Happy Throwback Thursday! Today we’re spotlighting the year 1985. The biggest movie that year was Back to the Future! The idea for the movie was conceived by long-time collaborators Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis in 1980. The project was rejected more than 40 times by various studios, because they thought it wasn’t raunchy enough to compete with other successful comedies of the era.
Their first choice to play Marty McFly was Michael J. Fox. They asked the producer of Family Ties to have him read the script, but he was concerned that Fox’s absence would affect his show so he never showed it to him. Some other young stars they considered include John Cusack, Johnny Depp, Charlie Sheen, and Robert Downey, Jr. They ultimately cast actor Eric Stolz, but shortly after principal photography began, Zemeckis decided he wasn’t right for the part. So they made concessions to hire Fox, including reshooting several scenes and adding $4 million to the budget.
The time machine was originally conceived as a stationary device – at one point it was a refrigerator! Zemeckis suggested using a DeLorean because it offered mobility and a unique design. He thought the gull wings would look like a UFO to a 1950s family. They used 3 DeLoreans, one for stunts, one for special effects, and one for close-up shots. 88 miles per hour was chosen as the time travel speed because it was easy to remember and they thought it looked cool on the speedometer.
Back to the Future was a critical and commercial success, earning $381.1 million and becoming the highest-grossing film of 1985 worldwide. It was followed up by 2 sequels and a multimedia franchise, including video games, theme park rides, an animated TV series, and a stage musical.
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