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Columbia also produced The Karate Kid, whose star was considered for BTTF. More about the connections between both films: https://popcultmaster.com/2020/12/06/danny-and-marty/
Producer Bob Gale once said this about how Marty was originally supposed to be a darker character: <i>"He was so despondent about how messed-up his life was, he was going to commit suicide. We thought that was a good idea for way longer than we should have. Finally, we said – We can’t have the main character be someone who wants to kill himself."</i>
This was the script that Stoltz was working with - no suicidal thoughts but a tone that's more akin to a teen movie: https://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/bttf4th.pdf
It seems like the elephant in the room was the original ending involving a black maid. Eric's agent at the time, Helen Sugland, is a black woman. In her article about Crispin for The Guardian, Hadley Freeman wrote...
<blockquote>Glover, horrified that audiences thought he was in the film, sued and the case was settled out of court. But in fact, Glover brings up the subject himself when discussing how he is writing what he describes as <b>“a standard word book”</b> about propaganda <b>“in which I address the Back to the Future issue in great detail”.</b>
This specific issue was Glover’s objection to the original film’s ending, which suggests that the reason the McFly parents are happy and in love is because they are now wealthy. When I interviewed Thompson about the film last year for a book I was writing about 80s films, she recalled how horrified Glover and Eric Stoltz – who was originally cast as Marty before being replaced by Michael J Fox – were by the inference that money equals happiness.
When I mention this to Glover, he bristles at the idea that Stoltz raised objections: <b>“I never saw him say anything about it, I tend to think that may not be accurate.”</b> But he quickly focuses on the source of his real ire: the film’s writer and producer, Bob Gale.</blockquote>
It’s worth mentioning that Eric was cast in Lionheart by two of the three casting directors for BTTF – Jane Feinberg and Mike Fenton. Hollywood Dreams, a season 4 episode of Frontline that aired on May 13 in 1986, depicted Mike Fenton having a phone call with one of the Lionheart producers. In his TV review, David T. Friendly (who cast Eric in a 2005 film titled The Honeymooners) had quoted Mike as saying: <i>"Look, some of his magic is internal, but I promise you he is Robert. The other thing is he is more than willing to change his hair color; he’ll do whatever has to be done."</i>
Crispin Glover (for the Anthem site circa 2019): <i>"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 felt like the work was good, so it’s strange to have to reshoot work that you felt good about."</i>
Thomas Wilson told Chris Hardwick on his Nerdist podcast: <i>"I shot with Eric Stoltz for six or seven weeks. We shot almost the whole movie. I mean we were pretty much done. We were at the point where you're looking at each other like 'So you got anything lined up after this? Any TV shows or whatever'?"</i>
Zemeckis has a colleague named Joel Silver who justified the quick firing of Lori Petty from Demolition Man by saying: <i>"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."</i>
<blockquote>Something shady was going on with this movie. Who knows if we will ever find out what was going on.</blockquote>
The first behind-the-scenes photo of this article is a good indicator that this wasn't the most family-friendly of shoots: https://popcultmaster.com/2017/11/04/tribunal-stoltz-as-marty-mcfly/
Stoltz didn't think they were that popular. Presumably, he thought that a teenager like Marty McFly (a rock guitarist with a black clothes obsession) wouldn't be listening to them.
Cynthia Rothrock.
What was Childs drinking?
When MacReady last saw Fuchs in his laboratory, Fuchs was so nervous that he grabbed a beaker containing a chemical that was obviously so lethal that it could be used as a projectile. MacReady was perceptive about this since he came into the lab to see if Fuchs had devised a way to defeat the thing. Perhaps, after Fuchs died, MacReady found a way to put it into a bottle so as to trick a thing into drinking it.
In the November 1991 issue (#74) of Mad Movies, Jennifer Connelly said: <i>"The script was constantly being rewritten, even during filming. Between the producer, John Hughes, and Bryan Gordon, the director, it was really stormy. We had to reshoot a good half of the scenes. Career Opportunities has changed so much that today, I don't know who the director really is."</i>
In the February 1993 issue (#43) of a French magazine called Impact, Traci Lords said: <i>"It's a wacky comedy co-produced by Sam Raimi. On the set, I had a lot of fun, especially with Bruce Campbell, despite the differences between the director and the production. They really didn't have the same point of view on the script. To repair the damage, Sam Raimi shot a few sequences. Currently, the problems continue. Given the result, the producers have been arguing and no one knows exactly where the film is!"</i>
Just putting it out there since that bit about Christopher Lloyd doesn't get mentioned when Stoltz is interviewed.
In the March 1989 issue (#58) of a French magazine called Mad Movies, there was this exchange between the interviewer and Eric Stoltz…
Q: Do you remember your experience on Back to the Future? You were originally hired to play the Michael J. Fox role and it only lasted a week or two…
A: Six weeks! I remember a miserable and very unpleasant experience. The director, Robert Zemeckis, and I were not on the same wavelength. For example, he loved Huey Lewis and the News and I didn’t find it hot. I don’t remember much else, it was so long ago. On the other hand, Christopher Lloyd was on the same wavelength.
There's also this other vintage site: http://vintage-erotica-forum.com/t19061-catherine-spaak.html
Eva Mendes.
I think Jackie made a mistake in doing union movies. The Matrix, and John Woo's Hard Target were non-union movies which meant that there was more leeway in what could be done in terms of action. It was the same thing with Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon.
As for the late '90s, what could really have reinvigorated the martial arts and action genres would be to have Michelle Yeoh and Cynthia Rothrock reunite for a movie directed by Corey Yuen.
In Hong Kong, it was the same thing. Jackie Chan's First Strike wasn't anything special except for that ladder fight, and Jet Li's Dr. Wai was forgettable.
Back to American action movies in 1996, Broken Arrow was fairly ordinary for a John Woo movie.
He definitely didn't obsess when he was younger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkC61kIkSVs
American Dad called it back in 2005: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0narK3mYuU
Tom had previously done a silent cameo in Emilio's Young Guns.
It's like when Steven Seagal got killed off in Executive Decision.
<blockquote> I still hate how they didn't just call it "The Kung Fu Kid" as even Jaden Smith referred to it as once production ended. Marketing move understood but made ZERO sense given the concept and setting.</blockquote>
I remember John Kreng addressing this in his review on the Kung Fu Cinema site. His excuse: <i>"The controversial use of the word “Karate” in the title is somewhat slightly justified at the beginning of the film when Dre tries to practices Karate moves to an instructional show on TV."</i>