One of the greatest films of all time was nearly a lot different.
Some of the most famous movies of all time would have been a lot different had it not been for some dramatic last-minute interventions.
Leonardo DiCaprio, for example, nearly played the role of Patrick Bateman in American Psycho instead of Christian Bale.
Irish actor Stuart Townsend very nearly played Aragorn in Lord of the Rings instead of Viggo Mortensen and in a case that’s pretty relevant here, Eric Stoltz could have been Marty McFly in Back to the Future rather than Michael J Fox.
Stoltz playing Marty wasn’t the only aspect of Back to the Future that could have been vastly different from the brilliant trilogy that eventually made it to the big screen, however.
Some of you may have known this already, but as was noted on Twitter by cinematographer Will McCrabb over the weekend, the movie itself could have had a ridiculous (and awful) title had Steven Spielberg adhered to a request from Universal Studios president, Sid Sheinberg, to call the movie “Space Man From Pluto”.
I'm fighting an ulcer due to horrific studio notes on a project I'm about to give up on.
Then, I read this. pic.twitter.com/nob2mt0CDW— Will McCrabb (@mccrabb_will) August 27, 2016
Thankfully, he didn’t.
If that wasn’t enough, you may also not have known that Christopher Lloyd was well down on the list of names to play the role of Doc Brown, a role now so intimately associated with Lloyd that you couldn’t imagine anyone else playing it.
Jeff Goldblum was the studio’s preferred choice. Other names on the list that also included the likes of John Cleese, Gene Hackman, Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy and Bill Cosby.
Jeff Goldblum was the first choice to play Doc Brown.
Check out the other contenders. pic.twitter.com/DSVcAOay7D— Will McCrabb (@mccrabb_will) August 27, 2016
While we’re thankful that the chief roles in Back to the Future were played brilliantly by Fox, Lloyd and company, we can’t help but wonder what it would’ve been like with an entirely different cast.
For the record, this is Stoltz as Marty instead of Michael J Fox. It just doesn’t seem right…
Clip via Arthur Bluvstein
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