Eric Stoltz/Marty McFly footage!

Truth is, this is going to be one of those scenario's where most people will say 'Oh...no one else but MJF could ever be Marty' etc (though not all, obviously), but I always think it's interesting to ponder 'what if?' in these scenario's...

OK...the films were a huge success with MJF, and he was synonymous with the role for years afterwarRAB.

But...the story goes that Zemeckis, producer Bob Gale and even Spielberg looked at the footage of Stoltz, and decided that he just 'wasn't right' for the role...despite casting him. It makes you wonder what that casting decision was based on...?

I had read previously that they thought Stoltz was not comedic enough, did not have that youthful, teenage look that they thought the role demanded.

But again...you have to wonder what it was in the casting and screen-test that appealed to them, so much so that they gave him the role?

The question is...did they make the right decision? Oh, it's easy to say yes with hinRABight, but truthfully we will never know (and certainly not by a few brief snippets on a DVD).

Consider this - both Stoltz and Fox were largely unknown outside of a few tv roles at the time (certainly outside the US), so if Stoltz had been kept on, his portrayal would have been the definitive one...and we would be looking at snippets of Fox in the same way and saying 'Ooohh no...he's nothing like Stoltz...'etc.

Because, as much as Fox made the role his own, there were many, many other elements that went to make the movies the success that they were.

The crucial thing is - both actors were a blank canvas at the time when they were cast, so surely there is an argument to say that had Stoltz continued, he would have 'been' Marty McFly?
 
Looks like that was a clip from one of the new Bluray documentatries.
They did say that Stoltz footage would be included although I'm not expecting much more than is seen in that clip.

Nice for Stolz to finally give his permission.
 
It's like seeing Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones , it just looks wrong ( rightly or wrongly?)

Michael J Fox is Marty McFly in the same way as Harrison Ford is Indiana Jones / Hans Solo
 
Interesting, thanks for that.
The footage shows how there would have been a completely different feel to BTTF if they'd gone with Stoltz.
However, I'm really glad they went with MJF.
He knocked it out of the park!
 
Yeah, the footage is interesting.

In respect of how the films would have faired had Stolz remained on the project, I'd say they more or less would have been just as successful.

As already mentioned, Stolz and Fox were relative unknowns at the time so there shouldn't have been any real affect on box office draw. They both looked alike too. The thing that does interest me is the affect of their careers had Stolz completed the trilogy.

In my opinion, I think Stolz's career would have skyrocketed.
 
^Considering Stoltz reportedly viewed the story as a "tragedy", and the entire reason he was replaced was that he wasn't performing comically enough, I'm not so sure the resulting movie would have been quite so successful.
 
...it's hard to tell because MJF eventually came on board because he was able to split time between his sitcom and BTTF. He was always the first choice.

Irrespective of what an actor thinks, surely it's the role of the Director to ensure they deliver a particular emotion, facial expression or tone. If Stolz became too serious, I would have thought Zemeckis would have said things like "No, Eric, I need you to give a wry smile here" or "Come on Eric, it's quite funny that you're actually 'parking' with your own mom!"...

Because of this, it may have been a troubled shoot had Stolz continued to misinterpret the tone.

I love debates like this....similar to one about what could have happened had 'the moustache' played Dr. Henry Jones Junior...
 
Would love to see all the footage put together. Five weeks is an awful lot of shooting time.

It looks to me like Stoltz was playing it more serious and the comedy in a spaced-out "Bill & Ted" sort-of-way rather than the lighter comic touch of someone like Michael J Fox who'd be used to sitcom-style comedy. It's that old problem of "proper" actors trying to play comedy, sometimes it just doesn't work at all.
 
Stoltz was never right for the part imo, tho I like him as an actor. MJF IS Marty McFly, let's be honest here! If MJF was out of the picture I think Anthony Michael Hall would have made a great Marty.
 
he shot for 4 weeks I believe , so there'd be loaRAB .

I was just watching Fringe S2 and there's a scene in the alt. universe where they come out of a cinema showing BTTF starring eric Stoltz !
 
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