In one of the most famous examples of an actor getting fired partway through filming, Eric Stoltz was let go from the role of Marty McFly in Back to the Future after it became clear that he had a different vision for the project.
The star reportedly approached the role with more seriousness than was required for the humorous character, which his co-star, Lea Thompson, pointed out in the book We Don’t Need Roads: The Making of the Back to the Future Trilogy.
“Eric had such an intensity. He saw drama in things. He wasn’t really a comedian, and they needed a comedian,” she explained. “He’s super funny in real life, but he didn’t approach his work like that, and they really needed somebody who had those chops.”
The director, Robert Zemeckis, made the decision to keep filming while looking for a replacement for Eric, which they found in Michael J. Fox.
The actor had actually been their first choice, but he was busy filming the hit TV show Family Ties at the time. The network boss eventually let up, and Michael stepped in as Eric was let go.
“The director fired me,” the redhead later shared with Bob Costas in 1993. “He didn’t like my work. It was devastating to me. I was a young actor. It was probably the worst thing that can happen to you in your career.”
Robert felt incredibly guilty about the decision, telling CBC that firing Eric was “the worst experience of my career”.
“Eric is a brilliant actor,” he said. “I simply miscast him, and I learned a very serious lesson. It’s not worth it. It’s too painful for everybody. What you have to do is cast the movie the right way and feel really right about it.”
Despite the setback, Eric went on to enjoy a successful career, even earning a Golden Globe nomination for his work in Mask.
Eric and Michael sweetly became friends decades after Back to the Future, when the activist reached out and asked to clear the air.
“[He entered] with a smile, and we quickly acknowledged that neither of us had an issue with the other,” Michael wrote in his memoir, Future Boy.
“What transpired on Back to the Future had not made us enemies or fated rivals; we were just two dedicated actors who had poured equal amounts of energy into the same role. The rest had nothing to do with us. As it turned out, we had much more in common than our spin as Marty.”
They have remained friends ever since, with Michael adding: “His emails are reliably witty and always fun to read [and] a reminder that some of the best parts of our future can come from the past.”
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