MovieChat Forums > Back to the Future (1985) Discussion > How come Eric Stoltz never became a bigg...

How come Eric Stoltz never became a bigger star?

posted 5 years ago by TMC-4 (20149)
31 replies | jump to latest

I've often wondered how his career would've turned out had he not been fired from Back to the Future? He has apparently had a reputation of being difficult to work with. What I mean is that he is one of those "method actors", which often offends other actors, directors, and worst, producers who put the “projects” together. Allegedly, when he was working on Back to the Future, he insisted that everybody on set called him "Marty" in-between takes. Thomas F. Wilson (Biff) in particular, apparently didn't get along with him on set.

https://www.quora.com/How-come-Eric-Stoltz-never-became-a-huge-star?q=eric%20stoltz%20bigger%20star

[–] BurningSun (717) 5 years ago

It’s unlikely that BTTF would’ve even been half as succesful as it is today with Stoltz as Marty. MJF made Marty McFly so likable and made the film complete. In the alternate world where Stoltz stayed in the role, nobody is talking about BTTF.

[–] Kowalski (75537) 5 years ago

FOX BROUGHT ALL THE FAMILY TIES CLOUT AND FANDOM WITH HIM TO THE FILM AS WELL...STOLTZ HAD ZERO OF THAT.

[–] strntz (12254) 5 years ago

Also a good point.

[–] Cognoscente (2648) 4 years ago

Mark Hamill didn't have clout before Star Wars.
Tom Cruise didn't have marquee value before Risky Business.
Ralph Macchio wasn't a household name before The Karate Kid.

My point is...Back to the Future is better than all those movies, so Stoltz had that in his favor.

[–] Saenzwa9 (484) 5 years ago

THe producer's must have shared your sentiments as do I...

They actually filmed the entire movie with Stoltz only to realize something was off in the end, so they filmed the whole thing again this time with Fox

[–] Cognoscente (2648) 4 years ago

Joel Silver, a friend of Robert Zemeckis, had confirmed this in an interview for the December '93 issue of Empire. When Joel justified firing Lori Petty from Demolition Man, he said: "It’s a lot cheaper than shooting the whole movie like they did in Back to the Future. Eric Stoltz was the lead but, the last week, they realized it was terrible and reshot the whole movie with Michael J. Fox."

Crispin Glover said last year for Anthem magazine: "We had gotten close to being done when they replaced the lead actor. I was almost done and just had a little bit more to shoot."

I'm surprised that it took Thomas F. Wilson's interview with Chris Hardwick to be the floodgate for a whole new level of gossip, because there is an issue of Starlog (August '85) where the writer said: "The movie starring Eric Stoltz was nearly complete."

[–] strntz (12254) 4 years ago

I love the BTTF franchise and think Fox was the bases clearing triple they needed. If Stoltz had finished the movie, my opinion is that it would have bombed in the theaters and only in recent years become a cult classic.

That said, I would LOVE if the original Stoltz version leaked out. It would be fascinating and surreal seeing the same movie with a different lead.

I wonder if they literally burned any and all footage.

[–] Cognoscente (2648) 4 years ago

Bob Gale said back in 2007: "We saved the footage. We actually had the opportunity to destroy the negative, and destroy it all, and we talked about it, but we decided we shouldn’t destroy it, because it is a rare historical opportunity to have this. But I think we all need to be in our 60s before we release this to the world."

[–] strntz (12254) 4 years ago

Bob Gale was born in '51....

[–] Cognoscente (2648) 4 years ago

I'm reminded of the following sentence in the below article: "The symmetry being that both actors were born in 1951 like how Eric and Fox were born in 1961."

https://popcultmaster.com/2016/08/07/symmetry/

[–] hotsummerday (93) 5 years ago

ARE YOU GETTING TIRED ASKING ABOUT WHY MOST ACTORS ARE NOT THE BIGGEST STARS OR ASKING IF ACTORS ARE GAY? IF NOT, i AM CERTAIN BORED BY IT. WHY YOU ARE NOT THE BIGGEST STARS IN HOLLYWOOD?? NOT GAY ENOUGH PERHAPS.

[–] Kowalski (75537) 5 years ago

I HEARD CAPS ARE YELLING...ARE YOU YELLING?

[–] hotsummerday (93) 4 years ago

THOSE CAPS ARE EXPLOSIVE!! KOW!

[–] Kowalski (75537) 4 years ago

💣

[–] TimMC (9143) 5 years ago

He's done some impressive work. I loved Caprica .

[–] Cognoscente (2648) 4 years ago

He was surprisingly zany in Cameron Crowe's Say Anything. It's too bad that most casting directors couldn't overlook the stigma of Eric being fired from BTTF for being too serious.

[–] Furienna (3345) 5 years ago

Well, I have only seen him in "Mask".

[–] Cognoscente (2648) 4 years ago

Speaking of Mask, it always gets cited as the reason why he was cast in BTTF, but it's hard to imagine the producers not taking The Wild Life into consideration. In that movie, he played the role of the straight man. Also, Lea Thompson was cast in BTTF because of The Wild Life.

[–] Joogle83 (4473) 5 years ago

i think if Stoltz was in Back To Future it would've ended up on back burner of other 80s like Flash Gordon,Krull and Dune(1984) yeah Fox's McFly made BTTF thanks to Kathleen Kennedy and why McFly is as Iconic as the DeLorean

[–] BillySlater (4241) 5 years ago

I´m curious. Why is Kathleen Kennedy solely responsible for MJF as Marty Mcfly?

[–] Cognoscente (2648) 4 years ago

According to Bob Gale in a 1994 book called The Cutting Room Floor, Kathleen Kennedy was the person who approached the Family Ties producer about the possibility of MJF starring in BTTF. Gary Goldberg was one of Kathleen's college friends.

[–] stickman38 (3347) 5 years ago

Red hair probably. Gingers don't do that well in Hollywood.

[–] TMC-4 (20149) 4 years ago

I wouldn't necessarily say that. What about Julianne Moore, Nicole Kidman, Jessica Chastain, Amy Adams, Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard, Isla Fisher, Karen Gillan, etc.? Granted, I just mentioned all women, but still...

[–] stickman38 (3347) 4 years ago

Yep, some have made it but it does seems like few and far between. And, are they all "real" redheads? lol....

I mean, without the obvious way of finding out, which one of these ladies colors her hair? I'm sure Kidman does. She looks more like a sandy blond most of the time rather than a redhead. Amy Adams is more auburn than red.

The authentic reds are probably Isla Fisher and Jessica Chastain but still hard to tell. I mean, none of them look like the Carrot Top red.

[–] Sandman81 (1509) 5 years ago

After he was fired, he went to Europe to do some work, and took more acting classes. Then he came back and had a pretty successful run doing theater.

Based on interviews he's done, it sounds like he's made peace with it, and accepted that the movie wouldn't have been nearly as successful with anyone else in that role, and that he never wanted the life of a super mega star.

[–] Cognoscente (2648) 4 years ago

I wouldn't say his firing was an entirely unanimous decision on his part. In 1994, he told the L.A. Times: “Zemeckis told me I was giving a good performance in a film he didn’t want to make – contemplative and thoughtful instead of comedic. I felt I could have done the part had he pointed me in that direction.”

A Robert Zemeckis quote that can be found in Robert J. Emery's The Directors: Take Two and Tom Shone's Blockbuster: “It was the hardest meeting I’ve ever had in my life and it was all my fault. I broke his heart.”

Karen I. Stern recalled conversing with the deceased continuity supervisor, Nancy Hansen, during the editing of Parent Trap: Hawaiian Honeymoon in 1989: “After his fateful meeting with Zemeckis towards the end of the seventh week, Eric slammed his dressing room door then quickly drove away.”

James Tolkan (who played Strickland) even quoted him as saying: “Well, they can't fire me now!”

[–] Adam60z (3766) 4 years ago

I think he had a great start with Mask, but then proceeded to make a string of poor to mediocre films and faded into obscurity. Not his fault, just the luck of the draw. Hollywood is the world's toughest business.

[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

He's good as Jesus in "Pulp Fiction."

[–] Cognoscente (2648) 4 years ago

He was funny as the mime in Cameron Crowe's Singles, and he was touching in The Waterdance.