‘Back to the Future’, the eventful film that became a classic: an old yearbook, actors in trouble and Disney’s rejection for a controversial kiss

The beginning with an endless number of clocks, the first appearance of the DeLorean, the arrival at Hill Valley in 1955, the Enchanting Under the Sea dance, the lightning strike on the town hall clock… there are few films in the history of cinema that have moments as iconic as back to the future. An inexhaustible film, whose script is still taught today in film schools and which remains as current as its special effects, the most advanced for its time. One of those films that make people love cinema and that, 40 years later, still contains great secrets waiting to be discovered.

The story of the film is well known, but its origin not so much. It was a Bob who came up with the idea, but not the director of the film (Bob Zemeckis), but the screenwriter and producer Bob Galewho had already collaborated with Zemeckis on the scripts for his previous films (I Wanna Hold Your Hand y Broken brakes, crazy cars) and to whom the following premise took him along with Steven Spielbergin charge of producing the film: what would happen if a son traveled back in time and realized that his parents were not at all as he sees them? Gale came up with the idea after finding an old school yearbook and flipping through its pages until he found his father’s face, wondering if they had been friends or what his father was really like. The time travel thing came later, although it gave more than a headache.

That idea led to what is today back to the futurereleased in 1985, this weekend celebrates 40 years since its premiere, and celebrates it with a great re-release in cinemas throughout Spain. The very same Christopher Lloydin charge of playing Dr. Emmet Brown in the saga, is currently in Spain to present some of the screenings of the film and, in the process, eat a good paella. The actor himself took advantage of his visit to The Anthill to reveal some of the secrets of the saga, such as that in the first version the time machine was not a car but a refrigerator, but they finally decided to discard it since it could cause many children to go to their private refrigerators with the intention of traveling in time.

The idea of ​​the refrigerator did not come to fruition, and today everyone has the image of the DeLorean, a practically despised car that gained great popularity as a result of the film. Another original script idea that did not survive, or rather was tiptoed around, was the relationship between the two protagonists, Marty McFly and Emmet Brown. Why are a teenager and a scientist friends? The film gives the vague explanation that Marty loves to stop by Doc’s house so he can play guitar on his amp, but early versions of the script made a little more sense of it.

Doc, who as many will know was from one of the mythical families of Hill Valley, had spent a good part of his life investing his money in his experiments, but with the time machine he was beginning to exhaust his resources. Hence, he requested the help of Marty, who in the first versions of the script helped him distribute adult films around the town, especially among the high school students. Neither that nor the idea that it was drugs that Doc was handing out to get extra money completely convinced those responsible, who finally chose to ignore the reason for that friendship, thus giving rise to a couple as enigmatic and strange as it is inspiring – just watch the series Rick y Mortyalthough there at least there is a relationship.

Perhaps the film would have been murkier with all that explanation, but it certainly would not have been the same if it had not been for the presence of Michael J. Fox, the visible face of the saga along with Christopher Lloyd and the DeLorean itself. However, the film was very close to doing without the Canadian actor, since due to scheduling problems he could not attend the filming on a regular basis. So much so that the film started with a very different protagonist, actor Eric Stoltz (Mask, A classy wonder), who spent several weeks filming until he was finally fired.

There was no compelling reason other than that Zemeckis and Gale were not convinced, and they were clear from the beginning that Michael J. Fox was the ideal one to play Marty. This one had a full agenda with the filming of the series family entanglementsbut he found a way to square it with the filming of back to the future…at the cost of giving up your hours of sleep and practically your life. The actor had a car in charge of taking him from one studio to another ipso facto and he spent long nights filming, to the point that he sometimes fell asleep in the middle of filming. The effort was worth it, because Michael J. Fox became an even bigger star with the release of back to the futurealthough along the way he took the career of Stoltz —and of the actress who was going to accompany him in the role of Jennifer, who was also replaced by Claudia Wells—, who surely thought that she wished she had her own DeLorean to have prevented that from happening.

Another reason why back to the future It works because even the most uncomfortable scenes were respected, such as the famous kiss between Lorraine and her son Marty, whom she considers a partner. That scene was marked in red in the script, and it was the one that blew up the negotiation with Disney to distribute the film. It implied an incest that the Mouse House was not willing to accept, but Gale and Zemeckis were firm that this scene not be cut from the film and that is how it remained, with its justified discomfort in understanding Lorraine’s change of mind and being able to fall in love with George McFly (Crispin Glover) even though his father had not run him over.

Be that as it may, the film fell to Universal Pictures and today it is one of those works of which she feels most proud. Of course, the production company cannot say that it is taking advantage of the saga in the form of a remake as Disney does, since back to the future It is one of the few that remains standing without a new adaptation. His own director has flatly refused on more than one occasion, and it will not be because there have been no opportunities. “Every six months they come to me with a suggestion and say, ‘Isn’t there anything that can be done?’ But doing a remake or a fourth part is not among my plans.” Meanwhile, viewers can once again enjoy what is already one of the great films of the 80s and the history of cinema as it deserves, on the big screen.