1985: We Went ‘Back to the Future’

Parents may be shocked that they forget just how racy the movie, Back to the Future was, when re-watching the movie with their kids. Written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale and directed by Zemeckis, the film featured Marty McFly who travels back in time to time when his parent fell in love while in high school, only to find that he himself becomes his own mother’s love interest. Pretty messed up. The movie starred Michael J. Fox as Marty, Lea Thompson as Marty’s mother, Crispin Glover as Marty’s father and Christopher Lloyd as Marty’s eccentric scientist friend, Dr. Emmett “Doc” Brown who invented a time machine out a DeLorean. As popular as the film was, it is hard to image that Zemeckis had a hard time convincing movie studios to get on board. Many rejected the project. That is, until they saw the success of his other film, Romancing the Stone. And Fox almost didn’t star in the movie either. Though he was Zemeckis’ first choice, Fox wasn’t initially able to do the movie because of his filming schedule for his Family Ties TV series. So, Eric Stoltz was cast in the role. However, it was decided that Stoltz just wasn’t right for the role and a deal was struck between the movie studio and the TV show to allow Fox time to shoot the film without interfering with Family Ties. Released on this day in 1985, Back to the Future became the highest-grossing movie of that year. Not only that, but it also received three Oscar nominations, five BAFTA nominations and four Golden Globe nominations. Two sequels followed the film’s success and Zemeckis and Gale teamed up again to write the screenplay for a stage version of the movie. It premiered in February 2020 in London’s West End theatre.