Back to the Future with Eric Stoltz

In honor of my friend Short Round's former blog entitled Alternate 1985, I'm going to have the inaugural post discuss what would have happened to the movie Back to the Future had Eric Stoltz been kept as Marty McFly. Also, here is another take had a director other than Robert Zemekis been at the helm: http://www.decompmagazine.com/alternate85.htm

You're not thinking 4th dimensionally motherf%$ker

The Setup

Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis had written Back to the Future, and were greenlit by Sid Sheinberg, with Steven Spielberg producing. Originally, they wanted Michael J. Fox for the role of Marty McFly, but Gary David Goldberg, the showrunner of Family Ties, wouldn't allow Fox to take the part. The next two choices for the role were C. Thomas Howell¹ and Eric Stoltz. Based on the strength of his ability in the film Mask, which hadn't been released, they chose Stoltz.

The Execution

They shot for four weeks with Stoltz as Marty McFly, when Zemeckis realized he was miscast. The consensus is that he was giving too dramatic of a performance, and was unlike the character, whereas Fox simply was McFly. Similarly, Stoltz was uncomfortable riding a skateboard, and Fox was not. At one point Stoltz spoke to Peter Bogdanovich and said that he feared he was miscast and thought his time on the movie was short². His foresight proved correct as Zemekis made the bold move to fire Stoltz and made a plea to get Fox again, knowing that it would add another few million to an already stretched budget. This time around Goldberg relented, and Fox would do film Family Ties and Back to the Future at the same time.

What might have been?

A lot of people were affected by this. First of all, the film would have had a darker overtone, centered more on the oedipal relationship between Lea Thompson and Eric Stoltz³. Similarly, the skateboard craze of the eighties would have taken a hit, because, after much deliberation, it was decided to scrap the skateboarding scenes altogether due to them not working. Fox would have remained in television since Back to the Future was what propelled him into superstardom as a film actor. Teen Wolf, The Secret of my Success, Casualties of War⁴, and Bright Lights, Big City would have been dealt out to members of the brat pack.

"When Penn demands his two dollars... it's breathtaking" - NY Times review

Stoltz would have joined the A-list and been seen as a go-to guy from the brat pack, although the film itself wouldn't have been the hit that it was. Stoltz would have carved himself out a nice little niche as a reliable lead actor. His trajectory may not have suffered as much as it could have.

Most importantly, J.J. Cohen was initially cast as Biff but wasn't intimidating enough to Stoltz since they were the same size. Therefore, Biff was recast with Thomas F. Wilson. However, if Fox had been cast, J.J. Cohen would have remained Biff and gone on to play Benjamin Bratt's partner in Blood In, Blood Out: Bound By Honor... he's the biggest casualty in this case.

1955 Zabka fingerless gloves: .35¢

1 Ponyboy would not stay gold this time.
2 A similar thing would happen when Gene Hackman was cast as Mr. Robinson in The Graduate and predicated to Dustin Hoffman that he'd get fired any day. He was right, but was quickly cast as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde and went on to be one of the greatest actors of his generation
3 Some kind of Wonderful territory... "This is what my girlfriend would look like with no skin."
4 Cusack does Casualties of War, in an effort to do more serious roles... he misses the chance to be Lloyd Dobler and affects the lives of millions of young women everywhere. Kirk Cameron gets the part instead and Lloyd plays The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choirs "We Are Rejoicing" on the boom box.

Some information in the post acquired from: "The making of Back to the Future". Ian Freer (January 2003. pp. 183–187.)