We Don't Need Roads: The Making of the Back to the Future Trilogy (28 page)

But what is it exactly about
Back to the Future
? Revisionist historians will claim that the film’s success was guaranteed, but that’s not true. The movie’s screenplay was truly exceptional—the perfect cocktail of an original idea, memorable and distinct characters, and sharp dialogue. There are colleges and universities throughout America that use the Bobs’ final draft of the first film as an instructional tool for budding screenwriters. For all of the technical achievements of the films, the cast and crew still point to Zemeckis and Gale’s ability to craft a wonderfully realized story, especially in the first film, but not exclusively so, as the franchise’s most significant achievement. Similarly to other high-grossing summer films that have come afterward, like 1993’s
Jurassic Park
and 2008’s
The Dark Knight
,
Back to the Future
explored themes universal to a wide swath of the moviegoing public. However, while many of the top-grossing films of all time have been sequels or adaptations of books or films, the Bobs deserve credit for not only crafting a good film, but also one that had no inherent built-in audience on opening day.

Back to the Future
’s success could be due to any number of other factors. Perhaps Robert Zemeckis earned his sea legs at the right time, and happened to have the right opportunity to flex them. Maybe it was the cast—the confluence of Michael J. Fox’s youthful energy, Christopher Lloyd’s precisely calculated manic facial expressions, Tom Wilson’s brute idiocy, Lea Thompson’s naughtiness encased behind a disarming facade of sweetness, and Crispin Glover’s often-misunderstood brilliance. Perhaps older people just enjoyed seeing their childhoods relived on-screen during the 1955 portion, while young people could see themselves faced with Marty’s dilemma and imagine what steps they would take to get back to the present. Maybe it was the film’s subtle commentary on our culture—did we
really
just elect
an actor president of the United States? Or perhaps it’s the sum of all these parts synthesized together, along with a million other factors.

“It is such a family picture,” Lea Thompson says. “It doesn’t seem to matter how old you are. Young people in their twenties, who saw it when they were adolescents, get married, have kids, their kids see it, and then they see it over again. There are so many fans I have run into saying they have seen
Back to the Future
a hundred times, or they just watched the whole trilogy last night. It is amazing. I feel very fortunate to be a part of something that has had that impact.”

Of all the factors that led to the film’s critical, commercial, and cultural successes, the most significant may just be that the right team was assembled to do the right job and made the right calls while doing so. After
Romancing the Stone
, Zemeckis could have chosen to direct any number of screenplays that arrived at his desk, yet because of his convictions and confidence in his project, he went back to
Future
, even though it had been rejected dozens of times over. Before shooting, the Bobs kept revising their work—with Gale often doing minor rewrites and delivering fresh pages even during the shooting process on all three films—and didn’t rest on their laurels. They took a chance on Eric Stoltz, had the strength of character to admit the error of their ways, and made the exponentially riskier decision to cast Michael J. Fox, a sitcom actor with no record at the box office worth writing home about—a choice that cost the studio millions and, if unsuccessful, would have gone down in Hollywood history as one of the poorest decisions ever made. The commitment and devotion to the project, from all parties involved, resonates in every frame of the movie.
Back to the Future
was not only the defining movie of that time, but of all time—a unique case study
in how to defy the odds and prove, as Doc Brown says in the last film, that no one’s history is written.

“We had a blast making the film,” Frank Marshall says, “and I think a lot of times that translates up to the story. Certainly Bob is a great storyteller. We had just a lot of great elements, and of course, Michael J. Fox was fantastic.”

“If you look at the tone of that first movie, just as a comedy, it’s heightened, but it’s also grounded,” Peyton Reed, who worked on
The Secret of the
Back to the Future
Trilogy
promotional documentary and wrote the script for Back to the Future: The Ride, says. “And it’s also science fiction. It’s really hard to mix those two genres. It’s really only been done successfully a handful of times, and
Back to the Future
is the poster child for how to do that. It has just got such energy and this incredible heart.”

The filmmakers who worked on the trilogy, by and large, have continued to cross paths, collaborating on other projects and significantly shaping the film industry. When Steve Starkey accepted his Oscar for Best Picture at the Academy Awards for
Forrest Gump
, he thanked his friend and colleague, whom he cordially referred to as “Bob Z” during his speech, for being a visionary. Earlier in the ceremony, when Zemeckis was honored with the Best Direction award, he used that opportunity to thank not only Steven Spielberg, but also Bob Gale. That moment was a victory for both of them, as they entered the movie business together as partners and, in many ways, have remained that way.

Despite their hectic schedules, the Bobs still speak regularly—sometimes to work on
Back to the Future: The Musical
, the big-budget stage production that is forthcoming, and other times just to reminisce and bask in the glow of their accomplishments. When an interesting video pops up on YouTube that references the trilogy, another company claims that it has almost perfected the technology
to make functional hoverboards, or a new crop of rumors about the trilogy come out that need debunking, the two still can’t believe it. “That’s like mission accomplished,” Zemeckis says. “To have made a film that two guys thought up in some shabby little one-room apartment in Burbank and it becomes this thing, this cultural touchstone—I’m very proud of that. That means it was all worthwhile. It’s great. I’m very proud of that. Very, very proud of that.”

Back to the Future
cocreators Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis, or “the Bobs,” on the set of
I Wanna Hold Your Hand
, their first feature-film collaboration.

With Michael J. Fox originally unavailable to play Marty McFly, Eric Stoltz was cast and shot for six weeks. “Although he was doing the part well, he was not bringing that element of comedy to the screen,” Christopher Lloyd says.

© Universal City Studios, Inc., 1985

“Eric really understood how to skateboard,” Stoltz’s double Bob Schmelzer says. “He added a bit of punk to the character.”

Robert Zemeckis with Crispin Glover. The actor proved to be a polarizing figure on the set, beloved by the cast and irksome to the crew.

Ron Cobb’s interior design for the DMC-12 time machine. “A movie car should tell you instantly how it works, just by looking at it,” he says. “I wanted that sense for the DeLorean.”

Bob Z (Robert Zemeckis) directing the dinner scene in the 1985 McFly home. Many on the production team feared there was too much exposition in this sequence, but the Bobs remained confident audiences would remain interested.

© Universal City Studios, Inc., 1985

From left, Robert Zemeckis, Huey Lewis, Bob Gale, Neil Canton, Frank Marshall, and Bob Brown, manager for Huey Lewis and the News.