It’s hard to imagine anyone other than Michael J. Fox playing Marty McFly in Back to the Future. But before it became one of the most beloved movies of the 1980s, another actor actually spent weeks filming in the role—Eric Stoltz.
Stoltz was originally cast as Marty when production on Back to the Future began in 1984. Director Robert Zemeckis and co-writer Bob Gale reportedly wanted Fox, 64, from the beginning, but scheduling conflicts with Family Ties initially kept him unavailable. Universal Pictures executive Sid Sheinberg instead pushed for Stoltz, 64, after being impressed by his previous performances.
But the fit reportedly became an issue once filming started. According to the 2015 book We Don’t Need Roads: The Making of the Back to the Future Trilogy, the actor approached the role with too serious a tone.
“Eric had such an intensity. He saw drama in things. He wasn’t really a comedian, and they needed a comedian,” co-star Lea Thompson said in the book. Christopher Lloyd, who famously played Doc Brown, reportedly agreed. “Although he was doing the part well, he was not bringing that element of comedy to the screen,” he recalled.
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After more than a month of shooting, Zemeckis and Gale ultimately made the difficult decision to replace Stoltz with Fox and reshoot much of the movie.
But there doesn’t appear to be any lingering bad blood between Stoltz and Fox, either. In his 2025 memoir Future Boy, Fox revealed in the epilogue that he recently reached out to Stoltz about the recast role reversal. Fox said he wrote the actor a letter acknowledging the awkward history and joked that if Stoltz wanted to tell him to “piss off and leave me alone,” he’d understand. According to Fox, Stoltz responded with a little humor of his own, writing, “‘Piss off and leave me alone!’” before adding, “‘I jest…’” Fox said Stoltz ultimately declined to participate in the book.
Back to the Future obviously went on to become a massive box-office success. Stoltz, meanwhile, went on to build a long career of his own, appearing in films like Pulp Fiction and Jerry Maguire, before eventually moving behind the camera as well. He has director credits in episodes of TV shows like Grey’s Anatomy,Glee, and more.
