Eric Stoltz/Marty McFly footage!

I'm sure i read recently that some of the footage of Stoltz was left in the film, to save reshoots. It's actually Stoltz driving the DeLorean in the nightime scenes, but you can't tell.
 
It was yes, but the viewing figures suggest that it wasn't anywhere near big enough for any of it's actors to be considered household names.

Like I alluded to earlier, being in a TV show doesn't automatically make you a household name.
 
Oh yeah, don't get me wrong, it was hugely successful but people must understand that in 1984, when MJF was originally cast in the role, he was a relative unknown. In BTTF's release year, Family Ties became increasingly popular though. It's also worth noting that being in one TV show doesn't necessarily make someone a household name or a bankable film star. Lost was hugely popular but because I didn't really watch it, I'd struggle to name any of the principle cast members....and I wonder how many of them can be considered film star material...?
 
I don't agree that Stolt's less comedic take on the role would have affected the success of the movies.

They would still have had elements of comedy, only not so broad, and would still have essentially been pitched as all-round family entertainment.

Like I said before, there were many other elements that helped to make the films a success apart from MJF.

With hinRABight it's easy to say Fox's performance is definitive, but had Stoltz continued in the role Fox then HE would have been Marty McFly, and no one would have known who Fox was.

In fact, I feel kind of sorry for Stoltz. Because I think he has carried the stigma of losing that plum role around with him all his career, and consequently he has never really played that many leading roles...normally minor roles in big movies, tv stuff and the occasional indie film.

And of course it did not help that his most famous role after BTTF was Mask, where he played a severely disfigured boy...but though he got rave reviews for it, he was unrecogniseable under the heavy make-up, and I think that also did not help his career either.

I've been working my way through the first season of Caprica, the Battlestar Galactica spin-off, and I think he is actually very good in that...I think he's a far better actor than he's given credit for.

Wheras though I quite like MJF, I think he has got by largely on his charm and youthful good looks, rather than any real acting ability.
 
Family Ties began in '82 , so it had been running for 3 seasons before BTTF .

I'd say he was a household name before BTTF .
 
let's face it - there was a reason they replaced Stoltz , and it was a very inconvenient decision , they'd shot many weeks , so they must've felt very sure he needed replacing .
 
As far as we can ascertain, Zemeckis, Gale and even Spielberg came to realise that Stoltz was not giving the type of performance they had expected...he wasn't as comedic as they wanted him to be, and also seemed to be playing it a little too mature.

But like I said before...why did they not see this in the audition and test screening process?

I think it somewhat unfair that Stoltz career was severely affected by what appears to have been the wrong decision by the filmakers.

It's like you being hired for a job, passing a set of interviews and tests and being offered the job, then to be told by your employers weeks down the line that you are not suitable...???
 
you can't always tell from auditions . I've seen interviews with Zemeckis and he says it was one of the hardest things he had to do sacking Stoltz , but let's face it they wouldn't have done it unless they felt they really had to , 'cos obviously it causes a lot of problems , sets the film back weeks , costs money etc.

It's happened on other movies - whatsit got canned from LOTR , keitel from Apocalypse Now etc.
 
I like Stoltz but have to say I'm glad they made the decision to bring Michael in. As someone said earlier, Fox is Marty McFly in the same way Ford is Indiana Jones. It was an inspired (yet obviously extremely worrying) decision, that really paid off.

Great find. :)
 
So why release it now? They have had years of countless releases to release this footage and even now they wont release all of it. Terrible.
 
On my old boxset from about six years ago, there are a few still photos of Stolz as Marty, and they did talk about him and realising they needed to recast but it was interesting to see some actual footage. At the time Fox seemed perfect for the role in my opinion, and I still hold to that view, though I have enjoyed Stolz's performances in several films over the years too.
 
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