MovieChat Forums > Back to the Future (1985) Discussion > Was Stoltz replaced with a time machine?

Was Stoltz replaced with a time machine?

posted 3 years ago by Heisenberg (6730)
3 replies | jump to latest

Somebody learned at some point that the movie was not going to work with its original cast. So they hired MJF and everything was fixed.

How did they figure with such certainty that they had to do this?
Stoltz was not THAT bad. Yet they were sure that was the right move and went through such a messy affair.

I think it is clear that the time machine was used to go to 1987 and see BTTF flop miserably and MJF become super famous starring in something else, like Ferris Bueller's day off.
So they knew what had to be done. We are living that alternate timeline.
Question is, who used the machine?

[–] BillySlater (4285) 3 years ago

Stoltz played the role too seriously. He was staying in character between takes which rubbed people the wrong way since this was a comedy film. Consequently, they weren´t getting the laughs they were expecting to get and the producers decided something had to be done. They went back to MJF´s boss who allowed him to shoot BTTF at night, fired Stoltz and the rest is history.

[–] Heisenberg (6730) 3 years ago

Yes that is the official cover up. We all know that story.

[–] Cognoscente (2778) 3 years ago

How about Eric was replaced because they wanted a sequel-baiting ending with a fancy new DeLorean but the budget wouldn't cover it?

The budget cut in pre-production makes me think that they were running out of money which is why they didn't film the prom scene since so many extras would have to be paid. Nearly everything else was filmed. With Stoltz, there was no guarantee for a sequel to be made even if the budget wasn't cut.

At the end of a 1985 BTTF article in Starlog, it was mentioned that Bob Gale and Zemeckis had already been thinking of doing a sequel.

* https://archive.org/details/starlog_magazine-097