Michael J. Fox Had No Idea How Good He Was In Back To The Future
It's common knowledge among "Back to the Future" fans that Michael J. Fox very nearly didn't play Marty McFly. Before Fox donned Marty's legendary life preserver and aviator-styled sunglasses ('80s fashion was wild), Eric Stoltz was infamously cast as the accidental teen time-traveler in Robert Zemeckis' classic 1985 sci-fi flick. I say "infamously" because Stoltz was dropped from the movie in the early part of filming, by which point it had become obvious that he just wasn't right for the role. Most importantly, Stoltz and Christopher Lloyd didn't have the chemistry to sell Marty's (strangely believable) friendship with Lloyd's lovably oddball inventor, Emmett "Doc" Brown.
Speaking to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for its "Back to the Future" oral history in 2015, Zemeckis confirmed that Fox was the "first choice" to play Marty. However, concerns about his filming schedule on the sitcom "Family Ties" (which aired on NBC from 1982 to 1989) led to Stoltz being cast instead. Fox eventually found a way to accommodate the production, but between playing one of the leads on a network TV show — a full-time job in and of itself — and starring in a movie, the actor spent most of the "Back to the Future" shoot understandably exhausted and doubtful that his performance would be any good.
During an interview with Empire to promote the Davis Guggenheim documentary "Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie," Fox admitted that it took him a few decades to fully appreciate his own work in the movie. "I saw it back when it came out, at the Cinerama Dome, which was insanity, then I hadn't seen it in its entirety until a couple of years ago," he said. It was only then that he realized what everyone else already knew about his performance.
'You know what, I'm really good in this!'
You know that scene in "Back to the Future" when Marty is voicing his insecurities about his future in music and why he's afraid to send his audition tape to some industry folk? ("What if they say, 'Get outta here, kid. You got no future'?") Apparently, that was Michael J. Fox in real-life during much of the "Back to the Future" shoot, having overworked himself to the point where he could no longer tell if his acting as Marty was even any good. As someone who makes a living writing and editing, I know that feeling all too well.
That finally changed when Fox unintentionally caught "Back to the Future" on TV a few years back:
"It was Christmas. We were decorating the tree. [...] I went to go get something from the kitchen and I was gone quite a while. Tracy [Fox's wife Tracy Pollan] came and found me and I was watching TV. I said, 'Look, 'Back To The Future' [is] on TV! You know what, I'm really good in this!' She said, 'Yeah, we know.' 'Well, why didn't you tell me?!'"
Echoing Marty's lack of self-confidence, Fox feared his performance would turn out terrible, so much so that the actor said, "I'd go back to the back of the pack and start again." Fox didn't necessarily assume he had anything to do with the film's success, either. To be fair, the actor (then in his mid-20s) had other concerns on his mind at the time. He recalled being in London when he heard the exciting news:
"My agent said, 'You don't understand. This is the biggest thing in the world.' My first instinct was, 'I have to get back to America! There are girls to meet!'"
Spoken like a real-life Marty McFly.