Very interesting. For full interview here is the link below: Lea Thompson tells about Back to the Future (Full interview) Part 1 of 3 • Lea Thompson tells abo...
Back to the Future was one of those rare projects that got to …in a sense..start over..when it was clear things weren’t going right. I think that is what made it such a great movie. They got to shoot it all wrong first, then went back and shot everything right….living up to its name. And everything came out better for everyone.
How do you know it was wrong if you didn't see it? Reminds me of when Joel Schumacher took over the Batman franchise. When Keaton heard him say "Why does it have to be so dark...?", Keaton knew he didn't understand the material and left.
That movie was made because John Hughes couldn't make the ending he wanted to pretty in pink. He told the exact same story again (just reversing the genders) but now with the ending he wanted (which imo was the ending Pretty in pink deserved). And imo somehow that movie is like 20 times inferior to pretty in pink. Much because the actors didn't have half the charisma they needed. (And well, they got the pacing all wrong that time)
I would actually like to have seen the sort of dark Twilight Zone style Back To The Future that Stoltz seemed to have in his head. However, when the entire rest of the crew, including the director, writers and actors, want to do it as a lighthearted adventure movie, you should probably get on the same page or you’re going to screw everything up.
While I enjoyed the first BTTF as a kid, rewatching it this past summer it seemed flat and over-burdened by the plot gimmick.. MJF would go on to become a better actor, but in this film he basically played Alex Keaton minus the love of money. Kinda love Stoltz' idea of playing up Marty's strange and private family history achieved through time travel, and the unease that would naturally follow.
Right guy, wrong job. Eric wasn’t built for light hearted comedy. Casting lost their minds on that one. Good thing they were able to recast and keep going.
I don't think Eric Stoltz is a bad guy or a bad actor he just didn't get it. It was supposed to be a funny, goofy, rollicking sci-fi adventure flick and Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd absolutely nailed it. Makes me wonder if was explained to Stolz when he took it on. Seems like there was a complete disconnect between the directors vision and what Stolz thought he was there for.
It was the casting director's fault. I'm not comparing Eric Stoltz to Daniel Day-Lewis, but casting Eric Stoltz in BTTF would be like casting Daniel Day-Lewis in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
According to another video on this, it was a producer who insisted on Stoltz when Zimekis wanted MJF from the beginning, but couldn't get him because of scheduling conflicts.
I don't get the hate. So just because THIS guy was an ass people seem to hate on him. But it's about I dont know, an IDIOT like Heath Ledger "staying in character" for his (crappy IMHO) take on the Joker hes lauded as a master?... double standards bother the shit out of me.... They are both equally laughable.
This is probably the best explanation as to why Eric stoltz was cut was from the film he wasn’t in the right frame of mind for the tone the movie was projecting
Back to the Future would have been a BIG flop if they had released Stoltz's version because Marty wouldn't have been a likable character, as opposed to Fox. I strongly believe that.
Yes, it would have been a much darker type of movie, likely would have flopped. MJF obviously gave it that sort of comedic lightness that it needed, particularly in light of how Biff tries to rape Lorraine...Stoltz would have been a big dud.
We'll never know. We only know that Michael did an excellent job. Maybe Eric Stoltz would have been something unique. But according to Thomas Wilson, he was kind of a dick while acting.
Maybe I'm wrong but method acting seems to work if you are really an expert and for more serious roles. The problem is that this was supposed to be a light hearted role and Eric just took it too deeply.
Michael J. Fox commented on it. He stated that method acting doesn't work for this kind of script as you actually have to do, basically schtick. You have to literally have your eyes bug out and go "Oh, my God, it's the Libyans"! You CAN'T play it for real, you have to play it for laughs. The role called for Shecky Greene, not Marlon Brando.
@@ElTuco84I think Leto has talent but he gets too full of himself and moves away from his talent into pure ego which drags him down and leads to the quality of his work dropping which leads to his movies getting worse.
I would've loved to see BOTH, but who has twice the movie budget? Sholtz is one cool character (ALSO) th-cam.com/video/iM7Plnl7kN4/w-d-xo.html What do you think?
@@joharrison6014 they were 6 weeks into production when they sacked Eric , a lot of money lost . He looks like rock punk F boy . Didn't gel too much with doc . J fox innocent performance, comedic , kinda confused role nailed . Eric was more for terminator francise 😆 but still I don't like people criticizing Eric for this
And it is a shame that a wonderful woman like this would probably not be cast, or admired, in today's Hollywood. Beautiful, smart, feminine, strong... now every woman has to be a hard-edged sarcastic plastic know it all. An unapproachable snarky and unlikable "product". Real people, men or women, have no place in Hollywood today, and the audience can't relate to them, or dream about living with or around them.
I like Eric Stoltz, he’s a really good actor…but they made the right decision to replace him with Michael J. Fox…no one else could have played Marty McFly better than he did…
This story needs to die off. Stoltz was excellent in "Mask" and "Some Kind Of Wonderful", and he needs to be left alone. As for Lea Thompson, her movie career as a supporting player has been forgettable.
@@philiphatfield5666 Minimum, a good actor, would at least read the room - if not, the entire industry, and public. But, you and Stoltz, you two would get along fabulously - I can tell. I mean, she actually experienced it and still relayed the story with grace..🤷🏻♂️
@elh305 stoltz is a great actor he just wasnt right for the part. Fox isnt a great actor by any means but is more of a comedic actor. Fox just fit the part better. But lets get real, did fox do anything memorable besides back to the future movies?? Nope.. stoltz has had a much better career despite the fact that him getting fired from back to the future really hampered it.
The director needs to take responsibility for simply not telling him what he wanted. If you let an actor interpret the script they will do it there way - the director needs to tell the actor what they are looking for, then part ways if they can't agree. These actors were likely chosen on their public profile at the time, and I seem to recall it was written with Fox in mind but he was initially unavailable.
Eric was right about Marty not being part of his family in the new timeline growing up but at least his future is alot brighter and better than his previous timeline so which is an up and up for me.
@@pagedown4195 For serious actors, doing funny roles are difficult. Al Pacino and Robert De Niro are not that good in funny roles, Soltz did a solid job in a funny role in Pulp Fiction
@@DMalltheway Well it´s always a gamble when it comes to casting. Agree with you. Stoltz was amzing i Pulp Fiction but it was right to fire him in this one. He didn´t have the comedy skills for this kind of movie But Michael saved it in my opinion 😉
@@DMalltheway I know what you mean. And I think Stoltz was brilliant in Memphis Belle. He wasn´t just right for this one. And I think he knew that him self later. Take care my friend. Nice chatting wiht you.
The movie was silly and cartoonish. It wasn’t a good fit for Eric. But I would love to watch a version that is serious and delves into the tragic aspects that Eric understood were there underneath the slapstick. I don’t think he was loud and obvious enough for the 80s teen movie scene.
@@Jo_Wardy have you seen the footage that exists, it doesn't feel right. Besides the filmmakers themselves thought so too, and who knows better than them.
@@Gunsight-One well thats after 30 years of the film and plus no ones ever seen the whole film that eric stoltz made with audio. the normal people have to watch films made by producers and directors so i think our opinions matter. not just a directors opinion.
@@Jo_Wardy Especially since it seems like there was an awful lot of confirmation bias going on. Zemeckis & Gale wanted Fox so badly that they were probably cherry-picking the least good takes to convince Spielberg and Sheinberg that Stoltz wasn't good enough.
How many of your friends or work colleagues, do you include their middle name "initial" when referring to them? The only people I have heard do that in movies, was Bill & Ted.
Eric Stoltz's height wouldn't have made such a contrast between Marty and Biff. Also firing Stoltz also meant firing the original Jennifer actress, Melora Hardin.
The real problem was not recasting sooner. If you see your lead taking a different direction, you direct him. If he doesn't take the direction, you fire him.
Exactly, they were wrong to wait 6 weeks to fire him. Maybe, they were waiting for Michael J. Fox became available, otherwise they really did a disservice to him by not firing him sooner.
@@Daniel-sh3os I don't think they'd continue shooting just to kill time. Those were enormous expenses that evaporated into thin air due to all the scenes that had to be reshot.
Stoltz probably would've done a really good job as Marty and made a good film. But his version of the movie wouldn't have been the super rewatchable fun movie that MJF helped make. The movie probably wouldn't have been successful at the box office to justify 2 sequels.
Eric says he doesn't remember filming this and I think he's lying lol He must have been so embarrassed that he went so hard on the role just to realize he wasn't right for the film. I mean, I would be after going through so such extreme lengths just to play Marty. Or maybe he blocked it out..
All the ugly comments vilifying Eric Stoltz is sort of disappointing. It was a tonality and approach problem with Stoltz performance, if you see the side by side, its very clear. Stoltz was treating it like a serious scifi film, when it was more comic in nature. Why Michael J Fox was much better suited, wasnt a case of Stoltz being a pretentious douchebag.
@@Arthiriashe was trying to create the “friction” Lea Thompson talks about here. He wanted it to feel real, so he would push to get real reactions. I’m not a fan of this type of “acting”. Just seems annoying for everyone involved.
@@Sam-vk8xd "Method Acting" is when you try and be the character by living like the character. Famously, when Dustin Hoffman was going a bit overboard doing this for Marathon Man, his co-star Laurence Olivier asked him "My dear boy, why don't you try ACTING?"
He was making a different movie than the writers, director, and other actors. He was being an ass. They were right to fire him. This would have been a single - and forgotten - movie. 😎
it was me. i figured out time travel to go back, and convince them to recast Eric Stoltz. he was alright, but it was an okay stand alone movie. i talked them into Michael J. Fox, and when i got back to the present, there were two movies i suddenly remembered watching. your welcome.
So glad she spoke so compassionately about Eric, but the result of Michael being used was a series brought light into our lives, his innocence made the 80s less dark, Eric was the 80s… cynical, mean at times, but that was the 1980s…
He was right because when he changed his dad in past he came back and his family was different so he would have different memories than them including his childhood so in way his family would be strangers as they would be completely different people
@@christopherfoote4643 Whoa, you just went all over the place even though I was only talking about his original family. Gotta keep your topic focused, otherwise I wouldn't be surprised if the 2020 election finds its way into this thread. All I know is that the movie didn't present anything that neither Marty nor the audience would miss about his first timeline. Lorraine's affections were between George or Marty (not Biff) due to her father hitting one of the boys w/ the car. Getting rescued during the dance allowed her to look beyond that car accident. Biff being like Trump is from the alternate 1985, not a prediction of the future. In fact, the filmmakers said that Hill Valley 2015 was simply a collection of jokes about the future b/c, despite the fact that there are videos out there listing out the many accurate predictions of BTTF2, most movies tend to get predictions wrong.
@@christopherfoote4643 BTTF1's script is widely studied in film courses as one of the most tightly written in cinema history. None of those are categorized as plot holes and the trilogy never pledged to be realistic. Marty goes back to 1985 to find that his family is different but for the better since the story makes it clear that they were pretty miserable in the beginning. Eric simply saw it from his own POV, likely thinking about his happier family in real life. If he was cast in the Ghostbusters, he'd probably point out the tragedy of the heroes fighting people's dead loved ones. Or that the two characters who didn't give consent to make love to each other should feel more violated. And perhaps there shouldn't be too much celebrating at the end b/c there are potentially many victims due to the world nearly ending.
@@christopherfoote4643 Whether audiences thought the ending was corny or not, it's safe to say that most found it satisfying regardless. Different, but familiar.
@@christopherfoote4643 You're definitely in the minority w/ that opinion. Especially since it's not as simple as a fistfight making the future better. In fact, George almost failed to kiss Lorraine in the dance afterwards. What turned his life around is Marty's message that "if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything".
I guess it has to be a balance, and the actor ought to understand the vision of the movie that was intended. It is when they don't get it, and try to make that vision something different that they either fail, or are fired. I think even an egotistical actor might influence the writers, directors and producers if they "get it", and have something to add to the project. That does happen ever so often, and can be great. Stoltz just didn't seem to "get it" in this case.
You'd get about 25% of a movie if they released it. It's not like they shot the whole movie and then decided Stoltz wasn't working out. He got fired relatively early in the process.
@@kpmac1 that’s not true. Almost all of the scenes with Marty McFly were shot with Eric Stoltz They fired him and had to reshoot all of the Marty McFly scenes with Michael J. Fox.
But it is though... A tragedy played for "laughs". He was right on the money with his critical thinking. What would you call remembering a whole different life than your family? You are for all intents and purposes NOT their son/brother. You are an absolute stranger in the "skin" of Marty... And so are they... It's terrible! But I do agree though, his comments were the epithome of Debbie Downer syndrome...
Let's see...a social outcast whose father is loser, lives in a shit estate, best friend gunned down, lost in a world where he doesn't belong with the risk of never existing, then having someone try and kill you multiple times and having your future mother nearly raped.... Comedy gold! Really up the director to, y'know...give direction...
the actor they hired for the main role turned out to be unsuitable and they replaced him. risky but wise. disney should have done the same with rachel zigler after she started spouting nonsense .
@@Gerhardium You braindead drones that can't do anything but spout ad hominem slogans do the same to me. Nothing of substance, just "hurr durr, I'll call them a snowflake - that will show them." 🙄
Eric Stoltz was too deep for such a wacky and zany movie like Back to the Future. The casting director simply casted the wrong actor for it..but they should have axed him earlier than 6 weeks..I mean someone from the production team should have spoken out by the end of the 1st week abt it..
He was too intense and even creepy twords Lea Thompson..... He didn't pay attention to what the cast and director were about. It's not the Eric show....
I am SO glad they didn't keep him on. I will readily admit I am neither an actor nor an artist but there always has seemed to be something fake and self-absorbed about the whole "method actor" thing just as there is with the "oh God I'm a tortured artist that the whole world never understands" thing. You're a freakin' actor, ok? You're not Marty McFly. To refuse to answer people who don't call you by character name isn't "getting into the role," it's pretentious and worth an eye-roll to 99% of the rest of the world who are normal. Get over yourself. He lost out on what could have been the biggest role of his career, and rightly so.
Fox was their first choice. The producers of Family Ties wouldn't release him, because he was on fire, and he was THEIR fire. When Stolz was gumming up the works, Zemeckis pleaded with them to work something out with them. So they let Bob have him at night while they filmed the show by day. Hard to believe that, for all his charisma, the kid was juggling both on only a few hours of nightly sleep, most of which he got sleeping in a car between schedules.
Not necessarily. They fired him because he couldn't produce what they needed. They could tell during the rushes that his performance wouldn't work on camera. If he delivered the goods and made sure the movie would be a hit, they wouldn't care.
@@eclark9965 apocalypse now isn't back to the future you have the titles backwards. You might be the only person on the planet that considers 2 a b movie, I can see that take w 3 but 2 nahhhh
@@TheWaitingRoomTWR back the future 1. Good movie. 2 and 3. Cash in bullshit rife with idiotic product placements and paint by numbers plot lines. Anyone who doesn’t realize that is a pos
I agree 1000%. I'm not an actor, and so I'm sure there will be the hordes who will jump on me but the seeming pretentiousness of the whole "method acting" thing (I mean, really - just the "You have to call me by my character name or I won't answer you" is enough to make you burst out laughing at the guy) and the other stories about him simply neither listening nor caring about the input of the actors he was working with makes me glad they removed him and brought in someone who could actually be decent and make the movie enjoyable. Had they played it with him, as a tragedy as he envisioned it, I firmly believe it would have become a lackluster, forgotten movie. Good riddance to him, I say.
Yes Eric had the height of Crispin Glover his dad in the movie but we can always say when Michael J Fox took over, Marty now took after his petite Mum Lorraine aka Lea Thompson..
Stoltz and Glover made interesting points. True observations. That alone is not the full douscheburger. The douche behavior comes in wanting to impose YOUR observation as the one true narrative. Stoltz believed it was kind of tragic that only Marty would have a memory of the alternate time line. Glover, that the movie was suggesting money = happiness. (In reality i think confidence 》pursuing his dreams and goals 》happiness. Money is often a by product of pursuing your talents relentlessly
Maybe they could have done some complicated time travel stuff where Eric Stoltz as Marty goes back in time but when he goes back he’s Michael J Fox as Marty. He changed the timeline.
So Stoltz AND Glover thought the ending was a tragedy, for different reasons. (Marty having different memories than his family and George's money changing his character.)
It wasn't money changing character that he had issue with. It was money and happiness being equated as the same thing. He thought it was a bad message.
@@TheJpf79which wasn't even the object lesson. It was about standing up for yourself and not letting other people walk all over you, and trying instead of quitting for fear or rejection
@@tinjadog I feel like you're almost describing Rick and Morty. The dark dystopian tragedy of being Morty, the manic, devil-may-care antics of the most jaded creature in the multiverse...
Yes! A live action version of that with Eric Stoltz & Crispin Glover & the rest of the original cast. Just two different versions of the same story, same cast. Why not? LOL
As AI becomes more of a tool in casting and filming, the idea isn't as far fetched as it may sound. I would think that he breached his contract in some way by not allowing himself to take direction and just being an overall pain in the ass. So it wouldn't be a stretch to think that the studio still has the right to use his image in any subsequent production. Of course, I am not an entertainment attorney, so I am probably way off target here. If I am, I am certain that I will know soon. 😊@@tinjadog
A lot of the focus tends to be on Stoltz but I think the core issue is he was miscast and that's not his fault, especially at such a young age. Maybe they couldn't look past his talent and good looks to see he wasn't the right fit?
A lot of actors like to take something that’s not their specialty because they’re actors they should be able to play many different roles Like, when Robin Williams or Jim Carrey played serious roles.
its funny like you watch michael j fox in this and it seems so perfect that its like it was meant to be, but at the same time it almost wasnt, its like the lightning in the movie striking at the right moment
They wanted Fox from the very beginning but he wasn't available. That's why when they got him, they were shooting at night, because during the day he was shooting his tv show.
"Just got done doing a movie with Eric Stoltz" Why not just name the movie? Was she not proud of The Wild Life? My first guess was Some Kind of Wonderful, but that was after BttF, not before...
Basically, they tried to hire a method actor for a lighthearted action-comedy role.
Stlotz and Glover together must’ve been weird overload on that set.
Michael J. Fox was born for that role as Marty McFly.
Back to the Future was one of those rare projects that got to …in a sense..start over..when it was clear things weren’t going right. I think that is what made it such a great movie. They got to shoot it all wrong first, then went back and shot everything right….living up to its name. And everything came out better for everyone.
Except Erik lol
It's kinda of strange that's it's a film about time travel, and it had an alternate future to what it started.
How do you know it was wrong if you didn't see it?
Reminds me of when Joel Schumacher took over the Batman franchise.
When Keaton heard him say "Why does it have to be so dark...?", Keaton knew he didn't understand the material and left.
She was in Some Kind of Wonderful with Eric Stolz, an underrated 80s teen movie.
That movie was made because John Hughes couldn't make the ending he wanted to pretty in pink. He told the exact same story again (just reversing the genders) but now with the ending he wanted (which imo was the ending Pretty in pink deserved).
And imo somehow that movie is like 20 times inferior to pretty in pink. Much because the actors didn't have half the charisma they needed. (And well, they got the pacing all wrong that time)
@@rafaellima83 You're in the minority then smdh.
I think she is probably talking about The Wild Life. I believe that was made before Some Kind of Wonderful.
And Stoltz had nasty dirty finger nails! WTH dude?
''It´s not that kind of movie, kid''
#HanSolo
Management should have written his first paycheck out to "Marty McFly" and she what Stoltz thought of that.
I would actually like to have seen the sort of dark Twilight Zone style Back To The Future that Stoltz seemed to have in his head. However, when the entire rest of the crew, including the director, writers and actors, want to do it as a lighthearted adventure movie, you should probably get on the same page or you’re going to screw everything up.
Actually, Zemeckis mentioned in a 1985 magazine interview that he wanted BTTF to be like The Twilight Zone.
While I enjoyed the first BTTF as a kid, rewatching it this past summer it seemed flat and over-burdened by the plot gimmick.. MJF would go on to become a better actor, but in this film he basically played Alex Keaton minus the love of money. Kinda love Stoltz' idea of playing up Marty's strange and private family history achieved through time travel, and the unease that would naturally follow.
Very kindly done by Lea but definitely highlights why he was not the right choice for Marty McFly.
I never thought of it that way, but Eric made a great point.
Right guy, wrong job. Eric wasn’t built for light hearted comedy. Casting lost their minds on that one.
Good thing they were able to recast and keep going.
I don't think Eric Stoltz is a bad guy or a bad actor he just didn't get it. It was supposed to be a funny, goofy, rollicking sci-fi adventure flick and Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd absolutely nailed it. Makes me wonder if was explained to Stolz when he took it on. Seems like there was a complete disconnect between the directors vision and what Stolz thought he was there for.
It was the casting director's fault. I'm not comparing Eric Stoltz to Daniel Day-Lewis, but casting Eric Stoltz in BTTF would be like casting Daniel Day-Lewis in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
According to another video on this, it was a producer who insisted on Stoltz when Zimekis wanted MJF from the beginning, but couldn't get him because of scheduling conflicts.
Wow. DDL as Ferris would have been something.
Daniel Day Lewis would have OWNED the Ferris Bueller part. Think of the intensity! "I drink your MILSHAKKKKEEEE!!"
@@barrygoldwater2441 "You touch me, I YELL RAT!"
@@Everything_All_In_One_Place LOL.
Eric is a great actor. He just didn't get the movie.
He wanted to be called Marty on set. I can’t imagine how hard that would’ve been to work with
Right?! Although, I feel like she is holding back on much more here.
I don't get the hate. So just because THIS guy was an ass people seem to hate on him. But it's about I dont know, an IDIOT like Heath Ledger "staying in character" for his (crappy IMHO) take on the Joker hes lauded as a master?... double standards bother the shit out of me.... They are both equally laughable.
It takes a lot to be the creepiest guy at a table read that also includes Crispin Glover.
exactly
A Creep-Off?
I think LT was being very diplomatic there 😂
I love Lea Thompson
We all love Lea Thompson.
Do you think I bought that Blu-Ray of Howard the Duck for Howard?
@@SupremeGreatGrandmaster I don't think about you at all.
Now that multiverses are the norm, we should have the Stoltz Marty meet the Fox Marty.
This is probably the best explanation as to why Eric stoltz was cut was from the film he wasn’t in the right frame of mind for the tone the movie was projecting
MJF is much more believable as a high school kid, he has that boyish charm.
Back to the Future would have been a BIG flop if they had released Stoltz's version because Marty wouldn't have been a likable character, as opposed to Fox. I strongly believe that.
Yes, it would have been a much darker type of movie, likely would have flopped. MJF obviously gave it that sort of comedic lightness that it needed, particularly in light of how Biff tries to rape Lorraine...Stoltz would have been a big dud.
We'll never know. We only know that Michael did an excellent job. Maybe Eric Stoltz would have been something unique. But according to Thomas Wilson, he was kind of a dick while acting.
Maybe I'm wrong but method acting seems to work if you are really an expert and for more serious roles. The problem is that this was supposed to be a light hearted role and Eric just took it too deeply.
Michael J. Fox commented on it. He stated that method acting doesn't work for this kind of script as you actually have to do, basically schtick. You have to literally have your eyes bug out and go "Oh, my God, it's the Libyans"! You CAN'T play it for real, you have to play it for laughs. The role called for Shecky Greene, not Marlon Brando.
Yep it went too deep with it, but his deepness probably has more to do with him being such a depressed person to begin with
So Eric Stoltz was the Jared Leto of the 80's.
@@sambas9257 I didn't mean that in a despective way towards Stoltz. I find Leto to be a talented actor but he's often miscasted.
Stoltz was funny in his scenes in Pulp Fiction. But a different kind of humor, I suppose.
LOL
@@ElTuco84I think Leto has talent but he gets too full of himself and moves away from his talent into pure ego which drags him down and leads to the quality of his work dropping which leads to his movies getting worse.
@@Leo-sd3jtagreed - in BR2049 he was excellent and then as the Joker, well…….
She’s being kind
Eric "im the smartest guy in the room" Stoltz
That's why Eric Stoltz is a very well known and a respected actor (I have no idea who this guy is nor what he's been in lol).
He was too serious, gives different vibe to the movie 🎥
J fox made it more comedic
I would've loved to see BOTH, but who has twice the movie budget? Sholtz is one cool character (ALSO) th-cam.com/video/iM7Plnl7kN4/w-d-xo.html What do you think?
@@joharrison6014 they were 6 weeks into production when they sacked Eric , a lot of money lost . He looks like rock punk F boy . Didn't gel too much with doc . J fox innocent performance, comedic , kinda confused role nailed . Eric was more for terminator francise 😆 but still I don't like people criticizing Eric for this
Man, I had such a crush on her!
And it is a shame that a wonderful woman like this would probably not be cast, or admired, in today's Hollywood. Beautiful, smart, feminine, strong... now every woman has to be a hard-edged sarcastic plastic know it all. An unapproachable snarky and unlikable "product". Real people, men or women, have no place in Hollywood today, and the audience can't relate to them, or dream about living with or around them.
I like Eric Stoltz, he’s a really good actor…but they made the right decision to replace him with Michael J. Fox…no one else could have played Marty McFly better than he did…
Wow she seems like a really nice gal. New Hollywood can learn from her example. 😊😊
she's on "scorpion"- paige dineen's mother, the con woman..
It just means he was too serious of an actor to the part. Eric Stoltz is a fantastic actor, but he was just too serious for this role.
This story needs to die off. Stoltz was excellent in "Mask" and "Some Kind Of Wonderful", and he needs to be left alone. As for Lea Thompson, her movie career as a supporting player has been forgettable.
@@philiphatfield5666
Minimum, a good actor, would at least read the room - if not, the entire industry, and public.
But, you and Stoltz, you two would get along fabulously - I can tell.
I mean, she actually experienced it and still relayed the story with grace..🤷🏻♂️
thats why they hired a sitcom actor
@elh305 stoltz is a great actor he just wasnt right for the part. Fox isnt a great actor by any means but is more of a comedic actor. Fox just fit the part better. But lets get real, did fox do anything memorable besides back to the future movies?? Nope.. stoltz has had a much better career despite the fact that him getting fired from back to the future really hampered it.
The director needs to take responsibility for simply not telling him what he wanted.
If you let an actor interpret the script they will do it there way - the director needs to tell the actor what they are looking for, then part ways if they can't agree.
These actors were likely chosen on their public profile at the time, and I seem to recall it was written with Fox in mind but he was initially unavailable.
Eric was right about Marty not being part of his family in the new timeline growing up but at least his future is alot brighter and better than his previous timeline so which is an up and up for me.
I've played guitar for 45 years and I can't stand nor need long fingernails.
Really interesting interview! Nostalgia!
Eric Soltz was taking his role the Robert De Niro type direction and vision based on method acting, he is a solid actor.
But not funny. So they canned him.
@@pagedown4195 For serious actors, doing funny roles are difficult. Al Pacino and Robert De Niro are not that good in funny roles, Soltz did a solid job in a funny role in Pulp Fiction
@@DMalltheway Well it´s always a gamble when it comes to casting. Agree with you. Stoltz was amzing i Pulp Fiction but it was right to fire him in this one. He didn´t have the comedy skills for this kind of movie But Michael saved it in my opinion 😉
@@pagedown4195 For sure, it was a bad fit, he’s no where near a bad actor like others I won’t name.
@@DMalltheway I know what you mean. And I think Stoltz was brilliant in Memphis Belle. He wasn´t just right for this one. And I think he knew that him self later. Take care my friend. Nice chatting wiht you.
Lea lookin gorgeous.
I've always seen this movie like a greek tragedy and being hit on by your own young mother didn´t help me through it. I´m with Eric on this.
The movie was silly and cartoonish. It wasn’t a good fit for Eric. But I would love to watch a version that is serious and delves into the tragic aspects that Eric understood were there underneath the slapstick. I don’t think he was loud and obvious enough for the 80s teen movie scene.
oh God that sounds tragic, sad and depressing, give me silly and cartoonish everytime
AI has entered the chat
The movie just needed to be serious for like 2 seconds. Like marty needs to say - um, I miss my mom. 😞 But michael j can do that.
That movie would not have worked had they kept Stoltz as Marty Mcfly.
Definitely
how do you know.
@@Jo_Wardy have you seen the footage that exists, it doesn't feel right. Besides the filmmakers themselves thought so too, and who knows better than them.
@@Gunsight-One well thats after 30 years of the film and plus no ones ever seen the whole film that eric stoltz made with audio. the normal people have to watch films made by producers and directors so i think our opinions matter. not just a directors opinion.
@@Jo_Wardy Especially since it seems like there was an awful lot of confirmation bias going on. Zemeckis & Gale wanted Fox so badly that they were probably cherry-picking the least good takes to convince Spielberg and Sheinberg that Stoltz wasn't good enough.
Holy shit I can imagine Zemeckis’s reaction to Stoltz growing his fingernails 😂😂
I like how she called him Michael Fox
How many of your friends or work colleagues, do you include their middle name "initial" when referring to them? The only people I have heard do that in movies, was Bill & Ted.
The “J.” was only for SAG purposes, not his real middle initial. “Michael Fox” was taken.
@@JF-xw4ef oh, cool, thank you for that information
Eric Stoltz's height wouldn't have made such a contrast between Marty and Biff. Also firing Stoltz also meant firing the original Jennifer actress, Melora Hardin.
Oh cause she was too tall too? Lol that sucks for her. She did not like short men after that loss I’m sure
The real problem was not recasting sooner. If you see your lead taking a different direction, you direct him. If he doesn't take the direction, you fire him.
Exactly, they were wrong to wait 6 weeks to fire him. Maybe, they were waiting for Michael J. Fox became available, otherwise they really did a disservice to him by not firing him sooner.
@@Daniel-sh3os I don't think they'd continue shooting just to kill time. Those were enormous expenses that evaporated into thin air due to all the scenes that had to be reshot.
He was miscasted for the role of Marty. He was perfect in Some Kind of Wonderful.
One of my favorite 80s movies!
Man I'm getting curious about this version
He was in an entirely different vibe. His movie was not a comedy, was a sci-fi drama.
Eric Stoltz did alright. He went on to do Mask which was a kick ass movie.
i think he did mask already. the studio heads saw him and mask and said he could play any role and told the director if im wrong you can recast him.
He did Mask before BttF
Stoltz probably would've done a really good job as Marty and made a good film. But his version of the movie wouldn't have been the super rewatchable fun movie that MJF helped make. The movie probably wouldn't have been successful at the box office to justify 2 sequels.
Fox was always the first choice anyway.
Eric says he doesn't remember filming this and I think he's lying lol He must have been so embarrassed that he went so hard on the role just to realize he wasn't right for the film. I mean, I would be after going through so such extreme lengths just to play Marty. Or maybe he blocked it out..
Not just embarrassed but humiliated maybe. I know I'd feel that way.
Unless he was high on coke during the making of the movie and couldn't say his lines properly.
The dude probably still has PTSD from that..
@@DrRichardCranium The director's fault that the guy was a pretentious, self-absorbed twit? Hardly.
They should have brought him back for 6 weeks of the shooting of the two sequels too. Now, that would have been funny!
Nice work bro! I'm all caught up!! Had to take a little time off from the net!! Mental break!! Love your stuff Hazel Fiver!!
It was funny cause Tom Wilson said Stoltz was really trying to score with Lea Thompson.
Good work!!
basically, he did not understand the assignment
When did you last talk to him ?
All the ugly comments vilifying Eric Stoltz is sort of disappointing. It was a tonality and approach problem with Stoltz performance, if you see the side by side, its very clear. Stoltz was treating it like a serious scifi film, when it was more comic in nature. Why Michael J Fox was much better suited, wasnt a case of Stoltz being a pretentious douchebag.
I think it's because of the way he was treating Biffs actor Tom Wilson. Supposedly, he was going over the line in being physical with him.
@@Arthiriashe was trying to create the “friction” Lea Thompson talks about here. He wanted it to feel real, so he would push to get real reactions. I’m not a fan of this type of “acting”. Just seems annoying for everyone involved.
@@Sam-vk8xd "Method Acting" is when you try and be the character by living like the character. Famously, when Dustin Hoffman was going a bit overboard doing this for Marathon Man, his co-star Laurence Olivier asked him "My dear boy, why don't you try ACTING?"
He was making a different movie than the writers, director, and other actors. He was being an ass. They were right to fire him. This would have been a single - and forgotten - movie. 😎
Mr. Overthinking Method Man
it was me. i figured out time travel to go back, and convince them to recast Eric Stoltz. he was alright, but it was an okay stand alone movie. i talked them into Michael J. Fox, and when i got back to the present, there were two movies i suddenly remembered watching. your welcome.
fingernails? Marty played rock guitar.. no finger nails required.
Yeah, i have played metal guitar for 40 years and its rather the opposite you have to keep the nails very short otherwise they get in the way.
@@Stefan- exactly, metal guitar for 31 years here ... ;)
@@mercatorjubio3804 Perhaps Stoltz was more into Dire Straits than Van Halen. Either way, he was apparently confused about a lot of things.
she was the one who recommended stoltz to zemeckis . behind the scenes stoltz was trying to get with lea
Who wouldn't? She's hot af.
I don't blame him one single bit.
Was he dressed like Howard the Duck?
So glad she spoke so compassionately about Eric, but the result of Michael being used was a series brought light into our lives, his innocence made the 80s less dark, Eric was the 80s… cynical, mean at times, but that was the 1980s…
I think that is the most honest way I've heard it described. Yeah, definitely nailed it there.
@@thequietestengine thanks!
He was right because when he changed his dad in past he came back and his family was different so he would have different memories than them including his childhood so in way his family would be strangers as they would be completely different people
It does seem like he wasn't fond of his original family to begin with.
@@christopherfoote4643 Whoa, you just went all over the place even though I was only talking about his original family. Gotta keep your topic focused, otherwise I wouldn't be surprised if the 2020 election finds its way into this thread. All I know is that the movie didn't present anything that neither Marty nor the audience would miss about his first timeline. Lorraine's affections were between George or Marty (not Biff) due to her father hitting one of the boys w/ the car. Getting rescued during the dance allowed her to look beyond that car accident. Biff being like Trump is from the alternate 1985, not a prediction of the future. In fact, the filmmakers said that Hill Valley 2015 was simply a collection of jokes about the future b/c, despite the fact that there are videos out there listing out the many accurate predictions of BTTF2, most movies tend to get predictions wrong.
@@christopherfoote4643 BTTF1's script is widely studied in film courses as one of the most tightly written in cinema history. None of those are categorized as plot holes and the trilogy never pledged to be realistic. Marty goes back to 1985 to find that his family is different but for the better since the story makes it clear that they were pretty miserable in the beginning. Eric simply saw it from his own POV, likely thinking about his happier family in real life. If he was cast in the Ghostbusters, he'd probably point out the tragedy of the heroes fighting people's dead loved ones. Or that the two characters who didn't give consent to make love to each other should feel more violated. And perhaps there shouldn't be too much celebrating at the end b/c there are potentially many victims due to the world nearly ending.
@@christopherfoote4643 Whether audiences thought the ending was corny or not, it's safe to say that most found it satisfying regardless. Different, but familiar.
@@christopherfoote4643 You're definitely in the minority w/ that opinion. Especially since it's not as simple as a fistfight making the future better. In fact, George almost failed to kiss Lorraine in the dance afterwards. What turned his life around is Marty's message that "if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything".
Oh wow !! Interesting indeed..
Eric was feeling himself too much after playing Rocky in Mask.
She's not wrong.
In other words, he was behaving unprofessionally, and let his ego govern his behaviour. If you do this in any job, you’ll be fired as well.
I guess it has to be a balance, and the actor ought to understand the vision of the movie that was intended. It is when they don't get it, and try to make that vision something different that they either fail, or are fired. I think even an egotistical actor might influence the writers, directors and producers if they "get it", and have something to add to the project. That does happen ever so often, and can be great. Stoltz just didn't seem to "get it" in this case.
Lol where do you work, there are egos and aholes in every industry
@@proto57 Dude thought they wanted Marlon Brando for a goofy comedy adventure lol
I’ll still pay $93 to see those scenes with Eric.
That's a very specific amount. How about 88 or 1.21?
@@davidjames579how about 80 dollars
Eric Stoltz. The Pete Best of Back to the Future.
Pete Best was a mediocre drummer in ANY setting. Stoltz is a fine actor but not in THIS setting. That's the difference.
But Pete was a mediocre drummer and Stoltz was a superb method actor.
😂🤣
Eric, I mean Marty, watch out for that falling set piece! 🤣
I want the Eric Stoltz version!! Release it!
I’m a diehard Back to the Future fan
LOL
You'd get about 25% of a movie if they released it. It's not like they shot the whole movie and then decided Stoltz wasn't working out. He got fired relatively early in the process.
@@kpmac1 that’s not true. Almost all of the scenes with Marty McFly were shot with Eric Stoltz
They fired him and had to reshoot all of the Marty McFly scenes with Michael J. Fox.
@@Colt8722 Really? I've seen a couple... have they released all the scenes? That would be really interesting...
@@Colt8722 You are wrong as cat shit in the kitchen. They only shot 2 weeks with Stoltz. Lose the teen rag mag.
Eric was better as a drug dealer.
The BEST!: gave "friend prices", his casa was su casa, and offered to be matchmaker w/ hangout chicks. A 🦄!! 😂
Did Eric Stoltz really call "Back To The Future" (1985) a "tragedy?" Wow.
But it is though... A tragedy played for "laughs". He was right on the money with his critical thinking. What would you call remembering a whole different life than your family? You are for all intents and purposes NOT their son/brother. You are an absolute stranger in the "skin" of Marty... And so are they... It's terrible! But I do agree though, his comments were the epithome of Debbie Downer syndrome...
Let's see...a social outcast whose father is loser, lives in a shit estate, best friend gunned down, lost in a world where he doesn't belong with the risk of never existing, then having someone try and kill you multiple times and having your future mother nearly raped....
Comedy gold!
Really up the director to, y'know...give direction...
@@Cheepchipsable💯😂
I get it, he was just too strange and too much of a diva, and needed an actual decent light hearted guy
the actor they hired for the main role turned out to be unsuitable and they replaced him. risky but wise. disney should have done the same with rachel zigler after she started spouting nonsense .
She should have never been hired in the first place.
You snowflakes crack me up.
@@Gerhardium You braindead drones that can't do anything but spout ad hominem slogans do the same to me. Nothing of substance, just "hurr durr, I'll call them a snowflake - that will show them." 🙄
Hes not human anymore. Hes really a fly.
I read Eric was difficult to deal with during Some Kind Of Wonderful as well. According to the director.
Eric Stoltz was too deep for such a wacky and zany movie like Back to the Future. The casting director simply casted the wrong actor for it..but they should have axed him earlier than 6 weeks..I mean someone from the production team should have spoken out by the end of the 1st week abt it..
He was too intense and even creepy twords Lea Thompson..... He didn't pay attention to what the cast and director were about. It's not the Eric show....
I am SO glad they didn't keep him on. I will readily admit I am neither an actor nor an artist but there always has seemed to be something fake and self-absorbed about the whole "method actor" thing just as there is with the "oh God I'm a tortured artist that the whole world never understands" thing. You're a freakin' actor, ok? You're not Marty McFly. To refuse to answer people who don't call you by character name isn't "getting into the role," it's pretentious and worth an eye-roll to 99% of the rest of the world who are normal. Get over yourself. He lost out on what could have been the biggest role of his career, and rightly so.
Smart move that they canned his ass and got Michael j fox
Fox was their first choice. The producers of Family Ties wouldn't release him, because he was on fire, and he was THEIR fire.
When Stolz was gumming up the works, Zemeckis pleaded with them to work something out with them.
So they let Bob have him at night while they filmed the show by day.
Hard to believe that, for all his charisma, the kid was juggling both on only a few hours of nightly sleep, most of which he got sleeping in a car between schedules.
Back to the Future: a tragedy in three parts😂
Translation: "Eric was being a real pain and everyone hated him so they canned his ass and got a guy who people could work with and have fun."
Not necessarily. They fired him because he couldn't produce what they needed. They could tell during the rushes that his performance wouldn't work on camera. If he delivered the goods and made sure the movie would be a hit, they wouldn't care.
Eric is a good actor, but it's clear that his take on this role was in the wrong direction.
Let’s face it. Back the future isn’t exactly apocalypse now. 2 and 3 were basically b movies
@@eclark9965 apocalypse now isn't back to the future you have the titles backwards. You might be the only person on the planet that considers 2 a b movie, I can see that take w 3 but 2 nahhhh
@@TheWaitingRoomTWR back the future 1. Good movie. 2 and 3. Cash in bullshit rife with idiotic product placements and paint by numbers plot lines. Anyone who doesn’t realize that is a pos
@@eclark9965 😂😂 the entire planet is a POS then part 2 had holes but far from b movie
@@TheWaitingRoomTWR glad you liked it. Subjective. Look it up.
So grateful Eric was a bit of a punk and we got MJF!
ERIC STOLTZ WAS LIKE WESLEY SNIPES IN BLADE TRINITY.
Michael J. Fox was the right choice.
I agree he was the right choice for this movie.
I agree 1000%. I'm not an actor, and so I'm sure there will be the hordes who will jump on me but the seeming pretentiousness of the whole "method acting" thing (I mean, really - just the "You have to call me by my character name or I won't answer you" is enough to make you burst out laughing at the guy) and the other stories about him simply neither listening nor caring about the input of the actors he was working with makes me glad they removed him and brought in someone who could actually be decent and make the movie enjoyable. Had they played it with him, as a tragedy as he envisioned it, I firmly believe it would have become a lackluster, forgotten movie. Good riddance to him, I say.
Yes Eric had the height of Crispin Glover his dad in the movie but we can always say when Michael J Fox took over, Marty now took after his petite Mum Lorraine aka Lea Thompson..
Stoltz and Glover made interesting points. True observations. That alone is not the full douscheburger. The douche behavior comes in wanting to impose YOUR observation as the one true narrative.
Stoltz believed it was kind of tragic that only Marty would have a memory of the alternate time line.
Glover, that the movie was suggesting money = happiness. (In reality i think confidence 》pursuing his dreams and goals 》happiness. Money is often a by product of pursuing your talents relentlessly
Stolz had a point about it being tragic if real, but he had to have known it was a comedy. Glover just totally missed the moral of the movie 100%. 😎
I can’t imagine the levels of insufferableness that entailed having to work with him and Crispin Glover at the same time.
Sounds like he was talking about the butterfly effect
Let's not forget the biggest problem: He was much too tall...
Funny I thought something similar when I saw it as a teenager
Maybe they could have done some complicated time travel stuff where Eric Stoltz as Marty goes back in time but when he goes back he’s Michael J Fox as Marty. He changed the timeline.
So Stoltz AND Glover thought the ending was a tragedy, for different reasons. (Marty having different memories than his family and George's money changing his character.)
Glover was nuts also!
I'm sure Gale and Zemeckis were like "FFS guys, it's a comedy! Somebody throw a pie!"
It wasn't money changing character that he had issue with. It was money and happiness being equated as the same thing. He thought it was a bad message.
@@TheJpf79which wasn't even the object lesson. It was about standing up for yourself and not letting other people walk all over you, and trying instead of quitting for fear or rejection
I’d actually like to see an Eric Stoltz version of the movie.
There are videos on TH-cam that show a few scene comparisons of him and MJF.
I mean I want an alternate, dark version of the story. The whole thing. With Eric Stoltz. As he is now. And Crispin Glover, too, just for the sparks.
@@tinjadog I feel like you're almost describing Rick and Morty. The dark dystopian tragedy of being Morty, the manic, devil-may-care antics of the most jaded creature in the multiverse...
Yes! A live action version of that with Eric Stoltz & Crispin Glover & the rest of the original cast. Just two different versions of the same story, same cast. Why not? LOL
As AI becomes more of a tool in casting and filming, the idea isn't as far fetched as it may sound. I would think that he breached his contract in some way by not allowing himself to take direction and just being an overall pain in the ass. So it wouldn't be a stretch to think that the studio still has the right to use his image in any subsequent production. Of course, I am not an entertainment attorney, so I am probably way off target here. If I am, I am certain that I will know soon. 😊@@tinjadog
He was in love with Eric.The only one who said he was good.
Eric stoltz made all bttf1 casts unhappy
0:33 Homey don't play dat.
A lot of the focus tends to be on Stoltz but I think the core issue is he was miscast and that's not his fault, especially at such a young age. Maybe they couldn't look past his talent and good looks to see he wasn't the right fit?
A lot of actors like to take something that’s not their specialty because they’re actors they should be able to play many different roles
Like, when Robin Williams or Jim Carrey played serious roles.
its funny like you watch michael j fox in this and it seems so perfect that its like it was meant to be, but at the same time it almost wasnt, its like the lightning in the movie striking at the right moment
They wanted Fox from the very beginning but he wasn't available. That's why when they got him, they were shooting at night, because during the day he was shooting his tv show.
Imagine the regret Eric Stoltz feels every time this movie is mentioned.
"Just got done doing a movie with Eric Stoltz"
Why not just name the movie? Was she not proud of The Wild Life? My first guess was Some Kind of Wonderful, but that was after BttF, not before...
Long fingernails makes it hard as fuck for me to play guitar!
I had a teacher who only grew long nails with one hand so he could play acoustically.
Not just you. Guitar players CLIP their nails cuz they get in the way of playing.
Pretty standard for classical and flamenco players, although some steel string players use their nails. Not all guitar players use flat picks.
He must have been thinking of acoustic guitar who play with their nails lol, guy took the role too serious and incorrectly