Back to the Future director Robert Zemeckis had found his perfect Marty McFly- Michael J. Fox. Unfortunately, NBC wasn't willing to release him or alter the Family Ties shooting schedule to accommodate the movie's production. Zemeckis decided to settle for his second choice- Eric Stoltz. Production began and Universal's millions of dollars started flowing out the door.
Production continued for a month while Eric was struggling through the role. Zemeckis noticed that the movie seemed off. He came to a difficult decision- he had to convince the studio to throw away a month's worth of footage and millions of dollars to re-film everything with Michael J. Fox. Convinced that the film would not succeed with Eric Stoltz, Universal authorized the re-shoots and sought to get Michael J. Fox at any cost. NBC agreed to release him this time, but required Universal to work around Family Ties' shooting schedule. The film finally had the Marty McFly it had wanted.
As shown above, many pictures of Eric Stoltz from the lost month of filming have now been leaked from the production. Many of the exterior shots of the Delorean chase scene from the mall parking lot at the beginning of the film were not reshot and Eric was actually behind the wheel. Remember this classic picture of Marty and his siblings? The one where they were disappearing right before Marty's eyes?
The original photo with Eric Stoltz is quite similar:
Would the world have embraced a Back to the Future featuring Eric Stoltz? Maybe, maybe not. It did embrace the one it got, however.
