The Original “Back To The Future” Script Was Rejected 4 Times.

Throw on your Nikes, pop in a VHS and rev up your DeLorean because October 21 is Back to the Future Day! First celebrated in 2015 (a significant year for serious fans), the original “Back to the Future” is a 1985 sci-fi classic that grossed nearly $400 million worldwide!

Marty McFly, Doc Brown, and all the other memorable characters of the iconic “Back To The Future” trilogy are celebrated on October 21.

• 1985 – ​The creators of the movie, Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, decided to use a DeLorean as the car that enables Marty McFly and Doc to time travel; after the film’s release, Zemeckis and Gale received a thank-you letter from John DeLorean for using his car in the movie.
• 1985 – ​Princess Diana made an appearance at the movie’s premiere in 1985.
• 1986 – ​President Reagan liked the fact that he was mentioned in the movie several times. He used the quote “Where we’re going, we don’t need cars” in his 1986 State of the Union speech.
• 2011 – As part of their Back 4 the Future campaign, Nike auctions 1500 pairs of limited edition MAG Replica shoes with proceeds going to Michael J. Fox’s foundation to fight Parkinson’s Disease.
• 2011 – The very first celebration of the day Marty McFly became the second time traveler in history (we love you, Einstein) was held in 2011.
• 2015 – the year to which Marty McFly and Doc Brown traveled.
• 2015 – In honor of Michael J. Fox, who plays Marty McFly in the movie, by 2015 Fox was suffering from Parkinson’s Disease and all proceeds from the Back to the Future Day activities go into his foundation.
• 2016 – when director Robert Zemeckis was asked about a Back to the Future 4, Zemeckis replied that, “There will be no more ‘Back to the Future’.”
• 40 – the number of times the original script was rejected.
• $1.99 – the price of the solar shades sold by Pizza Hut as part of the movie’s promotions.
• 3 – the number of months it took to film the movie.
• 3 – the number of “Back To The Future” movies.
• 96% – the Rotten Tomatoes rating for the first movie in the “Back To The Future” series.
• $210 million – the total revenue of the movie at the box office.
• No.1 – the ranking of the movie in 1985.
• Backwards 99 in BTTF 2 – When the DeLorean reaches 88 mph and time travels, it leaves behind a trail of flames. In the scene in BTTF II, the DeLorean is flying when it is struck by lightning, causing it to spin on it’s axis and distorting the normally straight flame trails into the shape “99.”
• ​Although most of the futuristic details in the movie have not come true, it did include communication similar to FaceTime, voice recognition, and thumb print technology. Also large flat screens, virtual reality eyewear, video conferencing, computer tablets and biometric scanners.
• The date for Back to the Future Day, is itself, doubly significant. According to the “Business Insider”, October 21, 2015 is the day the screenwriter, Bob Gale, chose for the Chicago Cubs to win the World Series, something, Gales says, “was the most absurd thing we could think of”  in 1985 (turns out he was a year off, the Cubs won the series in 2016).
• Ralph Macchio also missed out on the role due to concerns that his New York accent and East Coast ethnicity were not the right fit for Marty’s “all-American quality”. Eric Stoltz was eventually cast as Marty and used method acting, insisting that the film crew call him “Marty” outside of filming.
• The idea for Back To The Future came to Gale when he was at his parents house rummaging round in their basement. He came across his dad’s old school yearbook and wondered if they would’ve been friends had they known each other when they were both 17
• Marty’s surname was, originally, not McFly, but McDermott.
• The film opens with Marty turning up at Doc’s vacant laboratory. The camera pans slowly around the room, revealing many timepieces that Doc keeps on his wall. One of these has a man hanging from the hands of a clock. This is a double whammy – it depicts a scene from Harold Lloyd’s classic silent-era comedy film, Safety Last! (1923) and also foreshadows the moment where Doc finds himself hanging from the clock tower in the climax of Back To The Future. Watch the opening sequence here
• John Cusack, Charlie Sheen, Ralph Macchio, and Johnny Depp all auditioned unsuccessfully for the part of Marty. The successful auditionee was Eric Stoltz.
  • Stoltz was let go by Zemeckis 6 weeks into production and Zemeckis has since called firing Stoltz, “the worst moment of my career.” Watch a side-by-side comparison of scenes with Erica Stoltz and Michael J. Fox as Marty.

Sources:

National Today

Wikipedia

All the Right Movies