these changes, Back to the Future makers had to redo 6 weeks of footage around Michael J. Fox’s busy Family Ties schedule. Also, Fox was given new clothes to look more out of place in the 1950s.

Success!

The Movies That Made Us may arouse controversy by suggesting actor Crispin Glover had to be reeled in a bit, but this episode actually doesn’t delve much into the legal controversy between Glover and the Back to the Future filmmakers. Instead, more focus is on the basics of making the movie, and how they had to scramble when the studio wanted the movie released 3 weeks earlier than originally planned. All these complications aside, Back to the Future became the number one movie at the box office, the highest-grossing movie of the year, and proof positive that persistence pays off. (I want to apologize for being so alliterative there, but it worked!)

What are your thoughts on The Movies That Made Us and the making of Back to the Future? Let us know in the comments!