Читать книгу Back From the Future - Brad Gilmore - Страница 13

Chapter 2

This Is HeavY

Once the studio greenlit the picture under the watchful eye of Universal executive Sid Sheinberg, the Future team had to cast their key roles in the film. But, before they did that, Sheinberg had a few suggestions. First, he didn’t like the name Eileen and suggested Lorraine—the name of his wife who had worked with Steven Spielberg and the Bobs before on 1941. He also wanted to change Professor Brown to “Doc” Brown and to change Shemp the chimp to Einstein the dog. All were solid suggestions that the Bobs had no problem changing. This would not be the last of Sheinberg’s requests, but these were the first and foremost notes to address.

Now that casting had begun, the producers had to find the perfect actors to play the lead role of Marty McFly. The producers and casting agents did an exhaustive search according to Frank Marshall, who served as an executive producer on the film alongside Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy (who is now the head of Lucasfilm), and Marshall said that every young actor in Hollywood wanted to play the rock ‘n’ roll loving teen.

At the same time the producers were searching for the perfect Marty, a Canadian-born actor named Michael J. Fox was working on a film called Teen Wolf. Fox was a very familiar face to filmgoers, as he portrayed Alex P. Keaton in the wildly popular Gary Goldberg-created television show, Family Ties. While filming Teen Wolf in Pasadena, California, Michael J. Fox had heard a location scouting crew was just down the road working on the new Spielberg-produced time travel film. Fox recalls being covered in “wolf drag” and feeling miserable. When Michael learned his friend Crispin Glover had already been tapped to be in the film, he was happy for Crispin but couldn’t help but want to be in the film instead of having rubber and hair glued to his face on a daily basis.

Michael J. Fox was unaware he was indeed the first choice of the filmmakers to play McFly, but they were told he could not do the film due to his commitment to Family Ties. After begging Goldberg allow Fox to do both the movie and the TV show, Goldberg told them there was just no way. According to Zemeckis, the filmmakers had a deadline to cast, shoot, edit, and produce the film. If they were unable to meet that deadline, the entire movie would be canceled. With their backs against the wall and their first choice unavailable, the producers continued their search for the perfect Marty McFly. Johnny Depp, C. Thomas Howell, and John Cusack were all considered for the role, but ultimately, actor Eric Stoltz was cast as Marty McFly. Stoltz, still young in his career, was a very talented actor. Bob Z. was sure that he could make his story work with Stolz.

The next task was to cast the second lead role in the film—the role of the newly named “Doc” Brown. Just as with Marty, several big-name actors were considered for the role of the crackpot scientist. Among the names being tossed around to play Emmett Brown were Jeff Goldblum, Gene Hackman, John Cleese, Michael Keaton, Gene Wilder, Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, and Eddie Murphy. A producer working on the film named Neil Canton suggested the actor Christopher Lloyd, who many people knew from his role as Jim Ignatowski on the television series Taxi. Lloyd was sent a script while filming a movie in Mexico but largely disregarded it. At the time, Lloyd had feared that he made the wrong choice leaving New York for Los Angeles and was considering going back to the Big Apple to be a stage actor. It was Lloyd’s then-wife who encouraged him to read the script and to “never leave a stone unturned.” After Lloyd read the script, he called his agent and told him to set up a meeting with Robert Zemeckis. When Chris first entered the room, the Romancing the Stone director knew he was a perfect fit.

Marty and Doc were without a doubt the two most important roles to cast, but arguably the third most important would be the resident bully of Hill Valley, Biff Tannen. The actor who stood apart from the rest was Tom Wilson, a young comedian who had yet to be a part of a big studio movie, let alone one being produced by Spielberg. Wilson was discovered by Judy Taylor, a casting director who said that the role of Biff was the most difficult role to cast aside from Marty McFly. She said she spotted Wilson in a room where he was waiting to audition for another project. She called Wilson’s agent on the spot and, after he auditioned, he was cast as Biff Tannen. Wilson was fantastic in the role, and his subsequent performances as members of the Tannen family proved his range as an actor. We will look more into the character of Biff in a later chapter, but when you watch these films again, appreciate how good Wilson truly is in all three.

Finding Lorraine didn’t prove to be as difficult as casting Marty or Biff. As soon as the filmmakers found Lea Thompson, they didn’t need to look any further for the matriarch of the family. Lea Thompson was doing a film at the time with Eric Stoltz, which led her to believe she was asked to come in and read for the part. Everything just clicked for her when she played Lorraine in the audition. Lea recalls her first scene in the film when the McFly family is sitting down for dinner. She realized she had to hit the comedic beats in the script but also had to show how truly sad the character was about what her life had become. Thompson credits Bob Z.’s ability to guide his actors through a scene where they could hit the comedy and then hit the depth required to make the characters connect with the audience.

Crispin Glover, a second-generation actor who grew up in California, was the right choice for George McFly, the less-cool-pushover father to Marty. Crispin’s own father, Bruce Glover, is most recognizable for his role at Mr. Wint in the 1969 James Bond film, Diamond Are Forever. Gale recalls that Crispin had a very unusual way of speaking and had certain mannerisms that made Gale think, “He is George McFly, there’s no question.”

Wendie Jo Sperber played the sister of Marty McFly, Laura. Sperber had previously worked with Bob Gale and Bob Zemeckis on I Wanna Hold Your Hand and Used Cars. Lea Thompson recalls being jealous of Sperber’s relationship with the two Bobs as they frequently would joke around with one another. Sperber was paired with Marc McClure, who played Dave McFly. McClure had also worked with the Bobs on the same two films as Wendy and was best known at that time as playing Jimmy Olson in the Christopher Reeves Superman films. McClure said that he and Wendy were like real brother and sister as soon as they met, and the two would frequently discuss how lucky they both were to work with Gale and Zemeckis.

Claudia Wells had auditioned for The Goonies, Gremlins, and Young Sherlock Holmes which were all films under the Amblin Entertainment banner. Although she didn’t land a role in those three films, she was the young actress who was originally cast as Jennifer Parker. Wells was excited to have finally landed a big role, but she had shot a pilot for ABC called Off the Rack that was picked up at the last minute, which meant Claudia had to drop out of Back to the Future. The role of Jennifer Parker went to Melora Hardin, and James Tolkan was cast as the slacker-hating Principal Strickland at Hill Valley High School. Don Fullilove gave the unforgettable performance of Hill Valley’s top elected official, Mayor Goldie Wilson, and Harry Waters Jr. did the same as the crooner and leader singer of The Starlighters.

Once the film was in production, Zemeckis was set to finish in time for the studio’s deadline, but there was a major problem with the film. After about five weeks of shooting, Zemeckis showed Spielberg some of the footage he had shot. After the two men sat in Spielberg’s office, Zemeckis voiced his concern that Eric Stoltz wasn’t hitting the jokes the way Zemeckis expected. Bob Z. told his friend that he didn’t think Stoltz had the comedic sensibilities needed for the film and was causing the picture to fall a bit flat. Zemeckis needed Marty McFly to be able to able to deliver the jokes while still having a sense of urgency and fear of his situation. Stoltz was great for the latter portion of that description, but not the former. Spielberg agreed with Zemeckis, and the decision was made to stop production and replace Stoltz. Everyone in the film was saddened by Stolz’s departure, as many of the actors thought he was lovely and talented. Spielberg and the filmmakers went to Sheinberg and asked if he could extend their deadline and allow them to recast the main role. Sid agreed, and the Back to the Future crew went back to their first choice to see if they could get Michael J. Fox to join the project.

The filmmakers put in a call to Gary Goldberg to attempted to convince him to allow Fox to do the film. After some convincing, Goldberg said he would give the script to Fox and, if he liked it, Goldberg would give Michael his blessing to do the movie. Goldberg asked Fox to come into his office, and he handed Fox a large manila envelope with the Back to the Future script sealed inside. Goldberg told Fox to read the script and let him know if he was interested in the film. Fox took the script and gave it right back to Goldberg and told him, “I love it. It’s the best thing I have ever read.” Goldberg allowed Fox to do Back to the Future with only one condition: Family Ties would always have to come first. Everyone agreed to Gary’s request, and the Back to the Future team was elated they finally got their perfect Marty McFly.

After Stoltz was let go and production was starting back up, Claudia Wells’ series with ABC came to a quick end. The Ed Asner-starring sitcom was canceled after just six episodes, allowing Wells to have some unexpected free time in her schedule. Melora Hardin was several inches taller than the new Marty McFly, and Jennifer needed to be recast again. This time, Claudia Wells had no pilot stopping her from playing the role.

During production of Back to the Future, Zemeckis and his crew worked at a breakneck pace to not only finish the film but also reshoot about five weeks of work with their new lead. The production process moved swiftly, and the studio was eager to get the film out by the summer of 1985. Sheinberg, who had given some key notes for the script, had one more note in mind. In a memo sent to Spielberg and the Bobs, Sheinberg said:

Although I believe the present draft is terrific and I’m more with the improvements that have been made from the “Columbia” version, I continue to believe the title leaves something to be desired. There are a number of reasons why I found the title less than “wonderful”; but my primary concern is that I think it appears to make the picture a “genre” picture. [I] think the script (and, hopefully, the film) deserve a better title. Now that I have buttered you up, I would suggest considering the title “Space Man from Pluto.”

Sheinberg got the idea for the title from Otis Peabody’s son Sherman’s comic book that read, “Space Zombies from Pluto” on the cover. Sheinberg went on to say in the same memo:

I am sure there will be those who argue the movie will appear to the audience to be a cheap, old fashion sci-fi flick. Nonsense! I think it’s a kind of title that has “heat, originality, and projects fun.” Most importantly I think it avoids the feeling of a “genre” time travel movie.

Spielberg, Zemeckis, and Gale were all floored by the suggestion that Space Man from Pluto was a better titled than Back to the Future. When the two Bobs asked Steven what should be done about this major suggestion from the studio head, he had the perfect idea. Steven wrote a note back to Sid Sheinberg telling him what a great laugh they all had at his memo and that everyone on the set really enjoyed the joke. After Steven sent this note back to Sid’s office, the proposed title change was never brought up again. This wasn’t the end of Space Man from Pluto, however. In the 2018 film, A House with a Clock in Its Walls starring Jack Black, there is a reference to the title that never was. During a scene in the movie when the character Lewis gets off the bus and is met by his uncle, Jonathan Barnavelt (Jack Black), the two walk past a movie theater showing a fictional film called, you guessed it, Spaceman from Pluto.

Once the film was released on July 3, 1985, movie-going audiences fell in love with the picture. Once the audience saw the iconic DeLorean time machine for the first time, it was all she wrote. Back to the Future fired on all cylinders due to a great script that paid off when paired with a wonderfully talented and funny cast, a brilliant director overseeing every aspect of the film, and phenomenal music underscoring all of this. The score of the film was conducted by Alan Silvestri, who went on to score the Avengers films in the MCU, captured the essence and spirit of the film with his dynamic and cinematic score. Most movies in the 1980s were being scored by what Zemeckis refers to as “the box.” Films such as Beverly Hills Cop or Fletch had scores that were electronic and echoed the era, but Zemeckis wanted his time travel epic to have an epic feel to it, which is exactly what Silvestri brought to the project.

To add a little bit of rock ‘n’ roll to the movie, Huey Lewis and The News were brought on to write two songs for the film. “The Power of Love” and “Back in Time” were the two cuts that Lewis and his band came up with, and they both worked wonderfully for the story. Lewis also shot a cameo for the film where he tells Marty’s band, The Pinheads, that they were “just too darn loud” as they played the opening riffs to their rendition of “Power of Love.”