1. It started with a 'What If?'
Co-writer and producer Bob Gale was visiting his parents in Missouri when he stumbled upon his father’s High School Yearbook. Leafing through the pages he discovered that his Dad had been class president. Gale himself was head of the committee to abolish student government, and so got to thinking “If I had gone to High School with my Dad, would I have been friends with him?” Believing there to be a movie in that simple set-up, he pitched the idea to his friend – Back to the Future co-writer and director Robert Zemeckis – and the two started work on the script in September 1980.2. H.G. Wells was a big influence...
Gale and Zemeckis decided to use the same rules set up by H.G. Wells in The Time Machine, meaning that their own device could travel through time but not space. That’s why their machine needed to be mobile…3. The DeLorean was third choice...
The time machine was initially housed in a fridge, but fearing that young viewers would copy the movie and accidentally lock themselves in icy kitchen tombs, the two Bobs soon dropped the idea. They then decided to use a tank, because if you’re travelling to a time before roads, the terrain would be rough. But they ultimately settled on a DeLorean because of its similarities to a spaceship, the script riffing on that fact when Marty first travels back to 1955.4. Money prevented it from ending with a BIG bang...
In an early draft of the script Doc Brown had worked on the Manhattan Project before going solo to investigate time travel. The screenwriters even toyed with the idea of a nuclear explosion sending Marty back to the future at the end of the film, but shelved it due to expense.5. The script was too dirty for Disney...
Written at a time when the most popular teen comedies were R-rated, several studios turned Back to the Future down for not being raunchy enough. Conversely, because Marty's mum very nearly falls in love with him, Disney turned the film down for being too dirty.6. C. Thomas Howell very nearly played Marty McFly...
When Michael J. Fox couldn’t play the part of Marty McFly because of Family Ties TV commitments, it was down to two candidates – C. Thomas Howell and Eric Stoltz. According to Zemeckis, Howell did a great screen test, but the CEO of MCA told the filmmakers “It’s got to be Eric Stoltz. I’m so convinced that Eric is going to be great in this part that if it doesn’t work out with him, you can re-cast it and start all over again.” Which of course is exactly what happened, with Fox finally landing the role. The filmmakers also wanted John Lithgow for Doc Brown, but he wasn’t available. However when Christopher Lloyd walked in to audition, they immediately knew they had their man.7. Bully Biff was named after a studio exec...
Ned Tannen was the president of Universal when the Bobs were making I Wanna Hold Your Hand. In one meeting he got irate about that film, claiming it to be anti-Semitic and throwing the screenplay across the room. They therefore named Biff in his honour.8. Einstein was very nearly a chimp...
In the original script Doc Brown’s trusty companion was a chimp. Universal boss Sid Sheinberg said he'd done the research and no film featuring a chimp had ever turned a profit. He suggested they use a dog instead, the Bobs took that advice, and Einstein was born.9. Back to the Future could have been Spaceman From Pluto...
Sheinberg also told the guys to change the title from Back to the Future to Spaceman From Pluto, even suggesting script changes so that said title would make more sense. In response, executive producer Steven Spielberg pretended it was a joke, sending Sheinberg a memo saying how much they laughed at his hilarious idea. Sheinberg quickly dropped the matter.10. Two men inspired the Doc Brown look...
Christopher Lloyd modelled Doc Brown on Albert Einstein and conductor Leopold Stokowski, who is the bloke with the crazy hair at the start of Fantasia. “Doc Brown looks like he’s conducting the orchestra of the world,” says Bob Gale.11. History repeats itself throughout...
Back to the Future is celebrated for the way in which ‘cause and effect’ permeates the script, the film filled with set-ups and pay-offs, the most famous of which is Marty knocking down a tree in 1955 that results in Twin Pine Mall turning into Lone Pine Mall in 1985. But there are many, many more, that stretch across all three of the BTTF films.12. The ending enraged one of the stars...
Crispin Glover was not happy about the movie’s ending, and filmed his final scene under protest. In the above video he explains why.13. Huey Lewis was robbed...
Huey Lewis and the News wrote The Power of Love for the movie, and received an Academy Award nomination for their efforts. But they lost out to the somewhat less memorable song Say You, Say Me, from the somewhat less memorable movie White Nights.14. The ending really was meant as a joke...
Doc taking Marty and Jennifer into the future to save their kids at the end of the film really was meant as a joke. As Zemeckis explains on the DVD commentary, if they had planned a sequel, they wouldn’t have put Jennifer in the car.
15. 'To Be Continued' was discontinued...
When they do zoom off into the future, do you remember seeing the words ‘To Be Continued’ onscreen? Well you must have watched the video version, as those words were neither in the theatrical cut, nor subsequent digital releases. Chris Tilly is the Entertainment Editor for IGN in the UK and once broke his wrist trying to copy McFly's skateboarding antics. He can be found talking nonsense on both Twitter and MyIGN.