Eric Stoltz playing Marty McFly is one of the biggest What Ifs in movie history, its storied history only heightened by the fact that Stoltz’s footage has never been released, existing as far as we know in a handful of stills. Stoltz would find his own pocket in the movies for sure, but it has taken more than four decades for both himself and replacement Michael J. Fox to come to terms with the swap.
In his new book, Future Boy – which documents his time making Back to the Future, among other things – Fox recognized that Stoltz has stayed mum on being replaced as Marty McFly, but they have recently assured each other that there are no hard feelings. As per EW, “Eric has maintained his silence on the subject for forty years, so I was prepared for the likelihood that he’d prefer to keep it that way…[After writing Stoltz a letter, I got a] beautifully written reply began, ‘Piss off and leave me alone!’ Thankfully, this was followed by ‘I jest…’ Eric was thoughtful about my outreach, and although he respectfully declined to participate in the book, he seemed open to the idea of getting together.”
Fox continued, “We quickly acknowledged that neither of us had an issue with the other. What transpired on Back to the Future had not made us enemies or fated rivals; we were just two dedicated actors who had poured equal amounts of energy into the same role. The rest had nothing to do with us. As it turned out, we had much more in common than our spin as Marty.”
Eric Stoltz being recast as Marty McFly was a major point of contention (especially for Lea Thompson, a close friend of his and co-star of The Wild Life), with director Robert Zemeckis insisting he be sent back to the past after poor test screenings, something he had a feeling would happen.
But Stoltz actually played a far more significant role in shaping the cast of Back to the Future than you might think. For starters, Thomas F. Wilson landed his part because the original Biff Tannen didn’t seem intimidating enough opposite Stoltz; and for another, once Stoltz was canned, future The Office star Melorda Hardin was deemed too tall to play against Fox, soon being replaced by Claudia Wells as Jennifer. So let’s all take a moment to appreciate just how much Eric Stoltz did by being fired as Marty McFly!
The comment section exists to allow readers to discuss the article constructively and respectfully, focused on the topic at hand.
What’s Not Allowed