Back to the Future had a hell of a journey before becoming a smash hit in 1985. Originally director Robert Zemeckis and writer Bob Gale wanted Michael J Fox to star as Marty McFly, but the actor had a conflicting filming schedule on his sitcom Family Ties. As a result, Eric Stoltz was cast and shot for six weeks before he was suddenly fired. Although the filmmakers believed he was a good actor, they thought he was playing the time travelling teen too seriously and was a far cry from the screwball energy they wanted for the character. In the end, a deal was struck where Fox could shoot his sitcom in the day and Back to the Future at night, sleeping during car journeys between sets. And boy was there a lot of reshoots that had to take place.
Goldie Wilson star Donald Fullilove was in London promoting Back to the Future the Musical when we asked him about his time shooting with the original Marty star before Fox took on the role. The 64-year-old told Express.co.uk: “The majority of my time on the set was spent doing the scenes with Eric Stoltz and then when Michael came on board it was really fast. We were moving like super fast… I don’t remember working with Eric.”
“I had heard rumours consistently that they had always wanted Michael J Fox. So when it happened I wasn’t surprised. I was happy actually. I was a struggling actor, here’s another paycheque to do it all over again! A lot of the time Michael had to work in the night. The stuff that we did had to be shot in the day, so I worked with him mainly in the daytime.” Interestingly there was one famous daytime scene shot at night according to the Goldie Wilson star.
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Donald revealed: “The scene in the diner where George tells Lorraine he’s her density, that was shot at night.” Asked what year he’d most like to time travel to, the Goldie Wilson actor said 1863 because he’d love to see the American Civil War in the immediate context of President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves.
Back to the Future the Musical is performed at the Adelphi Theatre in London’s West End and opens on New York’s Broadway on June 30, 2023 with a North American tour to follow in 2024. Tickets can be booked here.
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