- 5 months ago
Great Scott! Prepare for a time-traveling journey through movie trivia that'll leave you saying "Heavy!" Join us as we explore the strangest behind-the-scenes secrets from this beloved 80s classic. Did you know the DeLorean wasn't the first choice for a time machine? Or that Michael J. Fox had an absolutely grueling filming schedule? These fascinating facts might just change how you see this iconic film!
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00:00I have to tell you about the future!
00:04I have to tell you about the future!
00:08Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most out there, fun, and random facts about the beloved 80s film Back to the Future.
00:16Because some of these bits of trivia include key plot points, a spoiler alert is in effect.
00:20I've seen this one, this is a classic.
00:24Number 10. The film was inspired by a yearbook.
00:27Picture this. You're going through your parents' basement full of old relics and stumble upon a high school yearbook.
00:31You learn that your father was the president of his class.
00:34You've got a real attitude problem, McFly. You're a slacker.
00:38You remind me of your father when he went here. He was a slacker too.
00:41Now you wonder what it would be like to be friends with him as a teenager.
00:44This is precisely what happened to Back to the Future co-screenwriter Bob Gale.
00:48This is how he got the idea for the film.
00:50Would I have been friends with my dad if I had gone to high school with him?
00:54And boom. That's when the proverbial bolt of lightning, shall we say, struck me.
01:00Who wouldn't want to go back in time seeing your old school and how your parents were in their adolescence?
01:05Everyone was just a kid once, even our parents.
01:07We're all nostalgic for that time.
01:09And that is a feeling that this movie really encapsulates.
01:12Mom. Dad.
01:14Did you hit your head?
01:16You guys, you guys look great.
01:18Number 9. Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis faced a lot of rejection.
01:22You're never going to get a chance to play in front of anybody.
01:25Marty, one rejection isn't the end of the world.
01:27Back to the Future is a legendary movie that has stood the test of time.
01:31Past, present, and we're sure future.
01:33But it wasn't an easy film to get made.
01:35While it's not uncommon for writers to have to pitch their scripts to a few different studios before landing a deal,
01:40this movie was really put through the ringer.
01:42He didn't like Professor Brown.
01:44We said, okay, how about Doc Brown?
01:47Sid said, okay.
01:47He made us change the name of Marty's mother to the name of his own wife.
01:52According to Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, who wrote the script together,
01:55they were rejected over 40 times until Universal Pictures finally gave it the green light.
02:00Frank decided not to make the movie.
02:02Uh, no.
02:03We didn't know why.
02:05We're pretty sure those other studios are having some major regrets.
02:08If only you could go back and change the past, right?
02:10We all make mistakes in life, children.
02:12Number 8.
02:13The DeLorean wasn't the original time machine.
02:15The DeLorean was the perfect choice for the time machine in Back to the Future.
02:19Are you telling me that you built a time machine out of a DeLorean?
02:24Like Doc Brown said, if you're gonna build a car into a time machine, why not do it with some style?
02:29Yet the original plan was to have a refrigerator.
02:32What was it?
02:32It was a chamber built from an old refrigerator.
02:35And Doc Brown had to haul it around on the back of a pickup front.
02:38Clearly, that's nowhere near as theatrical as the DeLorean.
02:42And thanks to this film, generations of viewers are now obsessed with this niche car.
02:46John DeLorean even wrote letters to thank the film's writers because he was so thrilled that his car was featured so prominently.
02:52I mean, look, the car is the coolest looking car that was available.
02:56It still is.
02:56It still is, you know.
02:57The Goldwing Doors is just perfect.
02:59We're not so sure Frigidaire would have expressed such gratitude, but we'll never know.
03:03Number 7.
03:04There was a chimp in the script.
03:06The original time machine wasn't the only thing that needed tweaking.
03:09We all know and love Doc's dog, Einstein, and we cannot imagine any other animal as the world's first-time traveler.
03:14Have a good trip, Einstein.
03:16Watch your head.
03:18However, Doc's animal sidekick was supposed to be a chimp named Chimp in the original script.
03:23The reason he was cut was because the president of Universal Studios at the time didn't believe the film would make any money with a chimpanzee in it.
03:30Movies with chimps in them don't make any money.
03:32Or, so says Sid Sheinberg, Frank's appointed overseer of the project.
03:37We're not sure his logic is sound, but we think this change was a good one.
03:41I'm sorry, you little devil!
03:43Can you imagine Doc sending a chimp into the future in a fridge?
03:46That's a totally different movie.
03:48Number 6.
03:49Thomas F. Wilson has answers.
03:51Hello?
03:52Hello?
03:53Anybody home?
03:54Think, McFly?
03:56Think!
03:57Biff Tannen is the antagonist we love to hate.
04:00Thomas F. Wilson played him flawlessly in all three installments of this film series.
04:04This role is his most iconic to date.
04:06You and me, Lorraine!
04:08Watch it, class!
04:09It's meant to be!
04:11I'm gonna marry you someday, Lorraine!
04:14Someday you'll be my wife!
04:16Apparently, when people approach him about it, he is ready.
04:19Let's get over the Back to the Future stuff right off the bat.
04:23Yes, I was in the movie.
04:24You're all sitting there.
04:25That's not the guy from Back to the Future.
04:27Yes, it is!
04:28When fans interact with him, he has a card for them that answers their FAQs.
04:31Some of the questions include whether Michael J. Fox is nice, spoiler alert, he is, and
04:36whether the manure was real, which it wasn't.
04:46He even has a song version where he answers various questions.
04:50What's Michael J. Fox like?
04:52He's nice.
04:52What's Christopher Lloyd like?
04:54Kinda quiet.
04:55What's Crispin Glover like?
04:58Unusual.
04:58Stop asking me the question.
05:00We think this whole concept is both genius and hilarious.
05:04Number 5.
05:04Michael J. Fox didn't sing.
05:06Michael J. Fox shines in this role.
05:08His comedic timing is impeccable, and his physical comedy steals the scenes.
05:13You're my ma...
05:13You're my ma...
05:15My name is Lorraine.
05:18Lorraine Baines?
05:20Yeah.
05:20There's just one thing that he did in the film that we really can't give him any credit for.
05:25During the Johnny B. Goode scene at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance,
05:27Fox as Marty really is playing the guitar, but his singing is not his own.
05:32Way down in Louisiana, down in New Orleans,
05:35Way back up in the woods among evergreens,
05:38There stood a long cabin made of earth and wood,
05:41Where lived a country boy named Johnny B. Goode.
05:43Instead, Mark Campbell from the band Jack Mack and the Heart Attack is the voice behind this tune.
05:48They could have fooled us.
05:49And even though he wasn't credited,
05:51We're giving him credit here since we think it's very due.
05:54Here's the thing.
05:55Know this coming in.
05:56You can't ever tell anybody you're it.
05:59There's no screen credit.
06:01Number 4.
06:01The cast almost included Melora Harden.
06:04Back to the Future is infamous for having initially cast Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly,
06:08Before switching him out from Michael J. Fox.
06:10Well, they often ask me about the chemistry.
06:13I just felt we had chemistry from the instant we walked on the set.
06:17Well, we're both shameless.
06:18We're shameless.
06:19Yes, we just, you know, we're just so happy to see each other.
06:22That wasn't the only cast member who got the boot.
06:24After Gail and Zemeckis decided that Stoltz wasn't the right pick,
06:27They had to decide what to do with Melora Harden,
06:30Who was cast as Marty's girlfriend Jennifer.
06:32I was 17 at the time, too.
06:34So very, very painful.
06:35There's no doubt it was very painful.
06:37Um, but I think I'd already had painful things happen.
06:41So I knew how to get through things.
06:43Harden is taller than Michael J. Fox,
06:45Which ultimately led to her being replaced by Claudia Wells.
06:49It was apparently the two female executives at the time
06:52That thought that it was emasculating for their lead character, male,
06:57To be in scenes with a woman that was taller than him.
07:02We don't think we could have watched Jan Levinson the same way
07:05Had she appeared in this film.
07:06Number three.
07:07Michael J. Fox's filming schedule was crazy.
07:10Speaking of replacing Eric Stoltz,
07:12That decision led to a lot of chaos in Fox's schedule.
07:15While working on the film,
07:16He had to keep his commitment to Family Ties,
07:18Which he starred in as Alex P. Keaton from 1982 to 1989.
07:23Well, Dad, I was thinking, you know,
07:24Term papers and exams come and go,
07:26But the family unit is the one true constant in life.
07:29So, he worked on Family Ties from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.
07:32Then he'd work on Back to the Future until 2.30 in the morning.
07:35This grueling schedule lasted for two months,
07:38And we're not sure how he pulled it off.
07:40All it takes is a little self-confidence.
07:42You know, if you put your mind to it,
07:45You can accomplish anything.
07:47When you watch the TV series or the film,
07:49There is no indication of any sleep deprivation.
07:52That is a nod to Fox's incredible acting ability
07:54And dedication to his craft.
07:56I gotta go.
07:57Thanks very much.
07:58It was wonderful.
07:59You were all great.
08:00See y'all later.
08:02Much later.
08:03Number 2.
08:04There was supposed to be a nuclear explosion scene.
08:07The most memorable and iconic moment of this movie
08:09Is inarguably the scene in which Marty is sent back to the future.
08:13In about 30 years?
08:16I hope so.
08:18We still hold our breath when Marty can't get the car started
08:21And Doc is hanging from the top of the clock tower.
08:23Can you believe that the clock tower
08:24Wasn't originally going to be part of the film?
08:26Save the clock tower!
08:28Save the clock tower!
08:30Mayor Wilson is sponsoring an initiative to replace that clock.
08:3430 years ago, lightning struck that clock tower
08:37And the clock hasn't run since.
08:38The ending was supposed to include a nuclear explosion.
08:42Marty was supposed to drive through a test site
08:43As a way to obtain the nuclear fuel he needed
08:45To get back to the future
08:46But this whole sequence was too pricey.
08:49Thus, the lightning hitting the clock tower idea was born.
08:51Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel
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09:141. The movie's title was almost vastly different
09:19You've got to come back with me!
09:22Where?
09:24Back to the future!
09:25Back to the future!
09:26It seems like a paradoxical title, but it's actually brilliant
09:29Encompassing the entire mission of the film.
09:32Bizarrely, the movie's title was almost Spaceman from Pluto.
09:35We admit that this title is more clever than it originally seems
09:48As Marty is basically an alien in his own hometown
09:51He also uses the Spaceman trope to his advantage
09:54While getting George and Lorraine together
09:56We even see mention of space later when George publishes a novel
10:05However, it certainly doesn't tell you much about the film
10:08And could even be seen as misleading for a story about time travel
10:11So they definitely made the right call in changing it
10:14Stephen said, I know what to do
10:15Dear Sid, thank you for your most hilarious memo
10:19We all got a big laugh out of it
10:21Keep them coming
10:22That was it
10:24Which of these fun facts had you saying
10:26Great Scott!
10:27Let us know in the comments
10:27Hey doc, we better back up
10:29We don't have enough roads to get up to 88
10:31Roads?
10:32Well we're going, we don't need roads
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