Eric Stoltz’s ‘Back To The Future’ Moment

COMMENTS (26)

• Finally! I’ve been waiting to see this forever! Thanks for posting.

  The strange thing with Stoltz is that I’ve been watching him in movies forever and didn’t really realize how good he was before Caprica.

  I hope they release more of that footage on whatever anniversary they have next.

  Comment by Simon — Tuesday October 12, 2010 @ 11:58am PDT  Reply to this post

• The TV series Fringe made reference to this: In an episode set in the show’s “alternate universe,” a movie theatre marquee reads “Eric Stoltz in Back to the Future.”

  Comment by Matt — Tuesday October 12, 2010 @ 12:18pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Just from those little clips, it has a very different feel. It seems like it would’ve been more of a drama with him.

  Comment by Colleen — Tuesday October 12, 2010 @ 12:41pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Agreed. It would have been a different movie, but still pretty good. More drama, heavier, etc. Fox was great but would be cool to see an alt version.

    Comment by jb — Tuesday October 12, 2010 @ 1:03pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • right there with you. it would have been a great movie regardless, but more poignant, not as funny. and i have to admit, seeing it in the theater back then, the audience laughed early and often, and it was key to the movie’s success.

      at least stoltz still went on to enjoy a busy career, and deservedly so.

      Comment by reader — Tuesday October 12, 2010 @ 5:29pm PDT  Reply to this post

• This was a fantastic film. To this day it stands as simply perfect.

  Comment by Ted C. — Tuesday October 12, 2010 @ 12:47pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Stolz is Lance in Pulp Fiction funny, not Marty McFly funny. Good move.

  Comment by RickS — Tuesday October 12, 2010 @ 1:10pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Man, finally! Historic footage-wow. I’d heard they’d made a promise never to release that footage? or was that just urban legend?

  Comment by Heidi — Tuesday October 12, 2010 @ 1:24pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Wow. Five weeks of reshoots. Nowadays they would’ve said fine but you have to reshoot those scenes in 3 weeks…

  Comment by Yoyo — Tuesday October 12, 2010 @ 1:57pm PDT  Reply to this post

• i wonder how many months Stoltz stayed in bed with the blinds drawn after they fired him.

  it’s a credit to him he bounced back and went on to have such a solid and very real career. a lot of people would have played the victim and folded. it’s a real lesson to anyone anywhere who catches a bad break.

  don’t think zemeckis or spielberg ever made it up to him, either. way to go to, eric.

  Comment by Lancelot — Tuesday October 12, 2010 @ 2:00pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Great point. Zemeckis hails Stolz as a “great actor” but certainly never made any effort to use him elsewhere over the years. I wonder if there was more at play here…creative differences, etc.

    Comment by KingsEnglish — Tuesday October 12, 2010 @ 2:33pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Why does anyone have to “make it up to him”? He was the wrong fit for the job and he was let go. Happens to people all the time. Sheesh – lose your ridiculous sense of entitlement.

    Comment by Miffy — Tuesday October 12, 2010 @ 9:26pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • Beacuse Zemeckis was the guy who hired Eric in the first place. So it was Zemeckis’ wrong decision, and a promising and talented young actor suffered a great deal because of this.
      It would have been a great pro gesture to offer Eric any part in any Zemeckis project! Shame on you RZ!

      Comment by Kabbe — Tuesday October 12, 2010 @ 11:29pm PDT  Reply to this post

      • Excellent comeback. Too often actors are unfortunate middlemen in the foolish decisions and whims of studio executives. Why should they have to suffer

        Comment by Agreed — Wednesday October 13, 2010 @ 9:19am PDT  Reply to this post

• Yeah, Eric would have made Marty a darker, more complex character — though by this footage, it looks like everything, even down to the black leather, was being played that way.

  Comment by R. MacGlenn — Tuesday October 12, 2010 @ 2:05pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Stolz looks too mature and “leading man” for the part. Fox was great because he had untraditional looks and a quirky acting style.

  Comment by Michael — Tuesday October 12, 2010 @ 2:51pm PDT  Reply to this post

• This feels like an official revision. Always heard that they knew from the start they’d re-cast after five weeks and Stoltz was the patsy. Even heard, also a rumor, that Sheinberg was in on it.

  Comment by bounder — Tuesday October 12, 2010 @ 3:02pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Echoing another poster, it is something to have the rug pulled out from you on a major film but Stoltz has carried himself well since then and has done some really fine work.

  On a film my partners and I did years back, we had an actor fall out the day before shooting. Stoltz came on at the last minute as a favor to a fellow actor friend playing the lead. He did so with great enthusiasm, worked the role really well and was a darn nice chap. He basically saved our ass as producers. Something I’ll never forget and quite thankful for.

  Comment by ordinary joe — Tuesday October 12, 2010 @ 3:40pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Stoltz is a great guy. This must have been a very difficult time for him. He’s a very well-respected actor.

  Comment by Jim — Tuesday October 12, 2010 @ 4:14pm PDT  Reply to this post

• yeah, had to point out Stoltz’s resilience amidst all the entertaining intrigue.

  it must have been just awful to be replaced, and then watch as the film became a world wide sensation and make another actor, deservedly so, such a huge movie star. how do you explain that one to your bros?

  again, good on you, Eric, you are absolutely hilarious as “The Key Master” in “Say Anything,” and don’t let nobody, including Bobby Z, tell you different.

  Comment by Lancelot — Tuesday October 12, 2010 @ 5:17pm PDT  Reply to this post

• RZ could have cast him in Contact in the McConnaughy role. That would have added a hell of a lot of depth to that character and his interaction with Foster’s driven astromomer.

  Comment by Irving Thalberg's Ghost — Wednesday October 13, 2010 @ 9:46am PDT  Reply to this post

• Makes me want to see footage of Michael Keaton’s work on Woody Allen’s “Purple Rose of Cairo.” As it turned out, Jeff Daniels was a great replacement, but Keaton would have been wonderful as Tom Baxter. Allen will likely never release the evidence.

  Comment by Chester — Wednesday October 13, 2010 @ 10:21am PDT  Reply to this post

• Legendary footage. Hope there’s more of it on the Blu-ray with less talking heads so we can get a feel for the scenes with the Stoltz-Marty.

  It’s kind of like the seeing that footage of Tom Selleck rehearsing scenes from Raiders — how different the movies would be; would they be classics?

  Comment by casting couch — Thursday October 14, 2010 @ 3:53am PDT  Reply to this post

• It’s amazing how many actors got replaced over the course of that series. Crispin Glover got the ax when he reportedly asked for too much money in the sequels. Claudia Wells, the original girlfriend in the first, left and replaced by Elizabeth Shue because of vague “family problems.”

  What really gets me is that I read somewhere that the two actors who were set to play Marty’s brother and sister in the original were nixed when Stoltz. Wow. Getting the sack on a fifteen-line role (or whatever). That’s harsh.

  Comment by kevin_m — Thursday October 14, 2010 @ 3:54am PDT  Reply to this post

• Are they actually going to show scenes without the commentary? That would be great and would make me want to buy the DVD.

  Back to the Future is an all-timer, the kind of movie that justifies your decision to go to a movie.

  Comment by Vinny B. — Thursday October 14, 2010 @ 9:06pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Not a big fan of the movie or Fox but have always liked Eric Stoltz. Probably would have liked the movie if Stoltz had remained in the movie.

  Comment by Bill Cord — Saturday October 30, 2010 @ 12:44pm PDT  Reply to this post