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Hello, everybody, and welcome
to the Back to the Future Q&A session
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here at the University
of Southern California.
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We have the distinct honor
to have the two Bobs,
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director-writer Robert Zemeckis
and producer-writer Bob Gale.
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They're here to answer questions
about the making of Back to the Future.
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And having just screened the film, I'm sure
there's gonna be plenty of questions.
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My name is Laurent Bouzereau
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and I am producing
the Back to the Future DVD
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in collaboration
with Universal Studios Home Video.
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I will be moderating today's event.
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I will be also repeating
each of the questions
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so that the audience,
of course, can hear it.
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And all of you at home watching this DVD
and listening to this audio commentary
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can also hear what the questions were.
So, here we go.
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Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale.
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Well, let's get started, Bob and Bob.
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Can you tell us a little bit about
where you were at in your career
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at the time that you started
working on Back to the Future?
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And Bob Zemeckis,
tell us about your career at the time.
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Well, where we were
when we wrote the screenplay
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was different from when we made the movie.
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When we wrote the screenplay,
we had just finished Used Cars
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and we couldn't get a movie made.
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We couldn't get a movie made anywhere,
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and it was like a three,
maybe four-year dry spell.
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And we wrote Back to the Future
during that time,
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and then I went off
and made Romancing the Stone,
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and then we were able to
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get Back to the Future made
after that movie, thankfully, was a hit.
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Because I've got a...
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In my archives, I've got a rejection letter
from every single studio.
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Every single studio.
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Sometimes more than one
from the same studio.
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Sometimes they've sent it back twice,
rejecting Back to the Future,
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you know, as an idea for a movie.
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Bob Gale, do you want to tell us a little
bit about how you guys write together?
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How you came up with the actual idea
for Back to the Future?
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And maybe begin with
your initial fascination with time travel.
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We'd always wanted
to do a time-travel movie.
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Actually, we were fascinated by the fact
that people always predict the future wrong.
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We thought it would be interesting to make
a movie that took place in a future as seen
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by the 1939 World's Fair,
that had everything wrong in the future.
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So, that was the idea
of doing a time-travel movie.
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It kind of came out of that.
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But there was really no movie there.
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After Used Cars came out, I went back
to visit my parents in St. Louis, Missouri
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and I found
my father's high school yearbook,
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and I discovered that my father had been
the president of his graduating class.
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Something that I didn't know.
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And I started thinking about the president
of my graduating class,
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who was somebody
I would've had nothing to do with.
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I was head of the student committee
to abolish student government.
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"So, I thought," Gee, if I had
gone to high school with my dad,
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"would I have been friends with him?"
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And that was the spark of the idea.
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So, when I came back to California,
I told that little story to Bob.
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And he jumped up and said,
"Yeah, and wouldn't it be interesting"
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"if your mom, who said that she'd never,
ever kissed a boy on a date or anything,"
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"turned out to be the school slut?"
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So, we started cooking on this,
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and that's how the concept got going.
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And, of course, there was only one way
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to have a kid go to high school
with his parents
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and that was, from our point of view,
to do it in a time machine.
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Because we'd seen plenty of movies where...
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And plenty of stories
where somebody gets...
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You know, A Connecticut Yankee
in King Arthur's Court,
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he gets hit on the head
and he's suddenly back in the past,
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and we never bought that.
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So, we decided that if somebody
was going to go back in time,
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it had to be with a time machine.
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So, that's how the creative juices
got flowing.
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Obviously, the part
in the past in the movie
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takes place in 1955.
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The Academy Award for Best Picture
that year went to a movie called Marty.
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Is it just a coincidence,
or was it a conscious decision
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to call Michael J. Fox's character
in the movie Marty?
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I think that was a coincidence, wasn't it?
I don't remember us thinking about that.
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No, we never thought about that.
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The fact that Marty...
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It never even occurred to me
until you just mentioned it right now.
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Sometimes we name characters
that are inside jokes,
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other times, I think... In the case of
Marty, I think it was just a name that...
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Sometimes we just name characters
that have a good sound to them,
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that they roll off your
tongue kind of easily.
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Then, other times
we name them after people.
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Like Biff Tannen.
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Ned Tanen was the president of Universal.
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And when we were making
I Wanna Hold Your Hand,
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one meeting that we had
he got irate with us in his office
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and threw the script on the floor,
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accused us of wanting to
make an anti-Semitic movie,
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even though I'm Jewish.
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So, in honor of good old Ned,
Biff got his last name.
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How much research
did you find yourself doing
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on the 1955 time period
to make sure that everything was accurate?
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We did quite a bit of research.
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That seemed to be the process
of coming up with ideas,
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was to just go and immerse yourselves in...
Yeah, we would immerse ourselves in...
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You know, we'd go to the library
and read the newspapers of the time.
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You know, those great Time Life series
and photograph books of the time.
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You have to sort of be a history buff
to enjoy doing something like this,
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and by doing that, it wasn't like...
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When we came up with specific scenes,
we would research, specifically,
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if we could do a certain thing.
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But most of it was just sort of
getting a flavor for the time.
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And then, of course,
once the production gets going,
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then it gets to be really fun,
because then everything starts to get real
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and you have whole teams of researchers
in the art department,
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and they start coming up with ideas,
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and then you can just riff
on what they bring you.
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It wasn't a foregone conclusion,
automatically, that 1955 was the year...
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In fact, when we wrote the script in 1980,
it was also 1955 then.
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And as the years went by,
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because it was four years later
that we actually got the movie made,
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we gave Marty an older brother
and an older sister
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so that you would understand
the age of his parents,
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that they would be in high school in 1955.
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But 1955 was important because
we wanted Marty to invent rock 'n' roll.
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That was one of the ideas
that we had real early on.
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So, if it was any later than 1955,
that couldn't have worked.
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Right. We knew it had to be
after rock 'n' roll.
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It wouldn't have worked
if it was 1950 or 1949.
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When you were writing the script,
did you have any specific actors in mind?
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No, I don't think...
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You know, Bob and I
actually entertain ourselves by saying,
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"Wouldn't so-and-so be funny to do this?"
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But I've found, over the years,
we do that on specific lines of dialogue.
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"We'll sit there and say," Nicholson!
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"He would really be able
to do this line great."
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So, for me anyway, they become
these kind of shadow characters,
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and I never really see anyone specifically
when we're writing.
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-I don't. I don't know, do you?
-No.
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Sometimes, in terms of trying to conceive
of how a character would deliver dialogue,
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we would imagine in our heads
Jack Nicholson or Jimmy Cagney,
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or somebody who has
a very distinctive way of speaking.
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And that's just sort of a guideline
to put somebody's voice in our head
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that allows us
to give the dialogue a certain style.
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Sometimes it's based on
somebody that we actually know.
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Again, just to give the character
a style of talking.
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In Back to the Future, since most
of the characters were young people,
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and there aren't any big stars
that are gonna be young people,
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we never thought of that at all.
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Could you talk a little more specifically
about your collaboration
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and how you actually write together?
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Yeah, we write together.
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We just put ourselves in the office
together and we write together.
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I think that the way I sort of describe it
is that we basically
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just springboard ideas back and forth
and act scenes out together,
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and then if we come up
with something good, Bob writes it down.
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He writes it in longhand.
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We put it... We first started
outlining it with index cards.
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And a lot of times we'll think of a scene,
and we don't know where it goes.
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For example,
one of the first scenes in this movie
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was "Marty invents rock 'n' roll."
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So, we write that down on a card
and we pin it up on the wall,
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"and you say to yourself," Okay, if
Marty's going to invent rock 'n' roll,
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"we have to establish the fact
that he can play rock 'n' roll."
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So that automatically tells you there has
to be a scene at the beginning of the movie
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that has him...
It turned out to be his audition,
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so that you could see
that he knows how to play it.
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So, one scene then becomes two scenes.
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And every time we come up with an idea...
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He's gonna invent the skateboard.
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So, we have a card that says,
"Skateboard chase,"
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and that means we have to see him
on a skateboard somewhere
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in the beginning of the movie.
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So, again, one scene
then becomes two scenes.
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And pretty soon we have a bunch of cards
up on the board,
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and a lot of times there'll be a lot of
space in between them, and we'll say,
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"All right. How do we get from this scene
over here to that scene over there?"
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And we'll start kind of focusing
on what would have to happen.
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We always use pushpins on those cards
because we're always moving them around.
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'Cause sometimes we'll say,
"No, we can't have that scene here."
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"It's gotta come two scenes later."
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And eventually we have a full outline.
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00:11:12,349 --> 00:11:16,145
And then we start
really talking about each scene,
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and the dialogue,
and the physical action that takes place.
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It might be noteworthy... I remember...
To say a few things
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about my recollection
about writing the screenplay,
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which was, it took years.
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It took us years. I mean, this was...
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I remember us... I think it took us
at least three years to write this.
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00:11:36,957 --> 00:11:39,168
-Does that make sense? Is that about right?
-No.
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Well, maybe it felt like three years.
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Well, from when we finally
made the movie, it was.
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-But we started writing in...
-Maybe a year?
188
00:11:48,926 --> 00:11:52,930
...I think it was around September of 1980,
after Used Cars came out.
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And the first draft
has a February '81 date on it,
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and then we spent two months
doing a re-write on that.
191
00:11:59,020 --> 00:12:00,521
And that was the draft that we took
192
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everywhere in town
and everybody passed on it.
193
00:12:02,940 --> 00:12:05,735
I remember, one of the things
that we suffered over,
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00:12:05,818 --> 00:12:08,738
one of the big breakthroughs was the...
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00:12:08,945 --> 00:12:14,993
We didn't know how to get Marty out
of the Oedipal situation with his mother.
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I remember that.
197
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I think that took us months and months
to figure that one out.
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00:12:18,997 --> 00:12:21,041
And we didn't know how we got...
199
00:12:21,124 --> 00:12:24,711
We knew we had this great story
that got us to this place,
200
00:12:24,795 --> 00:12:28,507
and then we didn't know what to do.
We just had no...
201
00:12:28,590 --> 00:12:32,010
And I remember we were stuck on the fact
that we felt that it was...
202
00:12:32,427 --> 00:12:35,222
That the Marty character
had to do something.
203
00:12:35,305 --> 00:12:39,392
We couldn't figure out
what he could possibly do.
204
00:12:39,475 --> 00:12:43,229
And then the big breakthrough came
when we decided that...
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00:12:44,438 --> 00:12:48,442
And my favorite line that we wrote
in the entire movie is when she says,
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"It's like I'm kissing my brother."
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00:12:51,278 --> 00:12:53,531
And that made it like...
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That just solved that whole problem.
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00:12:55,991 --> 00:12:57,761
We were able to actually
make that story work.
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We struggled over that
for a really long time.
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And I think the other big breakthrough,
which made the movie,
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just charged the screenplay,
was when we came up with the idea
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00:13:11,214 --> 00:13:13,591
of making the time machine mobile.
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00:13:14,134 --> 00:13:16,594
Because our first drafts
215
00:13:16,678 --> 00:13:19,514
were the time machine was this machine
that was this big, you know...
216
00:13:20,014 --> 00:13:21,391
-It was a chamber.
-A chamber.
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00:13:21,474 --> 00:13:23,977
-It was in Doc's lab.
-Right.
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00:13:24,060 --> 00:13:27,439
And if he had to go anywhere, he had
to put it in the back of a pickup truck.
219
00:13:28,398 --> 00:13:32,735
And, in fact, in that early draft,
the nuclear-powered thing
220
00:13:33,653 --> 00:13:38,490
required them to drive it out
onto a nuclear test site in New Mexico.
221
00:13:39,491 --> 00:13:42,786
And that was the climax of the movie,
and it stayed that way
222
00:13:42,870 --> 00:13:45,914
until budget problems
223
00:13:47,082 --> 00:13:49,126
made it impossible for us to do that.
224
00:13:49,209 --> 00:13:50,645
The thing with the nuclear test site,
225
00:13:50,669 --> 00:13:54,381
we actually went into production
expecting to design that
226
00:13:54,465 --> 00:13:59,052
and the idea was
in all the early drafts of the screenplay.
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00:13:59,136 --> 00:14:01,555
The only place they were able
228
00:14:01,638 --> 00:14:04,975
to get enough energy
229
00:14:05,058 --> 00:14:10,271
was they had to bring the time machine
to the Nevada Nuclear Test Site
230
00:14:10,354 --> 00:14:13,858
in the '50s, where they set up
all those little villages and towns
231
00:14:13,941 --> 00:14:16,486
to blow up with nuclear bombs.
232
00:14:16,569 --> 00:14:19,113
And Marty and the doc sneak onto that,
233
00:14:19,197 --> 00:14:23,826
and the big countdown
was to the nuclear blast.
234
00:14:24,243 --> 00:14:27,747
When Marty went back in time,
he arrived at ground zero
235
00:14:27,830 --> 00:14:33,002
and there was a bunch of tourists there,
taking his picture and stuff.
236
00:14:33,544 --> 00:14:36,356
But anyway, we were told that
we had to cut $2 million out of the budget
237
00:14:36,380 --> 00:14:37,524
or they weren't gonna make the movie.
238
00:14:37,548 --> 00:14:41,343
And that's one of the things
where there's method to the madness
239
00:14:41,426 --> 00:14:44,429
because the realization
that we weren't going to be able
240
00:14:44,513 --> 00:14:46,181
to go and move the company
241
00:14:46,264 --> 00:14:48,850
to Nevada or to Arizona
or someplace and shoot.
242
00:14:49,100 --> 00:14:53,855
We were going to have to do the whole thing
at the studio, to do it for the price.
243
00:14:54,439 --> 00:14:57,943
But it turned out
that it became a much better scene.
244
00:14:58,026 --> 00:15:01,112
It became a much better scene
because there was no way
245
00:15:01,196 --> 00:15:03,448
to involve the doc,
actually, if I remember right.
246
00:15:03,532 --> 00:15:06,535
Yeah, Doc was...
It was just over the walkie-talkies
247
00:15:06,618 --> 00:15:10,496
where Doc was just there, on the side
of a mountain, watching all this stuff.
248
00:15:10,955 --> 00:15:13,999
And, of course,
just tying everything into the town
249
00:15:14,083 --> 00:15:19,213
and keeping it all local in the town,
just made it all absolutely better.
250
00:15:19,964 --> 00:15:24,718
And it was one of those things where
necessity becomes the mother of invention.
251
00:15:24,802 --> 00:15:28,597
Because when we were told,
"Okay, you gotta cut that scene out,"
252
00:15:28,681 --> 00:15:32,393
Bob and I spent a weekend
walking around the back lot at Universal,
253
00:15:32,476 --> 00:15:36,355
"trying to figure out," Well, this is
the only environment that we have
254
00:15:36,438 --> 00:15:40,441
"that isn't gonna cost us any money,
that we can completely control."
255
00:15:40,525 --> 00:15:42,819
"Exactly what are we gonna do?"
256
00:15:42,902 --> 00:15:46,990
And we managed to cook up
the clock tower sequence.
257
00:15:47,740 --> 00:15:52,412
One of the most memorable characters
in the movie is, of course, Doc Brown.
258
00:15:52,495 --> 00:15:56,833
I was just wondering
if you had any kind of inspirations
259
00:15:56,916 --> 00:16:00,086
or any kind of influences
260
00:16:00,962 --> 00:16:04,215
that helped you
create that particular character.
261
00:16:04,299 --> 00:16:10,679
Well, Christopher Lloyd always said
that he made the character of Doc Brown
262
00:16:10,762 --> 00:16:15,267
a combination of Albert Einstein
and the conductor Leopold Stokowski.
263
00:16:15,350 --> 00:16:18,937
So, all those big, broad gestures
that he's always doing.
264
00:16:19,021 --> 00:16:21,648
Chris is a big classical music aficionado,
265
00:16:21,732 --> 00:16:26,320
so that's what he had in his mind,
a big shock of hair like Stokowski.
266
00:16:27,029 --> 00:16:30,240
If you don't remember who Stokowski is,
just watch the beginning of Fantasia.
267
00:16:30,324 --> 00:16:32,200
That's Leopold Stokowski.
268
00:16:33,994 --> 00:16:36,954
In the early drafts of the screenplay,
the reason we...
269
00:16:37,038 --> 00:16:40,249
We always wrote him as Professor Brown,
270
00:16:40,333 --> 00:16:44,170
and that had a good ring to it.
You know, he was a professor.
271
00:16:44,253 --> 00:16:46,005
We never wrote him as a doc.
272
00:16:46,088 --> 00:16:51,469
And Sid Sheinberg, the head of the studio,
insisted that we change his title
273
00:16:51,552 --> 00:16:55,514
from professor, because he thought
it just sounded too corny.
274
00:16:55,890 --> 00:16:58,809
There's those famous Sid Sheinberg stories,
which we can tell you.
275
00:16:58,893 --> 00:17:02,855
He had three notes when Steven
gave him the screenplay to read.
276
00:17:02,938 --> 00:17:08,026
One was that we couldn't call
the doc "Professor."
277
00:17:09,277 --> 00:17:12,530
The second one was,
in the original draft of the screenplay
278
00:17:12,614 --> 00:17:17,160
he had a chimp as a mascot,
instead of the dog.
279
00:17:17,243 --> 00:17:19,412
And Sid said,
"You have to get rid of that chimp"
280
00:17:19,496 --> 00:17:22,332
"because no one is gonna go see
a movie with a chimp in it."
281
00:17:22,415 --> 00:17:26,169
We actually had this meeting with him.
It was hysterical.
282
00:17:26,252 --> 00:17:28,338
"He said," I've done the research.
283
00:17:28,421 --> 00:17:31,591
"No movie with a chimpanzee in it
has ever made a profit."
284
00:17:32,634 --> 00:17:36,720
And I said, "Well..." In the '80s,
there were these two Clint Eastwood movies,
285
00:17:36,804 --> 00:17:39,890
Every Which Way But Loose
and Any Which Way You Can.
286
00:17:40,474 --> 00:17:42,601
And I said, "What about those movies, Sid?"
287
00:17:42,685 --> 00:17:46,605
And he said,
"That was an orangutan in those movies."
288
00:17:48,941 --> 00:17:53,237
And the third one was, he hated the title.
But we stuck to our guns on that one.
289
00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:55,280
-There was a fourth one...
-Which one was that?
290
00:17:55,364 --> 00:17:59,618
...which was that originally
Marty's mother's name was not Lorraine.
291
00:17:59,993 --> 00:18:03,038
-It was Meg. Remember that?
-That's right, that's right.
292
00:18:04,498 --> 00:18:08,626
He didn't like that name, so he said,
"Name her Lorraine."
293
00:18:08,710 --> 00:18:11,045
Coincidentally, his
wife's name is Lorraine.
294
00:18:11,129 --> 00:18:14,799
So, we knew how to pick our battles
295
00:18:14,882 --> 00:18:17,885
because I think Sid's comment was
296
00:18:17,969 --> 00:18:21,639
that nobody's going to see a movie
with the word "future" in the title.
297
00:18:26,144 --> 00:18:31,566
So, we decided that was the one.
We would give up the others.
298
00:18:31,649 --> 00:18:34,902
We'd change the chimp to a dog,
and the names,
299
00:18:34,986 --> 00:18:37,070
but we stuck to Back to the Future.
300
00:18:37,154 --> 00:18:42,576
Then, afterwards, we were having a meeting,
a celebratory meeting
301
00:18:42,659 --> 00:18:45,912
in Sid's office,
after the movie was a giant success.
302
00:18:45,996 --> 00:18:49,875
We said, "Well, you see, Sid?
People went to the movie."
303
00:18:49,958 --> 00:18:53,503
And he says, "Yes, but I'll never know
if I was right or not, will I?"
304
00:18:53,587 --> 00:18:55,505
And I guess not.
305
00:18:56,214 --> 00:19:00,969
Bob Gale, can you actually reveal
what the alternate title was?
306
00:19:01,344 --> 00:19:03,180
Well, the alternate title,
307
00:19:03,263 --> 00:19:07,349
and this got hot and heavy during
the actual production and post-production
308
00:19:07,433 --> 00:19:13,647
of the movie because we'd given Sid
what he wanted on these other issues
309
00:19:13,731 --> 00:19:15,483
and he kept on this.
310
00:19:15,566 --> 00:19:18,110
And he decided that
the hip title for the movie
311
00:19:18,194 --> 00:19:20,237
should be Spaceman from Pluto.
312
00:19:21,530 --> 00:19:24,366
And that's because of the comic book
that the kid has in the barn,
313
00:19:24,450 --> 00:19:26,035
Space Zombies from Pluto.
314
00:19:26,118 --> 00:19:29,789
Sid actually sent us a memo
where he outlined certain changes
315
00:19:29,872 --> 00:19:35,126
that should be made in the movie to reflect
this new title, Spaceman from Pluto.
316
00:19:35,376 --> 00:19:38,505
And one of them was
that instead of Marty saying,
317
00:19:38,588 --> 00:19:42,634
"I'm Darth Vader from the planet Vulcan,"
he should say, "I'm from the planet Pluto."
318
00:19:42,717 --> 00:19:45,428
There were one or two
other things like that.
319
00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:51,226
And Bob and I got this memo,
and we were really scared and worried
320
00:19:51,309 --> 00:19:52,852
because he meant it.
321
00:19:52,936 --> 00:19:57,649
I mean, you gotta be careful
about the kind of fights that you pick
322
00:19:58,399 --> 00:20:00,401
with the head of the company.
323
00:20:00,485 --> 00:20:03,404
He wasn't just the head of the studio,
he was the head of the company.
324
00:20:04,322 --> 00:20:06,824
Every single person at Universal
thought Back to the Future
325
00:20:06,907 --> 00:20:09,034
was a great title, except for Sid.
326
00:20:09,326 --> 00:20:14,832
So, we went to Steven with this memo,
because Steven had been copied on it,
327
00:20:14,915 --> 00:20:17,251
and we said,
"Steven, what are we gonna do?"
328
00:20:17,334 --> 00:20:20,671
"He really means it.
He really wants to change this title."
329
00:20:20,754 --> 00:20:25,300
And Steven,
in this one solution to the problem,
330
00:20:25,384 --> 00:20:29,304
I think, earned all the money
that he made off of all of these movies.
331
00:20:29,596 --> 00:20:33,600
He wrote a memo back to Sheinberg,
and he said,
332
00:20:33,684 --> 00:20:37,478
"Dear Sid, thank you so much
for your most humorous memo."
333
00:20:37,562 --> 00:20:40,147
"We really all got a big laugh out of it."
334
00:20:43,276 --> 00:20:46,153
Steven knew that
Sid was too proud to admit
335
00:20:46,237 --> 00:20:48,781
that he'd meant it
seriously, and we never...
336
00:20:48,865 --> 00:20:51,117
That was the end of it.
That was the end of it.
337
00:20:51,450 --> 00:20:53,411
Going back to the time machine itself,
338
00:20:53,494 --> 00:20:56,956
what convinced you
to choose the DeLorean?
339
00:20:59,458 --> 00:21:02,962
Well, the joke in the barn, because...
340
00:21:04,421 --> 00:21:05,839
That's what my memory is.
341
00:21:05,922 --> 00:21:09,509
We backed it into that joke
because we thought, well, a car from...
342
00:21:10,969 --> 00:21:14,639
What would really look like a spaceship
landing in the barn in the '50s?
343
00:21:14,723 --> 00:21:17,225
"We said," Hey, a DeLorean's
got these gull-wing doors.
344
00:21:17,309 --> 00:21:20,896
"That'll really look like a futuristic
machine from outer space."
345
00:21:20,979 --> 00:21:23,398
-And that was basically it.
-And it was stainless steel.
346
00:21:23,481 --> 00:21:27,319
And we had no idea
there'd be all this cocaine controversy
347
00:21:27,402 --> 00:21:30,655
and it would be such an infamous car
when we wrote the joke.
348
00:21:30,739 --> 00:21:33,241
We actually got a fan letter
from John DeLorean
349
00:21:33,325 --> 00:21:34,950
after the movie came out.
350
00:21:35,659 --> 00:21:39,538
And he just sent us this glowing letter,
how much he enjoyed the movie
351
00:21:39,622 --> 00:21:41,790
and thanked us for keeping his dream alive,
352
00:21:41,874 --> 00:21:45,210
and said that any of the people
that worked on the car in the movie
353
00:21:45,294 --> 00:21:47,504
could have a job on his design team.
354
00:21:48,339 --> 00:21:52,801
Can you explain why you don't really
go into the backstory
355
00:21:52,885 --> 00:21:56,639
of the relationship
between Doc Brown and Marty?
356
00:21:56,847 --> 00:21:58,265
We never really thought about it.
357
00:21:58,349 --> 00:22:01,894
We thought that the familiarity of him
358
00:22:02,519 --> 00:22:05,521
being able to just walk into his lab...
359
00:22:05,605 --> 00:22:09,442
Actually, you know what?
We always saw it as
360
00:22:11,903 --> 00:22:15,198
the way Leave It to Beaver was with...
361
00:22:15,531 --> 00:22:17,533
-Gus the Fireman.
-... Gus the Fireman, you know?
362
00:22:19,577 --> 00:22:22,246
Beaver always had the Fireman
that he could go to as...
363
00:22:22,330 --> 00:22:24,207
Basically, he was like his therapist,
364
00:22:24,499 --> 00:22:26,459
and he went there
and he would tell him about
365
00:22:26,542 --> 00:22:29,420
all the problems
he was having with his family.
366
00:22:29,504 --> 00:22:33,924
"We sort of said," Let's have a
relationship between Marty and Doc
367
00:22:34,007 --> 00:22:37,427
"that Marty would be this kid who
was attracted to this crackpot scientist"
368
00:22:37,511 --> 00:22:41,807
"who was building inventions
in this garage down the street."
369
00:22:41,890 --> 00:22:47,020
But we just felt that to build
a whole backstory would take too long,
370
00:22:47,104 --> 00:22:50,899
so we just sort of did it with...
Trying to blast through it with the fact
371
00:22:50,983 --> 00:22:53,944
that obviously they know each other
because they're so familiar.
372
00:22:54,027 --> 00:22:58,865
When I was a kid,
people had moved next door to us.
373
00:22:59,074 --> 00:23:03,452
The guy was a retired
professional photographer.
374
00:23:03,536 --> 00:23:05,997
Not retired, he was just much older.
375
00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:08,374
And he had
all this great darkroom equipment.
376
00:23:08,457 --> 00:23:12,169
I was eight years old, and I'd never seen
any of this kind of stuff before.
377
00:23:12,336 --> 00:23:14,588
So, this guy was like a magician to me.
378
00:23:14,672 --> 00:23:20,886
And me and my brothers would
go over there and watch him develop film.
379
00:23:21,595 --> 00:23:23,305
We developed a relationship with him.
380
00:23:23,973 --> 00:23:28,686
He just was somebody that was
kind of in my head as the type of thing.
381
00:23:28,769 --> 00:23:32,106
Plus, in a smaller town,
if everybody tells you
382
00:23:32,189 --> 00:23:35,150
there's a guy who's dangerous,
who's a crackpot,
383
00:23:35,233 --> 00:23:39,529
well, every kid's gonna want to find out
who that guy is and get to know him.
384
00:23:39,612 --> 00:23:44,784
And every single movie story can be found
in episodes of Leave It to Beaver.
385
00:23:45,577 --> 00:23:48,121
So, for all you screenwriters out there,
386
00:23:49,873 --> 00:23:53,835
if you're struggling with a problem in
your screenplay, watch Leave It to Beaver.
387
00:23:53,918 --> 00:23:59,215
You'll find the way to fix the script
in that series.
388
00:23:59,883 --> 00:24:03,719
As you took the script around town
and kept getting rejections,
389
00:24:03,802 --> 00:24:08,599
did you, at any point, go back to the
drawing board and revise the script at all?
390
00:24:08,891 --> 00:24:13,520
What happened was, was that Spielberg
wanted to do it right after Used Cars.
391
00:24:13,645 --> 00:24:17,858
He was the only guy who got it.
392
00:24:19,234 --> 00:24:24,490
But we had made two movies
that he executive produced that flopped.
393
00:24:24,907 --> 00:24:28,827
-Plus 1941, which we...
-We took the blame... Yeah.
394
00:24:28,911 --> 00:24:30,954
Because we got...
395
00:24:31,747 --> 00:24:36,542
That was his only money-losing movie up
to that point, was the one that we wrote.
396
00:24:42,924 --> 00:24:47,303
"So, I said to Steven," If we make
this movie, and it doesn't work
397
00:24:47,762 --> 00:24:50,640
"we'll probably never
be able to work again."
398
00:24:50,723 --> 00:24:52,350
And he said, "You're right."
399
00:24:52,725 --> 00:24:55,728
And so, we just put it on the shelf.
400
00:24:55,812 --> 00:24:58,356
We actually even had one meeting
on the movie
401
00:24:58,439 --> 00:25:02,984
with a studio executive, who I won't name,
who was so excited about it.
402
00:25:03,068 --> 00:25:06,279
We sat down in his office and he went,
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah."
403
00:25:06,363 --> 00:25:07,948
We're telling him what we want to do,
404
00:25:08,031 --> 00:25:10,575
and we thought
it was a really good meeting.
405
00:25:10,659 --> 00:25:13,703
And then, he said,
"So what's Steven's involvement?"
406
00:25:13,954 --> 00:25:17,165
And we said, "Well, nothing."
He said, "Oh."
407
00:25:17,415 --> 00:25:21,628
And the meeting was over,
and we knew that that was it.
408
00:25:22,587 --> 00:25:27,551
So, then, after Romancing the Stone,
now everybody wanted to make it.
409
00:25:27,968 --> 00:25:31,888
Bob and I felt
that the only upstanding thing to do
410
00:25:31,972 --> 00:25:34,282
was to bring it to the only guy
who had original faith in it,
411
00:25:34,306 --> 00:25:37,560
not based on our box office track record.
412
00:25:37,893 --> 00:25:39,270
So, we brought it back to Steven.
413
00:25:39,353 --> 00:25:41,981
And then, he had become famous
with E.T. and everything.
414
00:25:42,064 --> 00:25:46,569
So, it was like this perfect, perfect fit,
because he was becoming
415
00:25:46,819 --> 00:25:51,323
-this fantasy brand name...
-Master of fantasy and family entertainment.
416
00:25:51,615 --> 00:25:54,660
That was one of the big objections
to the script
417
00:25:54,743 --> 00:25:59,498
is everybody told us that it was too sweet,
it was too nice.
418
00:26:00,583 --> 00:26:03,585
Everybody was looking
for R-rated, raunchy comedies.
419
00:26:04,127 --> 00:26:06,254
Except Disney, who said it was too dirty.
420
00:26:08,590 --> 00:26:09,674
Remember that?
421
00:26:09,757 --> 00:26:13,178
Because of the thing with his mother,
they said, "No, no."
422
00:26:13,261 --> 00:26:16,848
That was before the Eisner-Katzenberg days.
That was the old Disney.
423
00:26:16,931 --> 00:26:19,225
They said, "No, we can't make this."
424
00:26:21,060 --> 00:26:22,395
-That's right.
-That's right.
425
00:26:22,478 --> 00:26:26,149
It wasn't raunchy enough for most studios,
and too dirty for Disney.
426
00:26:26,232 --> 00:26:28,568
So, we were stuck.
427
00:26:29,402 --> 00:26:33,739
How did you go about coming up
with the mechanics of the time travel?
428
00:26:34,531 --> 00:26:37,618
Well, the mechanics of time travel.
429
00:26:37,993 --> 00:26:42,206
The fact that everybody says, "Why 88 miles
an hour? What's so special about that?"
430
00:26:42,456 --> 00:26:46,919
It's easy to remember. That's all.
There's no special significance to that.
431
00:26:47,544 --> 00:26:51,840
The whole idea of
what the time machine should look like,
432
00:26:52,299 --> 00:26:55,219
we decided way early on
433
00:26:55,552 --> 00:26:58,555
that if there was going to be
a working time machine,
434
00:26:59,097 --> 00:27:03,893
one of the problems that we had to solve
writing-wise was, "Where did it come from?"
435
00:27:03,976 --> 00:27:07,438
At first we said,
"Well, it could come from the government."
436
00:27:07,521 --> 00:27:09,232
"The government could be working on it."
437
00:27:09,315 --> 00:27:12,985
We thought about that and we said, "No, if
the government built it, it wouldn't work."
438
00:27:13,611 --> 00:27:16,781
Then we thought, "Some major corporation
could be working on it."
439
00:27:16,864 --> 00:27:19,909
Then we said, "No, we don't like the idea
that some major corporation
440
00:27:19,992 --> 00:27:21,744
"is working on time travel."
441
00:27:21,827 --> 00:27:25,539
That opens up a big can of worms
that we didn't want to deal with.
442
00:27:25,623 --> 00:27:30,086
We thought that the American myth is
443
00:27:30,169 --> 00:27:33,129
that there's a guy who, in his garage,
444
00:27:33,213 --> 00:27:37,259
invented the automobile engine
that gets 200 miles to the gallon.
445
00:27:37,592 --> 00:27:41,429
He invented the reusable match
that the match companies won't let us have
446
00:27:41,513 --> 00:27:43,139
because it'll put them out of business.
447
00:27:43,223 --> 00:27:45,517
The car companies
won't let us have the engine.
448
00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:48,186
That's the guy that
would invent time travel.
449
00:27:48,478 --> 00:27:52,148
And he would look like Dr. Emmett Brown.
450
00:27:52,607 --> 00:27:57,404
And so, one of the things that
we kept stressing to our art department
451
00:27:57,487 --> 00:28:01,573
and the people that we hired
to help design the DeLorean,
452
00:28:02,449 --> 00:28:05,661
was that it really needed to look dangerous
453
00:28:05,744 --> 00:28:08,330
and look like
it was built in somebody's garage.
454
00:28:08,414 --> 00:28:12,293
It couldn't have
a real Star Trek, machined look
455
00:28:12,459 --> 00:28:15,462
because a guy that's trying
to invent stuff in his garage
456
00:28:15,546 --> 00:28:20,467
would just stick something on the side
of his car temporarily to see if it worked.
457
00:28:20,551 --> 00:28:24,096
Then he'd forget that it was temporary,
and he'd put some other coil on there.
458
00:28:24,179 --> 00:28:26,432
Pretty soon you'd have this big mishmash.
459
00:28:26,598 --> 00:28:28,809
So, we wanted it to look dangerous.
460
00:28:28,892 --> 00:28:32,478
At the same time, because it was nuclear,
461
00:28:32,562 --> 00:28:35,732
we did do a little homework
on nuclear reactors.
462
00:28:35,815 --> 00:28:39,652
And those big vents that are on the back,
those are supposed to be cooling towers,
463
00:28:39,736 --> 00:28:41,988
the same that you have
at a nuclear power plant.
464
00:28:42,071 --> 00:28:46,159
And so, after the plutonium fires off,
465
00:28:46,242 --> 00:28:48,453
you have all this big steam
come out of there
466
00:28:48,536 --> 00:28:51,873
because that's what would happen
in a nuclear reaction.
467
00:28:52,165 --> 00:28:57,253
So, we did actually
try to have some sense of logic
468
00:28:58,129 --> 00:29:01,548
that we could stick to
and make sense out of it, that was a guide.
469
00:29:01,631 --> 00:29:05,969
But as far as the actual nuts and bolts
of time travel itself,
470
00:29:06,053 --> 00:29:08,513
that's one of the things
that Bob and I are really proud of.
471
00:29:09,264 --> 00:29:14,269
We were absolutely fanatics
about dealing with
472
00:29:15,437 --> 00:29:19,983
what the real rules of
time travel would be.
473
00:29:20,192 --> 00:29:23,028
And we basically based
our time-travel theories
474
00:29:23,111 --> 00:29:25,364
on The Time Machine by H.G. Wells.
475
00:29:25,447 --> 00:29:29,201
And simply, we stuck to that one,
which is that you travel through time,
476
00:29:29,284 --> 00:29:30,951
you don't travel through space.
477
00:29:31,035 --> 00:29:36,374
And most of your time-travel stories
and movies make that fatal mistake of,
478
00:29:36,457 --> 00:29:40,586
all of a sudden you're in California,
and you travel back to ancient Rome.
479
00:29:40,669 --> 00:29:44,840
How did you get to Rome
if you're in this latitude and longitude?
480
00:29:46,300 --> 00:29:50,179
And in the H.G. Wells stories,
the time machine never moved in space
481
00:29:50,262 --> 00:29:53,015
except at the very end,
when he drags it a few feet.
482
00:29:53,099 --> 00:29:54,141
Right.
483
00:29:54,475 --> 00:29:59,813
So, that's exactly what Bob and I did
in how our time machine worked.
484
00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:06,528
We were very careful. As a matter of fact,
I was just thinking about it
485
00:30:06,611 --> 00:30:09,614
as I was watching
the end of the movie just now,
486
00:30:09,906 --> 00:30:11,741
I remembered that we had...
487
00:30:11,825 --> 00:30:15,328
The whole reason why we had the car
not be able to start
488
00:30:15,829 --> 00:30:19,499
after he got back at the end of the movie,
to the future,
489
00:30:19,582 --> 00:30:23,586
was so that we didn't have to deal
with the duplication of two DeLoreans.
490
00:30:23,670 --> 00:30:28,216
We only had to deal
with him being duplicated once,
491
00:30:28,299 --> 00:30:31,051
in that one paradox,
and we cleaned it up real quick.
492
00:30:31,135 --> 00:30:34,763
And, of course, if you talk
to all the time-travel scientists
493
00:30:34,847 --> 00:30:38,267
and the people who study this stuff,
494
00:30:39,351 --> 00:30:44,940
they think that we'll probably be able to
figure out how to travel into the future.
495
00:30:45,482 --> 00:30:48,610
Traveling to the past
will be much more difficult
496
00:30:48,694 --> 00:30:50,988
because of the paradoxes involved.
497
00:30:51,405 --> 00:30:56,076
Eric Stoltz was in the movie
prior to Michael J. Fox.
498
00:30:56,952 --> 00:31:00,663
Can you tell us why you had to
re-cast the role of Marty?
499
00:31:00,872 --> 00:31:05,543
The lesson that I learned was
you just have to stick to your convictions
500
00:31:05,626 --> 00:31:08,129
at all costs, no matter what.
501
00:31:08,212 --> 00:31:10,256
And what happened to me is... I just...
502
00:31:10,339 --> 00:31:15,720
It was completely my fault,
and I miscast Eric Stoltz.
503
00:31:15,928 --> 00:31:20,850
I didn't know it at the time. I felt that
I was going to be able to make it work.
504
00:31:21,184 --> 00:31:26,481
I had always envisioned Michael in
the part, but he was doing this TV series.
505
00:31:26,564 --> 00:31:30,192
And conventional wisdom was
that you can't possibly do
506
00:31:34,404 --> 00:31:38,658
a feature film with an actor
who's in a TV series. It's impossible.
507
00:31:40,285 --> 00:31:43,788
One of the other mandates
I was given by Mr. Sheinberg was,
508
00:31:43,872 --> 00:31:48,376
is that if I didn't have the movie
for Memorial Day, I'm not making it.
509
00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:53,590
So I was stuck, and I had to cast somebody,
510
00:31:53,673 --> 00:31:56,676
and Eric was the best that I had available.
511
00:31:56,760 --> 00:32:01,388
But then, when I shot
the first couple of weeks of the movie,
512
00:32:02,890 --> 00:32:06,810
he just wasn't understanding, or I wasn't
able to communicate the type of humor
513
00:32:06,894 --> 00:32:09,563
that I was seeing in the movie.
514
00:32:09,647 --> 00:32:13,400
The other reason that Steven deserves all
the money that he made off of this movie
515
00:32:13,484 --> 00:32:15,819
was the fact that,
when I went to Steven and I said,
516
00:32:15,903 --> 00:32:19,782
"You know, I've got to re-cast Eric,"
he said...
517
00:32:20,616 --> 00:32:22,409
-"You're right."
-"You're right."
518
00:32:23,702 --> 00:32:26,705
And he went to Sid, and got him to agree.
519
00:32:26,789 --> 00:32:29,999
Not only got him to agree
to let me re-cast him, of course,
520
00:32:30,083 --> 00:32:34,295
the painful part was everything
that poor Eric had to go through,
521
00:32:36,798 --> 00:32:40,552
but then, also,
to agree to allow us to make the movie...
522
00:32:41,052 --> 00:32:45,682
Basically, we made
this entire movie at night.
523
00:32:45,974 --> 00:32:49,936
We made this movie from 6:00 at night
till 6:00 in the morning
524
00:32:50,019 --> 00:32:53,690
because Michael was working
on the TV show during the day,
525
00:32:53,773 --> 00:32:57,610
then he'd drive to the studio.
We just stayed on nights.
526
00:32:57,860 --> 00:33:00,445
-It was the most...
-It was splits. It was splits, most of it.
527
00:33:00,529 --> 00:33:02,489
It was splits most of it,
but it was pretty insane
528
00:33:02,573 --> 00:33:04,783
because we were on sound stages shooting,
529
00:33:04,866 --> 00:33:09,371
lighting the sound stages
for daylight at 2:00 in the morning.
530
00:33:09,454 --> 00:33:10,664
You know. So...
531
00:33:10,998 --> 00:33:13,834
So, it was pretty
insane, the way we did it.
532
00:33:15,377 --> 00:33:20,132
And we didn't make the Memorial Day date,
but we did make the Fourth of July.
533
00:33:20,549 --> 00:33:24,928
The irony of it all is that
because we put Eric Stoltz in the movie
534
00:33:25,012 --> 00:33:27,764
is the reason that we got Michael J. Fox
in the movie.
535
00:33:27,848 --> 00:33:33,019
We approached Gary Goldberg,
who was the producer of Family Ties.
536
00:33:33,644 --> 00:33:37,815
That was the first phone call we made,
'cause we wanted Michael in the movie.
537
00:33:37,898 --> 00:33:39,191
And he said...
538
00:33:39,275 --> 00:33:42,320
He read the script, he said,
"This is perfect for Michael."
539
00:33:42,403 --> 00:33:46,282
He said, "I cannot let him read this
script. Because when he reads this
540
00:33:46,365 --> 00:33:48,242
"and I tell him that he can't do it,"
541
00:33:48,326 --> 00:33:50,703
"that I'm not going to let him
out of the TV show to do it,"
542
00:33:50,786 --> 00:33:53,247
"he'll hate me for the rest of his life."
543
00:33:53,664 --> 00:33:56,751
And Meredith Baxter-Birney,
who played his mother on that show,
544
00:33:56,834 --> 00:34:00,295
was pregnant at that time,
and Michael was really carrying the show.
545
00:34:00,378 --> 00:34:04,215
So, that just right away put him out of it.
546
00:34:04,299 --> 00:34:08,386
So, we kept pushing our start date back
while we kept trying to find
547
00:34:08,470 --> 00:34:10,180
the perfect Marty McFly.
548
00:34:10,263 --> 00:34:15,268
So, by the time we made the realization
that we had to make a change,
549
00:34:15,894 --> 00:34:20,523
it was now the beginning of January, 1985.
550
00:34:20,607 --> 00:34:23,068
Meredith Baxter-Birney
had already had her baby.
551
00:34:23,151 --> 00:34:27,280
So we went back to Gary Goldberg and said,
"We are up against it, Gary."
552
00:34:27,364 --> 00:34:29,865
"There's only one guy
that can play this part."
553
00:34:29,948 --> 00:34:33,327
"And he said," Okay, I'll let
Michael read it. If he wants to do it,
554
00:34:34,119 --> 00:34:36,914
"it's fine with me,
as long as you guys understand
555
00:34:36,997 --> 00:34:39,917
"that Family Ties is
always in first position.
556
00:34:40,250 --> 00:34:44,380
"And that if there's a conflict
between us and you, we win."
557
00:34:44,463 --> 00:34:45,673
"Family Ties wins."
558
00:34:45,756 --> 00:34:47,424
So, that was the rules.
559
00:34:47,508 --> 00:34:50,469
And, of course, when Michael
read the script, he flipped for it,
560
00:34:50,552 --> 00:34:54,723
and he said, "Try and stop me
from being in this movie."
561
00:34:55,432 --> 00:34:58,726
One of the amazing things
about the movie is,
562
00:34:58,810 --> 00:35:01,145
of course, the performances,
563
00:35:01,229 --> 00:35:07,193
and I was just wondering how much
of those performances are in the script
564
00:35:07,276 --> 00:35:12,407
and how much of the performances
was improvisation by the actors?
565
00:35:13,408 --> 00:35:16,285
I don't like to
watch actors improv in movies.
566
00:35:16,369 --> 00:35:21,791
I hate watching actors trying to
think up lines while they're acting.
567
00:35:21,874 --> 00:35:26,879
But if they can take the essence
of what it is that we wrote and improve it.
568
00:35:26,963 --> 00:35:28,880
-Or, you know...
-Make it theirs.
569
00:35:28,964 --> 00:35:32,426
Make it theirs. I'm fine with that.
I'm fine with that.
570
00:35:33,510 --> 00:35:36,805
You know,
the whole point is that the screenplay
571
00:35:36,888 --> 00:35:41,643
is supposed to be
this blueprint for the movie.
572
00:35:41,727 --> 00:35:45,689
I've always said that good directing
is good casting, and good writing.
573
00:35:47,023 --> 00:35:50,068
You cast the right actor
and you've got a good script,
574
00:35:50,152 --> 00:35:52,237
your directing looks great.
575
00:35:52,529 --> 00:35:55,824
The mannerisms that Crispin Glover has,
576
00:35:55,907 --> 00:35:58,868
that's what he brought.
577
00:35:59,243 --> 00:36:03,330
He came in to read, and he started
doing all that stuff with his hands.
578
00:36:05,416 --> 00:36:07,918
We just looked at each other and said,
579
00:36:08,002 --> 00:36:10,755
"This guy was probably
born to play George McFly."
580
00:36:10,838 --> 00:36:13,674
Right, and my job as the director,
in that case,
581
00:36:13,758 --> 00:36:18,512
was the endless
throwing the net over Crispin,
582
00:36:21,182 --> 00:36:24,101
because he was completely off...
583
00:36:25,019 --> 00:36:28,938
I would say he was completely off
about 50% of the time
584
00:36:29,022 --> 00:36:31,107
in his interpretation of the character.
585
00:36:31,191 --> 00:36:36,780
Meaning, he had bizarre ideas of what
the character's wardrobe should look like
586
00:36:36,863 --> 00:36:39,115
and what his hair should look like.
587
00:36:39,199 --> 00:36:41,910
Probably the single hardest thing
588
00:36:42,535 --> 00:36:45,914
that we had to do in the movie
was at the very end,
589
00:36:45,997 --> 00:36:49,793
when he comes in as the new George McFly
590
00:36:49,876 --> 00:36:54,547
and he looks like a normal,
middle-class American citizen.
591
00:36:54,881 --> 00:36:58,300
That was pulling teeth
to get him to do that.
592
00:36:58,383 --> 00:37:03,305
Crispin thought that when George shows up
at the end of the movie,
593
00:37:03,639 --> 00:37:08,185
he should be wearing gray baggy pants
594
00:37:08,477 --> 00:37:11,814
and a sleeveless, tank-top T-shirt
595
00:37:12,648 --> 00:37:15,317
like some guy in the barrio.
596
00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:19,071
I swear to God, he absolutely...
597
00:37:20,739 --> 00:37:23,158
He did those scenes totally under protest.
598
00:37:23,242 --> 00:37:25,869
That was the second time we filmed them.
599
00:37:25,953 --> 00:37:28,621
We filmed them once,
and they weren't right.
600
00:37:28,704 --> 00:37:33,417
He actually went around dressed
the way Bob just described on the set,
601
00:37:33,501 --> 00:37:35,711
trying to solicit the crew to say,
602
00:37:35,795 --> 00:37:38,172
"Don't you think
this is what George should look like?"
603
00:37:38,256 --> 00:37:40,550
And nobody on the crew agreed with him.
604
00:37:40,758 --> 00:37:42,969
There's a scene in the cafeteria
605
00:37:43,886 --> 00:37:46,848
when he's writing his stories,
606
00:37:47,181 --> 00:37:50,893
and if you look real close
at his performance,
607
00:37:53,229 --> 00:37:57,858
his face is all red and his eyes are puffy
and his eyes are all bloodshot
608
00:37:58,275 --> 00:38:03,029
because Crispin insisted that his hair
should be sticking straight up.
609
00:38:04,322 --> 00:38:06,700
And you know...
610
00:38:11,788 --> 00:38:14,207
The day before,
because we got this thing with Michael...
611
00:38:14,291 --> 00:38:18,003
We had shot Michael's side of the scene
with his hair down.
612
00:38:18,086 --> 00:38:24,050
I said... It didn't make any sense.
"Crispin, I don't understand this."
613
00:38:24,134 --> 00:38:27,428
He said, "When I write,
I think my hair should be straight up."
614
00:38:27,511 --> 00:38:30,723
I said, "But I don't get that." He
said, "You don't get that?" I said, "No."
615
00:38:30,806 --> 00:38:32,683
And he couldn't explain it.
616
00:38:33,893 --> 00:38:36,770
When Bob said, "It's not going to match
with what we shot yesterday,"
617
00:38:36,854 --> 00:38:40,149
-he said, "Brando never matched."
-"Brando never matched."
618
00:38:40,649 --> 00:38:42,151
So, that was his answer to that.
619
00:38:42,234 --> 00:38:46,113
Wasn't it difficult for Michael J. Fox
to be shooting his television series
620
00:38:46,196 --> 00:38:48,991
and shoot the movie at the same time?
How did he manage?
621
00:38:49,074 --> 00:38:51,327
How could he even function doing that?
622
00:38:51,869 --> 00:38:53,329
Well, he was young.
623
00:38:55,413 --> 00:38:56,998
He was young in those days.
624
00:38:58,416 --> 00:39:00,251
We started shooting with Michael
625
00:39:00,335 --> 00:39:04,756
around the first or second week
of January 1985,
626
00:39:04,839 --> 00:39:08,176
and I think his show ended shooting
627
00:39:09,385 --> 00:39:12,096
about the second or third week of March,
628
00:39:12,180 --> 00:39:15,350
and then we wrapped photography
in the third week in April.
629
00:39:17,143 --> 00:39:23,191
And then we also had the problem of,
we had to finish everything in the square
630
00:39:23,691 --> 00:39:27,778
that was the 1950s, because we had to
turn it around into the 1980s,
631
00:39:27,861 --> 00:39:31,531
so we actually shot the daytime scenes
632
00:39:32,866 --> 00:39:35,619
on the back lot, on the weekends.
633
00:39:35,702 --> 00:39:38,288
So, Michael didn't even get to
sleep on the weekends
634
00:39:38,372 --> 00:39:42,042
because the only time
we could get him for a full day of light
635
00:39:42,125 --> 00:39:45,128
was on Saturday and Sunday
at great expense to management
636
00:39:45,212 --> 00:39:48,632
because everyone's working
platinum time on Sunday to shoot.
637
00:39:50,175 --> 00:39:53,053
You know, so he didn't sleep hardly at all
638
00:39:53,136 --> 00:39:57,640
during that whole 10, 12 week period
that we were making the movie.
639
00:39:58,057 --> 00:40:00,810
How did you go about selecting
Christopher Lloyd
640
00:40:00,893 --> 00:40:03,229
to play the character of Doc Brown?
641
00:40:03,396 --> 00:40:08,234
Neil Canton had worked with
Christopher Lloyd on Buckaroo Banzai.
642
00:40:08,401 --> 00:40:12,613
And I think... As I remember,
the guy that we first wanted to have
643
00:40:12,697 --> 00:40:15,491
play Doc Brown was John Lithgow.
644
00:40:16,325 --> 00:40:18,244
Who also was a veteran of that movie.
645
00:40:18,953 --> 00:40:22,665
And he wasn't available, and Neil just said,
"You guys got to meet Christopher Lloyd.
646
00:40:22,748 --> 00:40:26,501
"You gotta meet him." And Chris came in.
647
00:40:27,335 --> 00:40:30,964
Didn't say a word, just sat in the office.
648
00:40:31,047 --> 00:40:33,842
But he looked at us with those eyes,
649
00:40:33,925 --> 00:40:36,720
and we said,
"Shit, that's Dr. Emmett Brown."
650
00:40:36,803 --> 00:40:40,724
As a matter of fact,
Chris never said a word.
651
00:40:40,807 --> 00:40:44,185
I never had a conversation with him
the entire movie.
652
00:40:44,269 --> 00:40:47,731
Chris is so shy that it...
653
00:40:48,106 --> 00:40:51,192
"You know, I'd just
say," All right, Chris,
654
00:40:51,276 --> 00:40:54,486
"we're going to put you in a harness,
you're gonna go up on the thing.
655
00:40:54,570 --> 00:40:57,906
"The camera's gonna be here.
You're going to hang from the clock.
656
00:40:57,990 --> 00:41:01,201
"There will be lightning and wind."
And he would go, "Okay."
657
00:41:02,453 --> 00:41:06,457
And that's how Chris and I...
658
00:41:06,707 --> 00:41:10,044
It took this entire movie
for Chris to warm up to me enough
659
00:41:10,127 --> 00:41:11,712
to actually, you know...
660
00:41:11,795 --> 00:41:16,508
For us to have conversations
in the following movies.
661
00:41:16,967 --> 00:41:19,803
But, yeah, Chris is...
He'd just say, "Okay."
662
00:41:20,804 --> 00:41:25,892
The amazing thing about him
is that he would be different every time.
663
00:41:25,975 --> 00:41:28,144
Every take
he'd do something a little different.
664
00:41:28,227 --> 00:41:31,898
You never exactly knew what it would be,
but it was always right.
665
00:41:33,107 --> 00:41:35,693
He created such
latitude with this character
666
00:41:35,777 --> 00:41:39,614
that we always had an embarrassment
of riches in the editing room.
667
00:41:39,697 --> 00:41:43,951
'Cause he'd just do some crazy thing
with his eyes on one line in one take,
668
00:41:44,035 --> 00:41:47,538
and then he'd do something else
in another take.
669
00:41:48,164 --> 00:41:50,291
It was always a tough
decision to try to say,
670
00:41:50,374 --> 00:41:52,668
"Which of these moments
are we gonna use?"
671
00:41:53,336 --> 00:41:56,254
He was always wonderful,
and it was good for the other actors.
672
00:41:56,338 --> 00:41:59,049
It was especially good for Michael J. Fox
673
00:41:59,132 --> 00:42:02,260
because Chris kept surprising him,
674
00:42:02,344 --> 00:42:06,973
and so he was able to react
a little bit differently in each scene,
675
00:42:07,516 --> 00:42:10,560
in each take,
and that kept his performance fresh.
676
00:42:10,644 --> 00:42:14,189
And it kept him on his toes
when he might have preferred
677
00:42:14,272 --> 00:42:17,192
to have gone into his
trailer to take a nap.
678
00:42:17,692 --> 00:42:19,796
And you've got to love Chris
because you talk about...
679
00:42:19,820 --> 00:42:23,198
Somebody asked a question earlier
about what happens?
680
00:42:23,281 --> 00:42:26,575
How does a performance get designed?
681
00:42:26,659 --> 00:42:30,329
"For example, I think Chris is 6'4"...
682
00:42:30,663 --> 00:42:34,708
-6'2", yeah.
-6'2", and Michael's not that tall.
683
00:42:36,418 --> 00:42:39,964
And you've gotta love Chris,
because Chris does the whole movie...
684
00:42:40,422 --> 00:42:44,218
He does the whole movie hunched over,
so I could keep them both in frame.
685
00:42:44,301 --> 00:42:47,304
Chris did this whole performance
like this, "Marty!"
686
00:42:49,306 --> 00:42:52,643
And he did that for me,
687
00:42:52,726 --> 00:42:55,770
because otherwise
I couldn't keep these guys in frame.
688
00:42:56,896 --> 00:42:59,941
And you know,
he just kept himself in frame for me
689
00:43:00,024 --> 00:43:04,779
and kind of
made the character live that way.
690
00:43:05,238 --> 00:43:09,450
The other thing I remember, too,
691
00:43:10,577 --> 00:43:14,622
is Chris absolutely would never
let you know what he was going to do
692
00:43:14,706 --> 00:43:16,249
until the camera was rolling.
693
00:43:16,332 --> 00:43:20,628
And I mean,
he would only ever do a rehearsal
694
00:43:21,629 --> 00:43:26,049
or a camera blocking, literally,
at quarter speed.
695
00:43:27,134 --> 00:43:29,553
And he would stumble through his lines,
696
00:43:29,636 --> 00:43:31,680
and he would have
the script pages with him.
697
00:43:33,307 --> 00:43:35,684
So then when we would say "roll,"
698
00:43:36,560 --> 00:43:40,397
he was nowhere where the camera operator
could find him in frame.
699
00:43:41,565 --> 00:43:46,111
So, basically, I just started
rolling the camera all the time,
700
00:43:46,195 --> 00:43:49,698
-knowing that and telling everybody that...
- "We don't know what's going to happen..."
701
00:43:49,781 --> 00:43:52,867
-"We don't know what's going to happen."
-"...but it will be good."
702
00:43:53,326 --> 00:43:56,871
The only way to get a full-speed rehearsal
is to roll film through the camera.
703
00:43:56,954 --> 00:43:59,457
It was a thing that Chris had about that.
704
00:43:59,540 --> 00:44:02,501
Did you always have a sequel in mind
705
00:44:02,585 --> 00:44:06,047
because, of course,
at the end of Back to the Future,
706
00:44:06,130 --> 00:44:08,716
Doc Brown comes back in the car?
707
00:44:09,050 --> 00:44:12,178
No, I've said in this other documentary
708
00:44:12,261 --> 00:44:15,890
if we were planning for a sequel,
I wouldn't have put the girl in the car.
709
00:44:15,973 --> 00:44:17,642
You know? I mean, no, we didn't...
710
00:44:19,143 --> 00:44:20,686
-The ending was a joke.
-It was a joke.
711
00:44:20,770 --> 00:44:23,355
It's just a joke. "Something's
got to be done about your kids."
712
00:44:23,980 --> 00:44:27,192
We had no idea
whether this movie would make a dime.
713
00:44:27,275 --> 00:44:30,403
We would have been happy
if it had just barely broke even
714
00:44:30,487 --> 00:44:33,073
because our other movies lost money.
715
00:44:33,156 --> 00:44:37,244
We didn't know that anybody would have the
slightest interest in seeing this picture.
716
00:44:37,327 --> 00:44:38,995
So, that was...
717
00:44:39,079 --> 00:44:42,749
The characters go riding off into the
sunset. That's the end of the movie.
718
00:44:42,832 --> 00:44:46,127
What were you looking for
when you were casting the role of Biff?
719
00:44:46,211 --> 00:44:52,008
Interestingly, there's a character
in the gang with a crew cut
720
00:44:52,925 --> 00:44:56,136
who's credited as "Skinhead."
His name is J.J. Cohen.
721
00:44:57,012 --> 00:45:01,934
He was somebody that we were
very seriously considering to play Biff.
722
00:45:02,017 --> 00:45:05,229
He came in and he just knocked us out.
723
00:45:07,773 --> 00:45:13,070
But he didn't have the physical presence
that playing against Eric Stoltz...
724
00:45:13,487 --> 00:45:16,824
You would have never believed
that he could push Eric Stoltz around.
725
00:45:18,367 --> 00:45:22,537
If Michael J. Fox had been in the movie
at that time,
726
00:45:22,787 --> 00:45:24,872
J.J. Cohen might have ended up being Biff
727
00:45:24,956 --> 00:45:28,626
because he would have been
four or five inches taller than him.
728
00:45:28,710 --> 00:45:34,007
We wanted somebody
that had a real physical presence
729
00:45:34,090 --> 00:45:37,176
and Tom Wilson is a big guy.
730
00:45:37,593 --> 00:45:41,264
Absolutely nothing
like the character of Biff.
731
00:45:41,597 --> 00:45:44,475
Just the sweetest,
most gentle guy in the world.
732
00:45:47,353 --> 00:45:50,732
He says that when he was a kid,
he got picked on,
733
00:45:50,815 --> 00:45:56,361
and that's where he drew his inspiration
for what he did.
734
00:45:56,862 --> 00:45:58,822
Can you make comments
about Lea Thompson
735
00:45:58,905 --> 00:46:00,866
and working with her on the film?
736
00:46:01,199 --> 00:46:04,328
Lea was just so great,
and wonderful, and sweet,
737
00:46:04,411 --> 00:46:07,015
and she did everything she was told
and she never gave us any problems.
738
00:46:07,039 --> 00:46:08,832
It was like a dream.
739
00:46:08,915 --> 00:46:13,003
She would just work
and do it perfect every take.
740
00:46:14,671 --> 00:46:17,299
She was just absolutely fantastic.
741
00:46:17,799 --> 00:46:19,676
I can't... Just great.
742
00:46:19,760 --> 00:46:21,802
We can't tell any
great Lea Thompson stories.
743
00:46:21,886 --> 00:46:23,888
Because there are none.
744
00:46:23,971 --> 00:46:26,098
-She was a director's dream.
-Always there.
745
00:46:26,182 --> 00:46:30,478
Always on time, always knew her lines,
always did it right.
746
00:46:31,103 --> 00:46:33,606
Actually, there's something
we should talk about, which is that
747
00:46:33,689 --> 00:46:37,610
one of the important decisions
that we made in the movie
748
00:46:37,693 --> 00:46:41,822
was using young actors
to play themselves old.
749
00:46:42,198 --> 00:46:45,534
At the time,
there were executives that thought
750
00:46:45,618 --> 00:46:48,454
maybe we should find actors
that looked like them
751
00:46:49,121 --> 00:46:50,456
to play them older.
752
00:46:50,539 --> 00:46:55,251
And we went through quite a lot
of makeup tests to prove
753
00:46:55,543 --> 00:46:57,420
that it could be done this way.
754
00:46:57,504 --> 00:47:00,006
'Cause normally, and
certainly at that time,
755
00:47:00,673 --> 00:47:02,050
this wasn't done.
756
00:47:02,133 --> 00:47:06,638
You didn't take an 18-year-old
or 22-year-old actor
757
00:47:06,721 --> 00:47:10,308
and put makeup on them
and make them look like they were 47.
758
00:47:11,017 --> 00:47:15,438
And so, we did quite a lot
of extensive makeup tests
759
00:47:15,522 --> 00:47:17,982
with Ken Chase, we hired.
760
00:47:18,066 --> 00:47:21,318
He'd done all the prosthetic makeup
on Roots.
761
00:47:23,362 --> 00:47:26,949
Ken always told us that it would
have been a lot easier for him
762
00:47:27,032 --> 00:47:33,080
if he were making these 18-year-olds
look like they were 75 instead of 45.
763
00:47:33,163 --> 00:47:37,793
'Cause then he could have put
full makeup on all over their face.
764
00:47:37,876 --> 00:47:39,716
But he had to create
these different appliances
765
00:47:39,753 --> 00:47:42,089
so that the actual face of the actor
766
00:47:42,172 --> 00:47:45,926
would be there, would be able to move,
767
00:47:46,009 --> 00:47:49,513
and everybody didn't look like
they had had too much Botox.
768
00:47:53,391 --> 00:47:56,644
It's a tribute to all the cast
769
00:47:57,103 --> 00:48:00,773
that they were able
to create things in their performance
770
00:48:01,023 --> 00:48:04,652
that made you buy them at age 47.
771
00:48:04,735 --> 00:48:08,156
It wasn't just the makeup, it was
their posture, and their body language,
772
00:48:08,239 --> 00:48:10,992
and their wardrobe, of course.
773
00:48:11,409 --> 00:48:13,703
Can you tell us about
working with Dean Cundey,
774
00:48:13,786 --> 00:48:15,496
your director of photography,
775
00:48:15,580 --> 00:48:19,208
and Larry Pauli, the production designer
on Back to the Future?
776
00:48:19,292 --> 00:48:23,795
I had worked with both Dean and Larry
on Romancing the Stone,
777
00:48:23,879 --> 00:48:26,631
and got along with them great.
778
00:48:28,341 --> 00:48:30,302
The design of the movie, basically...
779
00:48:30,385 --> 00:48:34,181
I guess the thing we started with
was the square, the town square.
780
00:48:34,264 --> 00:48:37,517
We just wanted to make
this kind of cynical statement
781
00:48:37,601 --> 00:48:41,146
about what it used to look like,
and what it looks like now,
782
00:48:41,229 --> 00:48:44,065
and that was a lot of fun to do.
783
00:48:44,441 --> 00:48:48,111
And to be able
to just take it from there, but...
784
00:48:48,737 --> 00:48:51,989
We actually considered
shooting that on location, remember?
785
00:48:52,072 --> 00:48:53,824
-Right.
-We scouted Petaluma.
786
00:48:53,908 --> 00:48:57,953
We went up to Petaluma,
which is where Joe Dante made Explorers,
787
00:48:58,037 --> 00:49:01,582
which came out a couple weeks
before our movie did in 1985.
788
00:49:03,250 --> 00:49:06,837
And it had this great look to it,
but when we started realizing
789
00:49:06,921 --> 00:49:11,509
all the headaches that we would have
trying to change the light fixtures,
790
00:49:11,592 --> 00:49:16,514
the street lighting, and every little thing,
every business that had to be bought out
791
00:49:16,597 --> 00:49:21,392
to change a modern-day town
and take it back 30 years,
792
00:49:22,727 --> 00:49:27,607
it ended up that it was pointless to do
anything except shoot it on the back lot.
793
00:49:28,149 --> 00:49:29,776
In terms of the car,
794
00:49:30,235 --> 00:49:34,239
Michael J. Fox talks
about how demonic that car was.
795
00:49:34,614 --> 00:49:37,659
Do you have any memories
about how difficult it was
796
00:49:37,742 --> 00:49:39,619
to work with it as a prop?
797
00:49:40,078 --> 00:49:42,664
Yeah, it was a terrible
car. It was terrible.
798
00:49:42,747 --> 00:49:45,667
I mean, the frame is plastic.
799
00:49:49,920 --> 00:49:53,090
They had a four-cylinder Volvo engine
in that model DeLorean.
800
00:49:53,173 --> 00:49:55,842
It didn't have any pickup at all.
801
00:49:55,926 --> 00:49:59,137
And it was impossible to shoot around.
802
00:49:59,930 --> 00:50:04,101
We had to cut one apart because
it was too small to get a camera in.
803
00:50:04,184 --> 00:50:09,356
So, all the scenes that we have
inside of the DeLorean,
804
00:50:09,439 --> 00:50:12,317
where Michael is sitting in there
and driving it,
805
00:50:12,401 --> 00:50:14,820
were a process done on the stage.
806
00:50:15,445 --> 00:50:21,492
We actually had to cut the car apart
so that we could pull the back wall out
807
00:50:21,576 --> 00:50:23,744
-and get the camera in there.
-Right.
808
00:50:23,828 --> 00:50:27,832
Yes, but all movie cars are like that.
There's just something about it, you know?
809
00:50:29,500 --> 00:50:35,423
As soon as you bring a picture car
on the set, it just doesn't start.
810
00:50:37,008 --> 00:50:41,137
Or it runs out of gas. It never fails.
It's just one of those curses.
811
00:50:41,429 --> 00:50:43,347
I've never had it not happen.
812
00:50:43,431 --> 00:50:46,100
One of the problems
that we had a lot was...
813
00:50:46,726 --> 00:50:49,769
Again, nobody would have
ever thought of this one.
814
00:50:49,853 --> 00:50:54,357
We'd be shooting outside on the back lot,
and at night it got really cold out there.
815
00:50:54,441 --> 00:50:56,568
It was wintertime when we were shooting it.
816
00:50:56,651 --> 00:51:00,655
And the way that the DeLorean
gull-wing doors stayed up was
817
00:51:00,739 --> 00:51:06,244
there were these little gas-jet things,
like you use to open up a door.
818
00:51:06,661 --> 00:51:10,582
And when we left the door open for a while,
819
00:51:10,665 --> 00:51:13,418
the gas would condense in the cold
820
00:51:13,501 --> 00:51:16,796
and the door would just start to drop down
in the middle of a take.
821
00:51:16,880 --> 00:51:20,924
So, finally, in between takes,
we had the special effects crew out there
822
00:51:21,008 --> 00:51:22,843
with portable hair dryers,
823
00:51:22,926 --> 00:51:26,305
and they were in there
heating up those valves.
824
00:51:26,597 --> 00:51:31,435
Heating up that gas, so that the car door
would stay open through an entire take.
825
00:51:31,518 --> 00:51:34,980
ILM did the special visual effects
for all three movies
826
00:51:35,064 --> 00:51:39,234
and obviously, they were in their early
days at the time you made the first picture.
827
00:51:39,318 --> 00:51:42,321
I was just wondering
if you had any concerns at the time
828
00:51:42,404 --> 00:51:46,075
about some of the visual effects
that had to be done to the picture?
829
00:51:46,158 --> 00:51:47,868
There was no digital work.
830
00:51:48,452 --> 00:51:51,079
That's what all... No, no, no, no.
831
00:51:51,371 --> 00:51:54,207
Everything there was optical.
832
00:51:59,170 --> 00:52:01,589
There's only about 30-some shots
in the whole movie.
833
00:52:01,673 --> 00:52:05,051
Everyone sees it
as a big special effects movie,
834
00:52:05,134 --> 00:52:06,320
but there weren't that many shots.
835
00:52:06,344 --> 00:52:09,263
In those days,
everything had to be a lock-off.
836
00:52:11,057 --> 00:52:16,270
They had this little VistaVision camera
that could only run a minute of film.
837
00:52:19,940 --> 00:52:23,777
You know, that was real old-fashioned,
optical stuff
838
00:52:23,860 --> 00:52:27,614
from the early days of Star Wars.
That's what everything was.
839
00:52:27,698 --> 00:52:29,950
The car at the end was a miniature
840
00:52:31,118 --> 00:52:35,414
that they made move just like they did
the spaceships in Star Wars
841
00:52:35,497 --> 00:52:37,666
on an articulated arm.
842
00:52:38,125 --> 00:52:42,462
I guess it was a motion-controlled camera
they had up at ILM
843
00:52:42,546 --> 00:52:44,965
with a blue screen.
844
00:52:46,341 --> 00:52:50,553
Just all the old optical work.
845
00:52:51,554 --> 00:52:56,267
We never saw a decent optical
until about a week
846
00:52:56,350 --> 00:52:59,895
before the picture had to be turned over
to negative cutting.
847
00:53:00,187 --> 00:53:04,525
We were terrified, because this was
the first time we'd ever worked with ILM.
848
00:53:04,608 --> 00:53:07,945
And we would get these comps down,
and they would be terrible.
849
00:53:10,364 --> 00:53:15,202
Bob would have these frantic conversations
with Ken Ralston
850
00:53:16,078 --> 00:53:19,164
about why this didn't look right,
and why this didn't look right,
851
00:53:19,247 --> 00:53:22,667
and would it even be possible
to get it in time.
852
00:53:24,711 --> 00:53:25,962
And ILM did.
853
00:53:26,045 --> 00:53:28,923
There's still one shot
that still doesn't work.
854
00:53:29,007 --> 00:53:34,179
Ken just couldn't get the one where
he sees his eye through his hand.
855
00:53:34,679 --> 00:53:39,184
But you know what? That's the imperfection
that we put in there for...
856
00:53:39,642 --> 00:53:41,686
We didn't want to insult Allah, so...
857
00:53:46,441 --> 00:53:49,151
It's a movie, so it's perfect enough.
858
00:53:49,526 --> 00:53:52,029
ILM worked on all three movies,
859
00:53:52,112 --> 00:53:54,615
but obviously,
when Back to the Future was made,
860
00:53:54,698 --> 00:53:57,326
they were in their earlier days.
861
00:53:57,618 --> 00:54:00,829
And I'm just wondering if you had
any concerns about some of the work
862
00:54:00,913 --> 00:54:04,374
that had to be done in the movie,
in terms of visual effects?
863
00:54:04,583 --> 00:54:06,710
There were shots of Chris
on the clock tower
864
00:54:06,794 --> 00:54:09,254
where you actually can see
the cable on his harness,
865
00:54:10,756 --> 00:54:16,595
which would be an insult
if I paid $9 to go see Spider-Man
866
00:54:16,678 --> 00:54:19,931
and I actually saw a cable in the shot.
867
00:54:20,014 --> 00:54:21,766
There's no excuse for that now.
868
00:54:21,849 --> 00:54:24,018
But, in those days,
there was no way to remove it.
869
00:54:24,101 --> 00:54:26,938
You know, that was
the best piece or performance.
870
00:54:27,021 --> 00:54:29,774
God, this movie
would be so easy to make now.
871
00:54:29,857 --> 00:54:32,276
Can you imagine
how I would have done the town square?
872
00:54:32,360 --> 00:54:34,278
I would have just painted it in.
873
00:54:34,362 --> 00:54:37,281
I would've had huge buildings.
And it would have been like...
874
00:54:37,365 --> 00:54:39,909
And then, when I went back to the '80s,
875
00:54:39,992 --> 00:54:41,994
it would've been so completely different.
876
00:54:42,078 --> 00:54:44,288
I wouldn't have had
to do it all physically.
877
00:54:44,372 --> 00:54:47,749
So, I could have made it better,
if I had digital technology.
878
00:54:48,250 --> 00:54:50,627
Movies have always been
this technical thing.
879
00:54:51,753 --> 00:54:56,466
It all, ultimately, comes back to the
script and the imagination of the filmmaker.
880
00:54:56,550 --> 00:54:59,678
The digital stuff is just a tool.
881
00:55:01,054 --> 00:55:03,348
Being a director and a screenwriter,
882
00:55:03,431 --> 00:55:07,352
was there a particular scene
that you were excited about
883
00:55:07,435 --> 00:55:09,437
going in and directing?
884
00:55:09,521 --> 00:55:13,525
And did that scene come out
exactly the way you wanted it,
885
00:55:13,608 --> 00:55:15,235
the way you had imagined it?
886
00:55:16,069 --> 00:55:18,946
I just couldn't believe how lucky I was
887
00:55:19,029 --> 00:55:22,616
on the day we shot Michael
walking into the town square
888
00:55:22,700 --> 00:55:27,288
for the first time, because I had
those great cumulus clouds in the sky.
889
00:55:27,371 --> 00:55:31,208
See now, if I was doing the movie today,
I just would have painted all those in.
890
00:55:31,292 --> 00:55:34,545
"The sky would have looked perfect.
But I was like, "I can't believe
891
00:55:34,628 --> 00:55:36,106
"how lucky we were to have that sky."
892
00:55:36,130 --> 00:55:38,382
-That was a great thing.
-So, you have those,
893
00:55:38,465 --> 00:55:42,887
or there's millions of times in this movie
where the actor will do something
894
00:55:42,970 --> 00:55:45,097
"that you never imagined,
and you go," Wow!
895
00:55:45,180 --> 00:55:50,018
"I never thought I'd ever see an actor
do a reading like that, or hear that."
896
00:55:50,351 --> 00:55:55,273
Those are the gems. But as far as my work,
897
00:55:55,356 --> 00:55:58,192
it's always just compromise.
898
00:55:58,693 --> 00:56:01,029
It's always less than I ever imagined it,
you know?
899
00:56:01,446 --> 00:56:05,241
I always have to go in and say,
"Well, we'll piece this together."
900
00:56:06,993 --> 00:56:10,246
"We'll figure out a way
to make it work, somehow."
901
00:56:10,330 --> 00:56:13,166
"If we had another day,
it could have really been great."
902
00:56:13,249 --> 00:56:16,627
You know?
That's how I come away from everything.
903
00:56:16,710 --> 00:56:19,546
Of course, in this movie,
we did have the unusual circumstance
904
00:56:19,630 --> 00:56:22,758
of actually getting to redo
a couple of those scenes.
905
00:56:22,925 --> 00:56:25,844
We did make them a little bit better.
906
00:56:25,928 --> 00:56:28,406
Made them a little better.
But they were also angst-ridden, too,
907
00:56:28,430 --> 00:56:32,184
because once you go back, you feel
like you're compelled to make it better.
908
00:56:32,309 --> 00:56:35,079
That's why, any time you re-shoot,
it's always a pain because you're going,
909
00:56:35,103 --> 00:56:37,522
"Oh, no, I've got to make it better now."
910
00:56:40,192 --> 00:56:42,027
There's nothing worse than re-shooting.
911
00:56:42,110 --> 00:56:46,113
Michael J. Fox would go crazy
because we'd have these conversations,
912
00:56:46,197 --> 00:56:48,157
"Well, you did this scene before."
913
00:56:48,240 --> 00:56:50,368
He'd go, "Damn it.
I never did this scene before."
914
00:56:50,451 --> 00:56:51,452
That's right.
915
00:56:54,455 --> 00:57:00,378
Some scenes I shot, you know,
exactly the way I shot it with Eric.
916
00:57:01,587 --> 00:57:03,923
Completely, camera in the same place.
917
00:57:04,215 --> 00:57:06,926
Other times, I was able to go back and say,
"You know what?
918
00:57:07,009 --> 00:57:12,807
"We can improve this by doing this."
And the best thing is, you get to...
919
00:57:12,890 --> 00:57:15,226
The advantage of going back
and redoing stuff sometimes
920
00:57:15,309 --> 00:57:17,143
is that you know what you don't need.
921
00:57:17,227 --> 00:57:20,188
Well, let's not waste our time
doing that wide-angle,
922
00:57:20,271 --> 00:57:23,566
we're never going to use it.
So, that was helpful.
923
00:57:23,650 --> 00:57:25,694
Can you comment on the editing of the film?
924
00:57:25,777 --> 00:57:28,822
Was it as frantic as the shooting,
in terms of schedule?
925
00:57:28,905 --> 00:57:31,449
And are there any deleted scenes?
926
00:57:31,533 --> 00:57:35,537
I guess I was coming into the editing room
about two hours before the call.
927
00:57:35,620 --> 00:57:38,248
So, I'd go and I'd edit, and then I'd...
928
00:57:38,331 --> 00:57:41,394
Because we were shooting nights, I'd
go and I'd edit, then I'd go see dailies,
929
00:57:41,418 --> 00:57:47,131
and then I'd go start to work.
And I would just, you know, we had...
930
00:57:47,214 --> 00:57:51,760
I think the editing rooms were trailers
near the back lot.
931
00:57:51,844 --> 00:57:55,097
Toward the end, I'd just get in a golf cart
and zip over and they'd look at it.
932
00:57:55,180 --> 00:57:58,017
Look at a scene, give them my notes.
933
00:57:58,100 --> 00:57:59,768
We had to put two editors on, because
934
00:57:59,852 --> 00:58:05,899
we had to have this accelerated release
because... When did we wrap?
935
00:58:05,983 --> 00:58:08,569
We wrapped, I think it was April 20.
936
00:58:08,652 --> 00:58:11,071
-And the movie came out on the Fourth...
-July 3.
937
00:58:11,155 --> 00:58:13,699
So, it was nine-and-a-half weeks from
when we wrapped to
938
00:58:13,782 --> 00:58:15,159
when the movie was in the theater.
939
00:58:15,242 --> 00:58:19,203
This movie ruined post-production
schedules in Hollywood,
940
00:58:19,287 --> 00:58:21,831
because nobody thought
that this was even possible.
941
00:58:21,914 --> 00:58:25,877
And at the point when we changed actors,
942
00:58:25,960 --> 00:58:30,089
Universal was resigned to the fact
that the movie probably wouldn't come out
943
00:58:30,173 --> 00:58:32,383
until the middle of August now.
944
00:58:32,467 --> 00:58:35,553
So, we were kind of thinking that
945
00:58:35,636 --> 00:58:39,724
we'd have a release date
in the middle of August.
946
00:58:39,807 --> 00:58:44,562
And then we had
this dynamite sneak preview.
947
00:58:44,645 --> 00:58:48,106
And here comes Mr. Sheinberg again,
948
00:58:48,190 --> 00:58:52,027
and he sees the movie with this audience
and they just go completely nuts.
949
00:58:52,110 --> 00:58:54,237
And the visual effects weren't finished,
950
00:58:54,321 --> 00:58:56,215
the last shot in the movie
was in black and white.
951
00:58:56,239 --> 00:58:57,699
It was still pretty rough.
952
00:58:57,783 --> 00:59:01,578
But the audience just got it,
and got it big time.
953
00:59:01,661 --> 00:59:04,915
And he pulled us aside, and he said,
954
00:59:04,998 --> 00:59:07,918
"Is it possible? What would we have to do"
955
00:59:08,001 --> 00:59:11,213
"to get this movie out
for the Fourth of July weekend?"
956
00:59:11,296 --> 00:59:15,091
And we said, "Write some checks."
957
00:59:15,174 --> 00:59:18,010
And he said,
"Okay, whatever it costs, do it."
958
00:59:18,094 --> 00:59:22,598
And we actually had sound crews
working 24 hours a day.
959
00:59:22,681 --> 00:59:26,143
We had, in the Hitchcock Theater,
where we were doing the mix,
960
00:59:26,227 --> 00:59:29,480
we had a pre-dub crew
working the graveyard shift.
961
00:59:29,563 --> 00:59:32,108
They'd start working about 8:00 at night,
962
00:59:32,191 --> 00:59:34,110
and go home at 7:00 in the morning.
963
00:59:34,193 --> 00:59:38,322
And then we'd come in
at 8:00 in the morning,
964
00:59:38,405 --> 00:59:43,244
and mix the picture with the tracks that
they had pre-dubbed for us the night before.
965
00:59:43,327 --> 00:59:45,954
So, that was insane.
966
00:59:46,037 --> 00:59:49,624
Bob Gale, can you tell us a little more
about those sneak previews?
967
00:59:49,707 --> 00:59:52,001
Any surprises after the first one?
968
00:59:52,085 --> 00:59:54,420
The first sneak preview...
We had two sneak previews.
969
00:59:54,504 --> 00:59:58,383
The first one was in San Jose, and
we didn't invite the studio to that one.
970
00:59:58,466 --> 01:00:00,552
One of the advantages of
having Steven Spielberg
971
01:00:00,635 --> 01:00:02,345
as your executive producer is,
972
01:00:02,428 --> 01:00:05,765
he can close the door on
certain people that you don't want there.
973
01:00:05,849 --> 01:00:07,308
We didn't want their feedback yet.
974
01:00:07,392 --> 01:00:10,228
We didn't want the studio to see the movie
and hear their feedback.
975
01:00:10,311 --> 01:00:13,022
We wanted to hear
what the audience had to say.
976
01:00:13,106 --> 01:00:19,027
And one of the things that...
The movie had gotten no publicity.
977
01:00:19,111 --> 01:00:23,157
Back then, there was no Internet,
there was no advance word about anything.
978
01:00:23,240 --> 01:00:26,994
Here we had a recruited audience, and
all they knew was they were seeing a movie
979
01:00:27,077 --> 01:00:30,080
that had Michael J. Fox,
who they knew from Family Ties,
980
01:00:30,164 --> 01:00:34,543
and Christopher Lloyd, who they knew from
Taxi, and it was some kind of a comedy,
981
01:00:34,626 --> 01:00:38,422
and they didn't even know
what it was about. So when the...
982
01:00:38,505 --> 01:00:40,507
They didn't even know
it was about time travel.
983
01:00:40,591 --> 01:00:44,468
So when the DeLorean came out of the truck,
they didn't know what it was.
984
01:00:44,552 --> 01:00:49,891
And, I remember, when Doc does
his time-travel experiment with Einstein,
985
01:00:49,974 --> 01:00:52,268
and the car and the dog disappears,
986
01:00:52,351 --> 01:00:57,023
there was this very nervous thing
happening in the audience,
987
01:00:57,106 --> 01:01:01,861
where people thought that something bad
might have happened to that dog.
988
01:01:01,944 --> 01:01:03,529
They were real worried about that.
989
01:01:03,613 --> 01:01:08,492
There was a big sigh of relief
when the dog comes back and he's okay.
990
01:01:08,576 --> 01:01:14,080
And I remember that the point in the movie
at that screening where they got it
991
01:01:14,164 --> 01:01:18,376
was when Marty sees his father in the cafe.
992
01:01:18,460 --> 01:01:22,589
In that scene, where Biff and those guys
come in and start harassing, "Hey, McFly."
993
01:01:22,672 --> 01:01:25,634
At that point, you really knew
that they were totally with it,
994
01:01:25,717 --> 01:01:29,221
and they completely went with it.
995
01:01:29,304 --> 01:01:33,266
We cut six or seven minutes
out of the picture after that screening.
996
01:01:33,350 --> 01:01:37,520
And that was the last time that,
that ever happened.
997
01:01:37,604 --> 01:01:41,191
That people didn't know
it was a time-travel movie.
998
01:01:41,274 --> 01:01:43,859
Once they knew that
it was a time-travel movie,
999
01:01:43,943 --> 01:01:47,321
and the word started to get out it was
about this kid that meets his parents,
1000
01:01:47,404 --> 01:01:50,783
a lot of the stuff at the beginning
played differently than it did
1001
01:01:50,866 --> 01:01:52,910
with a completely cold audience.
1002
01:01:52,993 --> 01:01:56,497
And, of course, no one was ever again
worried about the dog.
1003
01:01:56,580 --> 01:01:59,250
Can you tell us a little bit
about Steven Spielberg?
1004
01:01:59,333 --> 01:02:02,711
What is he like to work with
on a day-to-day basis,
1005
01:02:02,795 --> 01:02:07,049
in production and post-production.
Was he very hands-on?
1006
01:02:07,132 --> 01:02:09,051
With me, Steven's great.
1007
01:02:09,134 --> 01:02:14,222
Steven's a director,
so he doesn't ask you to do insane things.
1008
01:02:14,305 --> 01:02:18,768
He's always respected my vision
as a director.
1009
01:02:18,851 --> 01:02:22,939
I can't speak for other
directors, but for me,
1010
01:02:23,022 --> 01:02:26,401
he's never meddled in the process anywhere.
1011
01:02:26,484 --> 01:02:29,112
Tell them the story about the score,
1012
01:02:29,195 --> 01:02:31,489
and how Steven was so concerned
about the score.
1013
01:02:31,572 --> 01:02:33,157
-Remember that?
-For this movie?
1014
01:02:33,241 --> 01:02:36,202
-Yeah.
-No.
1015
01:02:37,203 --> 01:02:39,163
Okay, well...
1016
01:02:41,374 --> 01:02:45,085
Bob had worked with Al Silvestri
on Romancing the Stone,
1017
01:02:45,168 --> 01:02:49,548
and Steven wasn't that enamored
with the score of Romancing the Stone
1018
01:02:49,631 --> 01:02:54,261
and he made no bones about
making that clear.
1019
01:02:54,344 --> 01:02:58,432
And he thought that we needed somebody
that could do a more...
1020
01:02:58,515 --> 01:03:00,642
John Williams kind of a score.
1021
01:03:00,726 --> 01:03:05,355
And he was always paranoid
about what the score was going to be.
1022
01:03:05,439 --> 01:03:10,319
So, in that first preview,
we had a mixture of temp music,
1023
01:03:10,402 --> 01:03:13,946
and we'd had the first two days of scoring.
1024
01:03:14,030 --> 01:03:17,074
So we actually had some of the real score
cut into the movie.
1025
01:03:17,158 --> 01:03:21,829
So one of Alan's cues came on
during the sneak,
1026
01:03:21,912 --> 01:03:25,100
and Steven leans over to Bob and says,
"That's what your score should sound like."
1027
01:03:25,124 --> 01:03:27,877
And Bob said, "That is the score, Steven."
1028
01:03:27,960 --> 01:03:30,880
Yeah, right, I remember that.
1029
01:03:30,963 --> 01:03:35,843
Steven's always trying to do
what's right for you and the movie.
1030
01:03:35,926 --> 01:03:42,224
And you just have to sometimes,
you know...
1031
01:03:42,308 --> 01:03:44,809
You just have to cherry-pick his ideas.
1032
01:03:44,893 --> 01:03:47,395
Because sometimes he'll have
really good ideas,
1033
01:03:47,479 --> 01:03:50,315
and sometimes he's not making
the movie you're making.
1034
01:03:50,398 --> 01:03:56,363
So, it's like, he's just another opinion
in the mix.
1035
01:03:56,446 --> 01:03:58,782
Bob has a theory. He says,
1036
01:03:58,865 --> 01:04:01,534
"If one person says something,
that's their opinion."
1037
01:04:01,618 --> 01:04:03,495
"If two people say the same thing,"
1038
01:04:03,578 --> 01:04:06,289
"then there are probably millions of people
that'll agree."
1039
01:04:06,373 --> 01:04:08,833
So, if one person
said, "I don't like that,"
1040
01:04:08,917 --> 01:04:11,795
and somebody else said,
"I like that, I didn't like this."
1041
01:04:11,878 --> 01:04:14,922
And there's all this difference of opinion
about everything.
1042
01:04:15,005 --> 01:04:19,635
We'd just shrug our shoulders and say,
"Well, let's not worry about that."
1043
01:04:19,718 --> 01:04:21,970
But if two or three people kept saying,
1044
01:04:22,054 --> 01:04:26,350
"I don't know, that thing where
Biff does this really bothers me."
1045
01:04:26,433 --> 01:04:30,020
Then we'd go back and look at that and say,
"Maybe there's a problem with that."
1046
01:04:30,104 --> 01:04:31,563
Did you guys have any concerns?
1047
01:04:31,647 --> 01:04:36,485
And what was the reaction really
before the movie came out?
1048
01:04:36,568 --> 01:04:41,949
We had two previews in theaters
and one on the studio lot.
1049
01:04:42,031 --> 01:04:44,951
There was a controversy about that,
too, because
1050
01:04:45,034 --> 01:04:49,038
they had just built the Hitchcock Theater
and supposedly it was cursed.
1051
01:04:49,122 --> 01:04:52,750
Meaning that any movie that ever played
in the Hitchcock... They said,
1052
01:04:52,834 --> 01:04:55,753
"Is this movie is a comedy? Don't
ever play it in the Hitchcock Theater,"
1053
01:04:55,837 --> 01:04:58,756
"because nothing plays
in the Hitchcock Theater."
1054
01:04:58,840 --> 01:05:00,800
"Everything we ever screened there is..."
1055
01:05:00,883 --> 01:05:02,176
I remember Sid got up and said,
1056
01:05:02,260 --> 01:05:04,262
"The problem with..."
After the lights came on.
1057
01:05:04,345 --> 01:05:08,683
We turned to him and we said, "So much
for the curse of the Hitchcock Theater."
1058
01:05:08,766 --> 01:05:12,352
And Sid says, "The curse of the Hitchcock
Theater has been shitty movies."
1059
01:05:12,436 --> 01:05:15,689
Right. So he said...
1060
01:05:18,733 --> 01:05:23,822
And the other thing, too, was we developed
the original screenplay at Columbia,
1061
01:05:26,199 --> 01:05:29,744
and Steven originally
developed E.T. at Columbia.
1062
01:05:29,828 --> 01:05:32,998
So when the lights came on at the
first preview that Sid saw the movie,
1063
01:05:33,081 --> 01:05:35,041
the other thing he said was,
1064
01:05:35,125 --> 01:05:37,502
"I get the best stuff
from Columbia Pictures!"
1065
01:05:37,586 --> 01:05:40,672
It was something like that.
1066
01:05:40,755 --> 01:05:42,465
So, anyway...
1067
01:05:45,050 --> 01:05:49,847
The previews, I remember, that I got
1068
01:05:49,930 --> 01:05:56,353
incredibly, almost paralyzed with fear
when I had all these really good previews
1069
01:05:56,437 --> 01:05:59,815
because I understood that the movies...
1070
01:05:59,899 --> 01:06:04,653
Both I Wanna Hold Your Hand and Used Cars
also had tremendous previews.
1071
01:06:04,737 --> 01:06:08,032
And it didn't mean anything.
It's two different worlds.
1072
01:06:08,115 --> 01:06:10,367
There are so many wonderful movies
that are made,
1073
01:06:10,451 --> 01:06:14,245
and they're great, and they work,
but nobody wants to go see them.
1074
01:06:14,329 --> 01:06:16,414
So, I was really terrified
1075
01:06:16,498 --> 01:06:20,001
that they weren't going to be able
to open this movie.
1076
01:06:20,084 --> 01:06:22,921
I just thought...
1077
01:06:23,004 --> 01:06:29,219
I just was terrified that
the movie might not find its audience.
1078
01:06:29,302 --> 01:06:33,014
But then, I also remember that...
1079
01:06:33,097 --> 01:06:35,975
And I didn't like the TV spots.
1080
01:06:37,435 --> 01:06:43,565
And I realized on making this movie that
that's an art form that I don't understand
1081
01:06:43,649 --> 01:06:48,987
and I should just butt out
of the marketing because...
1082
01:06:49,071 --> 01:06:52,908
I forget who it was,
but whoever cut the TV spot,
1083
01:06:52,991 --> 01:06:57,204
every single piece of marketing material
1084
01:06:57,287 --> 01:07:00,165
had that one line of Michael
Fox's in there, where he said,
1085
01:07:00,249 --> 01:07:03,502
"Are you telling me
my mother has got the hots for me?"
1086
01:07:03,585 --> 01:07:10,050
And I thought the way you sell this movie
is with all my effects and my action.
1087
01:07:10,133 --> 01:07:14,011
But they saw the movie and they said,
"This is what the spot should be."
1088
01:07:14,095 --> 01:07:17,640
And that one line was in everything,
and there was something about that.
1089
01:07:17,723 --> 01:07:20,268
They understood that
that's what people would come in for.
1090
01:07:20,351 --> 01:07:25,106
Seeing Michael J. Fox say that
was the whole campaign.
1091
01:07:25,189 --> 01:07:27,567
For me, the first time that I thought
1092
01:07:27,650 --> 01:07:32,029
maybe we might have
something happening was...
1093
01:07:32,113 --> 01:07:37,076
We shot the exterior of the high
school stuff down at Whittier High School.
1094
01:07:37,159 --> 01:07:39,912
And one night,
we were shooting the dance stuff,
1095
01:07:39,996 --> 01:07:43,081
and word got out that Michael J. Fox
was in this movie,
1096
01:07:43,164 --> 01:07:47,544
and suddenly we had kids lined up,
1097
01:07:47,627 --> 01:07:51,089
seven-deep, just trying to catch a glimpse
of Michael J. Fox.
1098
01:07:51,172 --> 01:07:54,342
That never happened to us before
on any movie we'd done.
1099
01:07:54,426 --> 01:07:57,637
And we said,
"Wow! This guy's really a star."
1100
01:07:57,721 --> 01:08:03,059
We didn't realize how big of a star
you can be from being in a hit TV series.
1101
01:08:03,143 --> 01:08:07,772
And Michael was unavailable
to do any promotion.
1102
01:08:07,856 --> 01:08:11,734
I remember that,
because Sid was angry about that.
1103
01:08:11,817 --> 01:08:15,738
"So we've got the star of this movie,
and we can't even put him on TV!"
1104
01:08:15,821 --> 01:08:19,950
Because Michael, on top of everything else
with Family Ties,
1105
01:08:20,034 --> 01:08:23,621
they decided they were going to shoot
an entire season in Europe.
1106
01:08:23,704 --> 01:08:26,144
-Like "Family Ties Goes to Europe."
-"Goes to London. "Yeah.
1107
01:08:26,206 --> 01:08:29,251
And that was the summer
that the movie opened,
1108
01:08:29,335 --> 01:08:34,798
so Michael wasn't even around to A, enjoy
all the insanity of the success of the movie,
1109
01:08:34,882 --> 01:08:37,801
and B, he wasn't around to
promote the movie either.
1110
01:08:37,885 --> 01:08:42,639
He just kept hearing on the phone
that the movie's a success.
1111
01:08:42,722 --> 01:08:45,683
Do you remember good reviews?
Bad reviews?
1112
01:08:45,767 --> 01:08:49,562
Were you concerned about reviews
or even paying attention?
1113
01:08:49,646 --> 01:08:53,149
You mean of the reviews? No.
1114
01:08:53,232 --> 01:08:55,234
There were some, you know...
1115
01:08:55,318 --> 01:08:58,529
We got a lot of good reviews,
we got some people that didn't like it.
1116
01:08:58,613 --> 01:09:00,448
That's what makes the world go round.
1117
01:09:00,531 --> 01:09:04,118
If you start worrying about that,
you can really make yourself insane.
1118
01:09:04,202 --> 01:09:07,914
I remember Steve Martin, I saw him do
an interview once where he said,
1119
01:09:07,997 --> 01:09:14,086
"The critics who give my movies
good reviews"
1120
01:09:14,169 --> 01:09:18,340
"are insightful, wonderful, genius people,"
1121
01:09:18,423 --> 01:09:22,010
"and those who give my movies bad reviews
are worthless scum."
1122
01:09:25,430 --> 01:09:29,685
At what point did you guys realize
that not only did you have a hit,
1123
01:09:29,768 --> 01:09:35,982
but you had a mega hit?
And how did it change your life and career?
1124
01:09:36,066 --> 01:09:40,194
Second weekend, the box office gross was
higher than it was the opening weekend.
1125
01:09:40,277 --> 01:09:43,239
You don't see that anymore.
1126
01:09:43,322 --> 01:09:47,493
When the movie was released,
we were only in 1, 100 or 1,200 theaters
1127
01:09:47,576 --> 01:09:52,998
and I think our opening box office gross
was $10 million for the weekend,
1128
01:09:53,082 --> 01:09:54,625
which was big.
1129
01:09:54,709 --> 01:09:59,338
And, in fact, that summer,
11 out of 12 weeks
1130
01:09:59,422 --> 01:10:03,676
from when the movie was released,
it was the number one movie in America.
1131
01:10:03,759 --> 01:10:08,764
One weekend we got knocked out
by National Lampoon...
1132
01:10:08,848 --> 01:10:10,849
Some National Lampoon movie.
I forgot what it was.
1133
01:10:10,932 --> 01:10:16,896
Our big concern was that we were going
to get clobbered by the Mad Max...
1134
01:10:16,980 --> 01:10:19,816
Road Warrior... Beyond the Thunderdome.
1135
01:10:19,899 --> 01:10:23,945
-Right.
-I remember, that was going to be it.
1136
01:10:24,028 --> 01:10:29,951
And we rolled right over them,
so we were really excited about that.
1137
01:10:30,660 --> 01:10:32,829
What's interesting about this movie was,
1138
01:10:32,912 --> 01:10:39,877
I went to a couple of theaters
to watch it play with the public.
1139
01:10:40,502 --> 01:10:45,299
And people, when Michael got back
1140
01:10:45,382 --> 01:10:49,470
and he did that thing with his family,
1141
01:10:49,553 --> 01:10:51,597
everyone assumed that the movie was over,
1142
01:10:51,680 --> 01:10:54,475
and some people would start
to leave the theater,
1143
01:10:54,558 --> 01:10:57,269
and then they would come running back in,
1144
01:10:57,352 --> 01:10:59,772
because the movie was still going.
1145
01:10:59,855 --> 01:11:03,442
Because we had so many different endings
on this movie,
1146
01:11:03,525 --> 01:11:05,694
that people were trying to
second-guess the endings
1147
01:11:05,778 --> 01:11:07,571
and, of course, they were always wrong.
1148
01:11:07,654 --> 01:11:13,618
Can you explain how you stay in tune
with the popular culture, what's going on?
1149
01:11:13,701 --> 01:11:19,123
Is that awareness important to you
and is it part of your creative process?
1150
01:11:19,207 --> 01:11:22,460
The awareness is that
it's a constant sort of anxiety and fear,
1151
01:11:22,543 --> 01:11:27,924
because you don't really know why it is and
you don't know when it's going to go away.
1152
01:11:28,007 --> 01:11:30,802
And you look around you
and see it happening
1153
01:11:30,885 --> 01:11:33,721
to other filmmakers all over the place.
1154
01:11:33,805 --> 01:11:40,727
And the landscape of everything
is changing so dramatically.
1155
01:11:40,811 --> 01:11:46,525
But I just keep asking myself
the two questions, which is,
1156
01:11:47,234 --> 01:11:50,695
"Do I want to go see this movie?"
1157
01:11:50,779 --> 01:11:55,242
And, "Do I think anybody else
wants to go see it?"
1158
01:11:55,325 --> 01:11:58,995
Because that's the best I can do,
and it's really out of my control.
1159
01:11:59,079 --> 01:12:03,208
We find that if you try to
second-guess the audience too much,
1160
01:12:03,291 --> 01:12:06,795
you're going to shoot yourself in the head.
1161
01:12:06,878 --> 01:12:09,255
There's plenty of movies where
1162
01:12:09,338 --> 01:12:13,759
"you see that somebody in the studio is
trying to say, "Oh, this is hot right now.
1163
01:12:13,843 --> 01:12:18,430
"We've got to put Britney Spears
in a movie." Or whoever it is.
1164
01:12:18,514 --> 01:12:23,227
Whoever's hot, or whatever the
big thing is, has to be in the movie.
1165
01:12:23,310 --> 01:12:29,400
And it's a bad idea
because it's not true to somebody's vision.
1166
01:12:29,483 --> 01:12:32,778
Yeah. I remember one studio executive,
when we were trying to get this movie made,
1167
01:12:32,862 --> 01:12:35,990
going back to the early days...
1168
01:12:36,073 --> 01:12:37,717
Again, I won't mention his name,
but he said,
1169
01:12:37,741 --> 01:12:44,706
"Look. Time-travel movies never work.
They just don't work."
1170
01:12:46,249 --> 01:12:48,710
That's what he said.
1171
01:12:48,793 --> 01:12:51,880
The Back to the Future trilogy
was a huge success, of course.
1172
01:12:51,963 --> 01:12:55,842
I'm wondering if there were any times
where you had creative differences,
1173
01:12:55,925 --> 01:12:58,261
when you were working together
on the films?
1174
01:12:58,344 --> 01:13:04,017
We truly respect
each other's talent and opinion.
1175
01:13:04,100 --> 01:13:07,686
What happens is, when we'll have
a difference of opinion about something,
1176
01:13:07,769 --> 01:13:12,858
instead of believing that one of us
is right and the other one is wrong,
1177
01:13:12,941 --> 01:13:14,943
we'll try to figure out...
1178
01:13:15,027 --> 01:13:17,738
I'll say, "Bob, what is it about this
that is bothering you?"
1179
01:13:17,821 --> 01:13:22,701
He'll start explaining it, so that I can try
to get inside of his head and figure it out.
1180
01:13:22,784 --> 01:13:24,995
And generally what would happen is that
1181
01:13:25,078 --> 01:13:28,248
we would come up with something
brand-new that was better
1182
01:13:28,332 --> 01:13:31,668
than what my original idea was
or what his idea was.
1183
01:13:31,752 --> 01:13:35,339
So, that's true collaboration.
1184
01:13:35,422 --> 01:13:37,673
You get a synthesis and...
1185
01:13:37,757 --> 01:13:41,010
Instead of two plus two equals four,
it equals eight.
1186
01:13:41,093 --> 01:13:46,098
There is something about that, that I
think a movie like Back to the Future,
1187
01:13:46,182 --> 01:13:51,479
which is a movie that really benefits from
the writing team being a...
1188
01:13:51,562 --> 01:13:58,027
The writers being a team.
Because the thing that...
1189
01:13:58,736 --> 01:14:02,114
When you have a collaboration
like mine and Bob's,
1190
01:14:02,198 --> 01:14:06,118
whatever that is, because it does work.
1191
01:14:06,202 --> 01:14:11,706
Another thing that it has is...
1192
01:14:11,790 --> 01:14:13,291
There's no ego involved.
1193
01:14:13,375 --> 01:14:16,294
When one of us comes up with
a really great idea, the other person says,
1194
01:14:16,378 --> 01:14:19,839
"That's a really great idea."
1195
01:14:19,923 --> 01:14:22,217
And that goes right into the script.
1196
01:14:25,053 --> 01:14:31,142
But why I think it's good for pop movies
like this, is because
1197
01:14:31,226 --> 01:14:36,481
we're able to temper
each other's own indulgences.
1198
01:14:36,564 --> 01:14:40,484
So we don't get self-indulgent,
like you can when you're writing.
1199
01:14:40,567 --> 01:14:45,614
You don't have somebody there
killing your darlings or calling you on it.
1200
01:14:45,698 --> 01:14:47,574
It gets very self-indulgent.
1201
01:14:47,658 --> 01:14:53,247
You say, "This scene is going on forever.
Cut this stuff out."
1202
01:14:53,330 --> 01:14:58,502
And you're making mass entertainment,
so you might as well be collaborating.
1203
01:14:58,585 --> 01:15:02,798
Because it's not something
that's like a poem,
1204
01:15:02,881 --> 01:15:05,759
where it's supposed to be just your...
1205
01:15:05,843 --> 01:15:08,720
-Your vision.
-Your emotional vision.
1206
01:15:08,803 --> 01:15:14,183
You're already bringing in actors
and technicians,
1207
01:15:14,267 --> 01:15:18,438
and all these other people
to help you realize a vision, so...
1208
01:15:18,521 --> 01:15:21,649
All film-making is collaborative,
all the way through.
1209
01:15:23,443 --> 01:15:30,199
Bring each other into it,
and bring the audience in that way.
1210
01:15:30,283 --> 01:15:33,870
At the end of the day,
we want the movie to work for an audience.
1211
01:15:33,953 --> 01:15:36,538
What's the point
if nobody's going to go see it?
1212
01:15:36,621 --> 01:15:41,918
Or if they go see it and they don't get it?
Make sure that they get it.
1213
01:15:42,002 --> 01:15:45,464
Can you tell us about the music,
how you went about choosing it.
1214
01:15:45,547 --> 01:15:48,675
Not just the score, but
also the actual songs.
1215
01:15:48,759 --> 01:15:53,388
Huey Lewis and the News
was such a big part of the movie.
1216
01:15:53,472 --> 01:15:55,116
Johnny B. Goode was always
in the original script.
1217
01:15:55,140 --> 01:15:56,308
Johnny B. Goode was...
1218
01:15:56,391 --> 01:16:02,064
There was no second choice.
It had to be Johnny B. Goode.
1219
01:16:02,147 --> 01:16:06,859
And that turned out to be the most
expensive piece of music in the movie.
1220
01:16:06,942 --> 01:16:08,235
The idea was, we were thinking,
1221
01:16:08,319 --> 01:16:14,116
"Look, we've got a movie that's got teens in
it. We've got to have a record on the radio."
1222
01:16:14,200 --> 01:16:20,164
From the beginning, we knew
we wanted to have a signature song
1223
01:16:20,247 --> 01:16:21,916
that we could get on the radio.
1224
01:16:21,999 --> 01:16:25,669
And Alan said,
"You've got to hear this guy, Huey Lewis."
1225
01:16:25,753 --> 01:16:27,755
Al Silvestri, and I said, "Okay."
1226
01:16:27,838 --> 01:16:32,176
I didn't know...
The Sports album had just come out.
1227
01:16:34,720 --> 01:16:38,139
We called them, and they were very
enthusiastic to get involved and came in,
1228
01:16:38,223 --> 01:16:44,479
and they wrote a song that wasn't right.
And I brought Huey into the editing room,
1229
01:16:44,562 --> 01:16:48,149
and I showed him the cut scene.
1230
01:16:48,233 --> 01:16:51,152
This was during this
insane post-production.
1231
01:16:53,947 --> 01:16:57,325
I think I cut I Want a New Drug to it,
1232
01:16:57,408 --> 01:16:58,868
just to give him an idea,
1233
01:16:58,952 --> 01:17:02,956
when Michael blasts out of the Doc's thing
on a skateboard.
1234
01:17:03,039 --> 01:17:05,791
Huey said, "I get this. You
want a song, a major song."
1235
01:17:05,874 --> 01:17:07,435
"We've got to do a song in a major key."
1236
01:17:07,459 --> 01:17:10,587
That was it.
He went off and wrote Power of Love.
1237
01:17:13,048 --> 01:17:17,886
Which I remember,
when Neil Canton called me and he said,
1238
01:17:17,970 --> 01:17:20,472
"I just found out Power of Love
is going on."
1239
01:17:20,556 --> 01:17:22,349
This is two weeks before
the movie came out.
1240
01:17:22,432 --> 01:17:27,646
"It's going on the radio and it's going
in heavy rotation. "And I said, "Great."
1241
01:17:27,729 --> 01:17:31,108
We had to send all the field people out
to all the radio stations,
1242
01:17:31,191 --> 01:17:35,820
to remind them to say,
"From the movie Back to the Future."
1243
01:17:35,903 --> 01:17:39,657
The studio always wants the song
to be the title of the movie.
1244
01:17:39,740 --> 01:17:41,033
Right, yeah.
1245
01:17:41,117 --> 01:17:44,036
"Huey Lewis said," I can't work that way.
1246
01:17:44,120 --> 01:17:48,291
"I've got to just write the song,
that is going to be right for it."
1247
01:17:50,585 --> 01:17:55,298
Then he decided to write the second song.
We only asked him to write one.
1248
01:17:55,381 --> 01:17:59,385
They wrote the second song,
and we put that in there.
1249
01:17:59,468 --> 01:18:03,014
And I think it was...
1250
01:18:03,097 --> 01:18:07,851
I think it was the only number one single
that Huey ever did or something like that.
1251
01:18:07,934 --> 01:18:10,020
He had like... I don't remember.
1252
01:18:10,103 --> 01:18:16,067
It was some big breakthrough record
for these guys, even after the album.
1253
01:18:16,151 --> 01:18:18,737
And it got nominated
for an Academy Award.
1254
01:18:18,820 --> 01:18:20,197
So, it was great.
1255
01:18:20,280 --> 01:18:25,035
All the DJs were saying,
"From the movie Back to the Future."
1256
01:18:25,118 --> 01:18:27,829
It just was one of those things
where all the...
1257
01:18:27,913 --> 01:18:32,375
You know, I guess they call it synergy now,
all came together.
1258
01:18:32,459 --> 01:18:34,419
The plan came together.
1259
01:18:34,502 --> 01:18:37,296
Bob Zemeckis, I was just wondering
if you could tell us
1260
01:18:37,379 --> 01:18:40,549
how you feel about the movie,
looking back at it today.
1261
01:18:40,633 --> 01:18:43,385
Other than there being
some pretty sloppy stuff in the movie.
1262
01:18:43,469 --> 01:18:47,723
From a technical standpoint,
I was watching that early remote head,
1263
01:18:47,806 --> 01:18:49,975
and I hadn't seen this movie
on the big screen...
1264
01:18:50,059 --> 01:18:53,395
I don't think I've seen it on
the big screen since it came out.
1265
01:18:53,479 --> 01:18:58,943
And so, I'm sitting there
and I'm watching in the dance scene,
1266
01:18:59,026 --> 01:19:02,571
we had this terrible remote head
called Hot Head
1267
01:19:02,655 --> 01:19:07,242
and you could see it jerking.
I'm going, "Oh, man."
1268
01:19:07,325 --> 01:19:11,537
But you know, nowadays,
all that stuff is perfect.
1269
01:19:11,621 --> 01:19:15,250
I don't know if I'd be doing this comedy,
1270
01:19:15,333 --> 01:19:20,088
with that broad kind of comedy, maybe.
I don't know...
1271
01:19:20,171 --> 01:19:22,674
Maybe. If the script is right,
maybe I will. I don't know.
1272
01:19:22,757 --> 01:19:25,760
-It's a pretty good movie, actually.
-It's pretty good.
1273
01:19:25,843 --> 01:19:28,596
I think... I don't know if...
1274
01:19:28,680 --> 01:19:31,432
I don't know if we've grown
as screenwriters from this.
1275
01:19:31,516 --> 01:19:37,187
-This is the best thing we've ever written.
-It's a pretty terrific screenplay.
1276
01:19:37,271 --> 01:19:42,109
And we're always flattered that
we hear it's used in classes
1277
01:19:42,192 --> 01:19:46,321
as a quintessential example
of how you set stuff up
1278
01:19:46,405 --> 01:19:48,740
and how you pay it off.
1279
01:19:48,824 --> 01:19:54,037
All that stuff works. Those are
tried and true rules of storytelling,
1280
01:19:54,121 --> 01:19:56,665
and we made them work.
1281
01:19:56,748 --> 01:20:01,128
That's the nice thing of having
the writers be the filmmakers.
1282
01:20:01,211 --> 01:20:05,298
When the director totally gets the script
because he wrote it.
1283
01:20:05,381 --> 01:20:07,550
We start talking about Sid Sheinberg a lot.
1284
01:20:07,633 --> 01:20:11,053
When the movie came out, he said,
"That screenplay is like a Swiss watch."
1285
01:20:11,137 --> 01:20:13,306
And you know what? He's right.
1286
01:20:13,389 --> 01:20:20,146
There is not a single frame
of that movie that isn't
1287
01:20:20,229 --> 01:20:23,816
doing what they told us
we're supposed to do in film school,
1288
01:20:23,899 --> 01:20:26,360
advance plot or character.
Not a single frame.
1289
01:20:26,444 --> 01:20:29,822
It's really economical, this movie.
1290
01:20:29,905 --> 01:20:31,657
Can you discuss some of the deleted scenes
1291
01:20:31,741 --> 01:20:35,160
that were in the movie
and were taken out prior to the release?
1292
01:20:35,243 --> 01:20:36,911
God, I don't remember.
1293
01:20:36,995 --> 01:20:39,598
I know what they are because we pulled
them out to put them on the DVD.
1294
01:20:39,622 --> 01:20:41,207
What are they?
1295
01:20:42,459 --> 01:20:45,003
We had a scene...
1296
01:20:45,086 --> 01:20:47,881
The Darth Vader scene
was a whole lot longer.
1297
01:20:47,964 --> 01:20:51,343
-Right. But that was just shortened.
-That was shortened.
1298
01:20:51,426 --> 01:20:55,847
That was two minutes longer.
There was a scene where...
1299
01:20:55,930 --> 01:20:58,516
Everything was pretty much lifts.
1300
01:20:58,600 --> 01:21:02,062
There was a scene where Doc Brown,
1301
01:21:02,145 --> 01:21:06,940
in the '50s, opens up the suitcase
that we see him put in there.
1302
01:21:07,024 --> 01:21:09,526
He's going through
all of his personal belongings
1303
01:21:09,610 --> 01:21:13,864
and he wants to know, "What's this thing?"
and he pulls out this hairdryer.
1304
01:21:16,283 --> 01:21:20,245
He's got this fixation on underwear,
so he pulls out this pair of underpants
1305
01:21:20,329 --> 01:21:22,539
and he's disappointed that they're cotton
1306
01:21:22,623 --> 01:21:26,126
and the underwear of the future
isn't made out of paper.
1307
01:21:26,794 --> 01:21:30,130
We had a little scene where,
1308
01:21:30,214 --> 01:21:37,178
as a stall to get George McFly out...
Before he could get out to the car,
1309
01:21:37,678 --> 01:21:40,056
the kid in the red hair
1310
01:21:40,139 --> 01:21:43,559
that cuts in on him at the dance
locks him in a phone booth.
1311
01:21:43,643 --> 01:21:47,063
When he looks at the clock
to see what time it is,
1312
01:21:47,146 --> 01:21:49,399
he decides he'd better be sure and calls
1313
01:21:49,482 --> 01:21:52,610
the time and temperature
to find out exactly what time it is,
1314
01:21:52,693 --> 01:21:54,654
and ends up being locked
in the phone booth.
1315
01:21:54,737 --> 01:21:57,281
That just turned out to be a scene
that we didn't need.
1316
01:21:57,365 --> 01:21:58,967
How did he get out? Or didn't we show that?
1317
01:21:58,991 --> 01:22:01,244
We showed Strickland coming over there
and saying,
1318
01:22:01,327 --> 01:22:03,703
"See what happens to slackers, McFly?"
1319
01:22:03,787 --> 01:22:07,082
And we filmed him letting him out,
but we didn't ever use it.
1320
01:22:07,165 --> 01:22:11,294
You'd see him come out and you knew
that Strickland must have let him out.
1321
01:22:11,378 --> 01:22:13,422
You know, I do remember...
1322
01:22:13,505 --> 01:22:17,259
This is how dangerous it is,
how you can get so self-destructive.
1323
01:22:17,342 --> 01:22:18,927
I remember,
1324
01:22:19,010 --> 01:22:22,347
we almost cut the whole Johnny B. Goode
scene out of the movie.
1325
01:22:22,431 --> 01:22:24,099
-Do you remember this?
-Yes.
1326
01:22:24,182 --> 01:22:29,521
We were in the edit, it was the eleventh
hour, and it was because of this thing,
1327
01:22:29,604 --> 01:22:35,693
it's the only place in the movie
where the storyline stops.
1328
01:22:35,776 --> 01:22:40,364
For Michael to do this performance.
And I remember,
1329
01:22:40,448 --> 01:22:44,285
I actually had Artie lift it
and I looked at the movie without it,
1330
01:22:44,368 --> 01:22:47,621
and it worked okay,
and then Artie, my editor, said,
1331
01:22:47,705 --> 01:22:51,459
"Why don't we leave it in for the preview?"
And it's always like...
1332
01:22:51,542 --> 01:22:53,210
See? It's like...
1333
01:22:53,294 --> 01:22:57,131
These things are scary, what happens.
1334
01:22:57,214 --> 01:23:00,843
You just lose your focus,
and you're thinking,
1335
01:23:00,926 --> 01:23:04,220
"Maybe I should make the movie shorter,
and it doesn't really advance anything,"
1336
01:23:04,304 --> 01:23:07,807
"and it's fun to watch this, but..."
1337
01:23:07,891 --> 01:23:12,061
But then once the audience went crazy,
then, you know.
1338
01:23:12,145 --> 01:23:14,772
It's really a shame
that we can't preview anymore,
1339
01:23:14,856 --> 01:23:18,818
because previews are so important,
but you just can't because
1340
01:23:18,902 --> 01:23:21,654
the movie is reviewed
on the Internet the next hour.
1341
01:23:23,907 --> 01:23:29,329
It's a terrible tool that's been destroyed.
It's so important to be able to do that.
1342
01:23:29,412 --> 01:23:34,666
One of the end sequences,
with Doc in the car, uses fusion.
1343
01:23:34,750 --> 01:23:40,088
It is a contemporary concept now,
but how did you know about it then?
1344
01:23:40,172 --> 01:23:42,841
Fuel cells.
1345
01:23:42,925 --> 01:23:44,927
We knew about that. We read about that.
1346
01:23:45,010 --> 01:23:48,347
Fusion was something that everybody's
been experimenting with, and in fact,
1347
01:23:48,430 --> 01:23:51,099
I think about six or eight months
after the movie came out
1348
01:23:51,183 --> 01:23:55,521
was when those scientists in Utah claimed
that they had figured out cold fusion.
1349
01:23:55,604 --> 01:23:59,358
That was all over the news
for four or five months,
1350
01:23:59,441 --> 01:24:02,944
until nobody could replicate
those experiments.
1351
01:24:03,027 --> 01:24:05,339
It turned out those guys
just didn't know what they were doing.
1352
01:24:05,363 --> 01:24:09,951
We actually got a letter
from the Defense Department
1353
01:24:10,034 --> 01:24:11,118
when the movie came out.
1354
01:24:11,202 --> 01:24:16,707
They wanted to know
what did we know about fusion power.
1355
01:24:16,791 --> 01:24:20,294
-Very scary, kids.
-This is how the... That's how it works.
1356
01:24:20,378 --> 01:24:22,880
The sneak previews went really well,
and, obviously,
1357
01:24:22,964 --> 01:24:26,050
there was great potential for the movie,
but were you still
1358
01:24:26,133 --> 01:24:31,472
concerned somehow that the movie would
maybe lose money and not turn a profit?
1359
01:24:31,556 --> 01:24:35,559
It's the studio's money,
and the way we rationalize it is, we say,
1360
01:24:35,642 --> 01:24:42,566
"The studio has decided that it's worth
$20 million to them to make this movie."
1361
01:24:42,649 --> 01:24:45,610
We're going to realize it as best we can,
1362
01:24:45,694 --> 01:24:48,738
"but they pushed the button
and said, "We're gonna put...
1363
01:24:48,822 --> 01:24:52,742
"We're going to write this check against
this movie and hope that it works."
1364
01:24:52,826 --> 01:24:56,454
Otherwise, you'd drive yourself crazy.
1365
01:24:56,538 --> 01:25:00,250
You have better odds if you took
your $20 million, went to Las Vegas,
1366
01:25:00,333 --> 01:25:03,627
and put the $20 million
on the come line at the crap table.
1367
01:25:03,711 --> 01:25:09,008
Your odds are better
than making money on a movie.
1368
01:25:09,091 --> 01:25:14,430
But that's the business we've chosen,
so there's nothing we can do.
1369
01:25:14,513 --> 01:25:18,267
We have to do this gambling.
1370
01:25:18,350 --> 01:25:22,813
You have a little bit more control because
you do actually make the movie yourself.
1371
01:25:22,896 --> 01:25:26,984
But as far as the odds of what movies
make money and what movies don't,
1372
01:25:27,067 --> 01:25:29,778
most movies actually lose money.
1373
01:25:29,862 --> 01:25:33,573
Bob Zemeckis, at the time
you were developing the screenplay,
1374
01:25:33,656 --> 01:25:37,201
your name was attached
to the project as director.
1375
01:25:37,285 --> 01:25:40,455
Was that a plus in
getting the project made?
1376
01:25:40,538 --> 01:25:43,291
Before I made Romancing the Stone,
it was a hindrance.
1377
01:25:43,374 --> 01:25:47,462
And after I made Romancing the Stone,
it was a help.
1378
01:25:47,545 --> 01:25:51,007
-But the fact is nobody...
-But the script was the same.
1379
01:25:51,090 --> 01:25:54,636
The script was the same,
but nobody ever read the script and said,
1380
01:25:54,719 --> 01:25:58,514
"Gee, we'd like to give this script
to this other director to make."
1381
01:25:58,598 --> 01:26:00,391
Because nobody liked the script.
1382
01:26:00,475 --> 01:26:04,311
All these rejection letters
that Bob has in his archives,
1383
01:26:04,394 --> 01:26:10,317
we got 42 or 44 of them
from studios and different producers.
1384
01:26:10,400 --> 01:26:13,153
It wasn't like anybody
was calling us up and saying,
1385
01:26:13,236 --> 01:26:16,740
"Hey, I'll do anything to make that script
Back to the Future."
1386
01:26:16,823 --> 01:26:21,370
There wasn't anybody that was interested.
So, there was no...
1387
01:26:21,453 --> 01:26:23,955
That wasn't a decision
that we ever had to wrestle with.
1388
01:26:24,039 --> 01:26:28,835
Bob was going to direct the movie,
end of conversation.
1389
01:26:30,295 --> 01:26:35,174
Before Romancing the Stone, I was
getting the worst possible reputation,
1390
01:26:35,257 --> 01:26:40,763
which is, "His movies are good,
but they don't make any money."
1391
01:26:40,846 --> 01:26:43,224
Man, that was the kiss of death.
1392
01:26:43,307 --> 01:26:47,853
Bob Zemeckis, you mentioned earlier
that you noticed a few flaws in the movie.
1393
01:26:47,937 --> 01:26:50,606
Things that the average viewer
would not catch.
1394
01:26:50,690 --> 01:26:52,692
What is your take on that?
1395
01:26:52,775 --> 01:26:56,028
Well, that's just...
1396
01:26:56,112 --> 01:27:01,783
Me seeing all the little flaws and things.
1397
01:27:02,033 --> 01:27:06,454
I mean, I think that's just...
1398
01:27:06,538 --> 01:27:10,208
That's just the way it is. I look at movies
that I love and I think they're perfect,
1399
01:27:10,291 --> 01:27:13,962
then I talk to the filmmakers
and they don't know what I'm talking about.
1400
01:27:14,045 --> 01:27:17,882
It's always the same in all the arts.
A painter will look at his painting
1401
01:27:17,966 --> 01:27:20,885
and he'll look at that tree limb
that he never got right.
1402
01:27:20,969 --> 01:27:23,763
That's the only thing he'll focus on.
When everybody else
1403
01:27:23,847 --> 01:27:26,766
is looking at the whole canvas,
saying, "Gee, what a great painting."
1404
01:27:26,850 --> 01:27:32,312
I don't think you'll ever find a director
that will say, "I made the perfect movie."
1405
01:27:32,396 --> 01:27:36,233
If they do say that, the movie is
probably a complete piece of junk.
1406
01:27:38,193 --> 01:27:44,742
At the end of Back to the Future,
Marty returns to a new and improved 1985.
1407
01:27:44,825 --> 01:27:47,244
Was it always written that way?
1408
01:27:47,327 --> 01:27:50,164
Yeah. It was 1985.
1409
01:27:50,247 --> 01:27:55,419
You've got to look at that ending
in historical context.
1410
01:27:55,502 --> 01:27:57,212
It was a very '80s ending.
1411
01:27:57,296 --> 01:28:00,631
The fact that things changed for the better
1412
01:28:00,715 --> 01:28:04,677
as a result of his actions
was always something that...
1413
01:28:04,761 --> 01:28:07,847
It's the story of a kid who
teaches his father how to be a man.
1414
01:28:07,930 --> 01:28:13,019
Yes, but things changed for the better,
they were material things.
1415
01:28:13,102 --> 01:28:17,815
They were possessions. He had a truck.
His father had a BMW.
1416
01:28:17,899 --> 01:28:20,193
But his father is a successful author,
Bob, come on.
1417
01:28:20,276 --> 01:28:23,654
Yeah, but it was the '80s.
1418
01:28:23,738 --> 01:28:28,117
It's interesting. There were a couple
of reviews that came out of Europe
1419
01:28:30,202 --> 01:28:35,373
that keyed in on the blatant idea that,
wait a minute,
1420
01:28:35,457 --> 01:28:39,044
how can these filmmakers
equate this kind of happiness
1421
01:28:39,127 --> 01:28:42,506
with material possessions?
1422
01:28:42,589 --> 01:28:46,802
But not a single critic, that I remember,
talked about it in America.
1423
01:28:46,885 --> 01:28:48,863
There's quite a bit of product placement
in the movie.
1424
01:28:48,887 --> 01:28:50,889
Was this supposed to be
a direct slam against
1425
01:28:50,972 --> 01:28:54,976
the materialistic attitude
that we had in the '80s?
1426
01:28:55,060 --> 01:28:58,480
In terms of creating an image of the past,
1427
01:28:58,563 --> 01:29:03,484
one of the ways that you create the past
is through brand names.
1428
01:29:03,567 --> 01:29:06,237
We made a conscious effort
1429
01:29:06,320 --> 01:29:11,492
to find products that had
a different logo in the past,
1430
01:29:11,575 --> 01:29:14,662
so that we could use those.
1431
01:29:14,745 --> 01:29:19,041
It used to be, in the '60s or in the '70s
they'd make a movie,
1432
01:29:19,124 --> 01:29:20,918
and a car would pull into a gas station,
1433
01:29:21,001 --> 01:29:24,255
and there would be no name
on the gas station.
1434
01:29:24,338 --> 01:29:28,509
We would say,
"That's ridiculous. It has to be..."
1435
01:29:28,592 --> 01:29:33,012
"Somebody owns that gas station.
It's some brand of gasoline."
1436
01:29:33,096 --> 01:29:38,518
Put the brand in there, that makes it real.
So, we actually...
1437
01:29:38,601 --> 01:29:42,981
There was a product placement department
at the studio that had just gotten started,
1438
01:29:43,106 --> 01:29:46,192
and they were trying to cram
all kinds of stuff at us.
1439
01:29:46,276 --> 01:29:50,738
We would nix anything
that really didn't work too well.
1440
01:29:50,822 --> 01:29:53,533
Shell gasoline, for example,
1441
01:29:53,616 --> 01:29:56,536
would have paid more
for a placement than Texaco did,
1442
01:29:56,619 --> 01:29:58,538
but Shell didn't change their logo.
1443
01:29:58,621 --> 01:30:02,457
So Texaco was the perfect gas station
1444
01:30:02,541 --> 01:30:07,629
because of how different a Texaco station
looked in the '50s, compared to the '80s.
1445
01:30:07,713 --> 01:30:10,048
The same with Pepsi versus Coke.
1446
01:30:10,132 --> 01:30:13,886
A Coke bottle in the '50s and a
Coke bottle in the '80s were the same.
1447
01:30:13,969 --> 01:30:16,138
But a Pepsi logo was completely different.
1448
01:30:16,221 --> 01:30:17,556
When we talk about the sequels,
1449
01:30:17,639 --> 01:30:22,060
we'll tell you
all the product placement horror stories.
1450
01:30:22,144 --> 01:30:24,873
Nobody really cares about product
placement until they know that the movie
1451
01:30:24,897 --> 01:30:27,649
is going to be a hit.
That's one of the problem with sequels.
1452
01:30:27,733 --> 01:30:29,960
There is one product placement story
I've got to tell you.
1453
01:30:29,984 --> 01:30:33,529
The product placement department
hired this real sleazy guy.
1454
01:30:33,613 --> 01:30:36,657
A lot of these product placement guys
are sleazy because that's what they do,
1455
01:30:36,741 --> 01:30:39,410
they try to figure out
how to graft these corporations
1456
01:30:39,493 --> 01:30:41,454
and make these ridiculous promises.
1457
01:30:41,537 --> 01:30:44,790
So he made this deal
with the California Raisin Board
1458
01:30:44,874 --> 01:30:48,753
that Back to the Future
was going to do for raisins
1459
01:30:48,836 --> 01:30:52,381
what E.T. did for Reese's Pieces.
1460
01:30:52,465 --> 01:30:56,469
They come to me with this proposal
to put raisins in the movie.
1461
01:30:56,552 --> 01:30:59,012
I'm saying,
"What brand? Sun-Maid Raisins?"
1462
01:30:59,095 --> 01:31:04,643
"No. Just raisins. Can't you have
a bowl of raisins at the dance?"
1463
01:31:04,726 --> 01:31:09,314
"I'm going," What do you mean? A
bowl of raisins looks like a bowl of dirt.
1464
01:31:09,397 --> 01:31:13,985
"How is that going to photograph?"
If we can't put a brand name somewhere...
1465
01:31:14,069 --> 01:31:20,867
They had taken $50, 000 from the
California Raisin Board for this placement
1466
01:31:20,951 --> 01:31:23,328
that wasn't going to happen in the movie.
1467
01:31:23,411 --> 01:31:27,666
Finally, what we gave them
was the bum on the bench,
1468
01:31:27,749 --> 01:31:30,626
in 1985, when the DeLorean comes back
at the end,
1469
01:31:30,709 --> 01:31:33,963
it says "California Raisins"
on that bus bench.
1470
01:31:34,046 --> 01:31:38,676
That was what came out of that deal.
1471
01:31:38,759 --> 01:31:41,470
When the California Raisin Board saw it,
they were livid.
1472
01:31:41,553 --> 01:31:45,474
I didn't realize at the time
they'd already actually paid the money.
1473
01:31:45,557 --> 01:31:48,018
They told the studio
they were going to sue them,
1474
01:31:48,102 --> 01:31:51,814
and the lawyer at the studio called me
into her office and asked me about it.
1475
01:31:51,897 --> 01:31:54,858
"I said," You'd better settle the lawsuit
and give them back their money,
1476
01:31:54,942 --> 01:31:57,820
"because I'd be happy
to be a witness for them"
1477
01:31:57,903 --> 01:32:02,407
"because of the way they'd just tried to
force this on us,"
1478
01:32:02,490 --> 01:32:04,826
"and we weren't going to do it."
1479
01:32:04,909 --> 01:32:09,038
So the California Raisin Board
ended up not paying for that exposure.
1480
01:32:09,122 --> 01:32:12,667
The lesson I learned on this,
and the subsequent sequels,
1481
01:32:12,750 --> 01:32:16,504
was never do product placement.
Ever. Anymore.
1482
01:32:16,587 --> 01:32:19,924
The only real way to do product placement
is to get permission,
1483
01:32:20,008 --> 01:32:21,759
and then get cooperation.
1484
01:32:21,843 --> 01:32:24,679
If you're going to do Texaco,
and they give you signs
1485
01:32:24,762 --> 01:32:27,682
and uniforms and stuff
that you don't have to make,
1486
01:32:27,764 --> 01:32:31,560
that's the only way. But I never take money
anymore because it's like,
1487
01:32:31,643 --> 01:32:35,272
-you've got another creative person.
-You've got another producer saying,
1488
01:32:35,355 --> 01:32:38,358
- "What am I getting for my money?"
-It's just never worth it.
1489
01:32:38,442 --> 01:32:41,028
Product placement just isn't worth it.
1490
01:32:41,111 --> 01:32:43,655
You've touched on it
throughout this whole discussion,
1491
01:32:43,739 --> 01:32:45,198
but I'm just wondering,
1492
01:32:45,282 --> 01:32:50,537
if you could tell us what was
your favorite part of making this film.
1493
01:32:50,620 --> 01:32:55,625
My favorite part of making this film
was writing it.
1494
01:32:55,709 --> 01:32:59,879
The actual making of the movie,
I don't remember any good times.
1495
01:33:01,881 --> 01:33:06,427
I don't remember a single...
1496
01:33:06,510 --> 01:33:09,889
Seeing the movie work
when it was finally put up on the screen,
1497
01:33:09,972 --> 01:33:11,057
that was a thrill.
1498
01:33:11,140 --> 01:33:17,730
But the actual shooting of the movie
was just survival.
1499
01:33:17,813 --> 01:33:19,482
It was cold.
1500
01:33:19,565 --> 01:33:25,529
I remember never having enough sleep,
always being half-asleep.
1501
01:33:29,157 --> 01:33:33,036
I was the most unhealthy I ever was
when I made this movie.
1502
01:33:33,828 --> 01:33:37,415
I was the fattest, and the most
1503
01:33:37,499 --> 01:33:42,087
out of shape and sick that I ever was,
making this movie.
1504
01:33:42,170 --> 01:33:47,342
So, I guess, the writing and the finishing
were the favorite parts.
1505
01:33:47,425 --> 01:33:49,928
And the actual shooting was just survival.
1506
01:33:50,011 --> 01:33:55,850
I think the best moment I had on the set
was Michael J. Fox's first day.
1507
01:33:55,934 --> 01:34:01,271
When he walked in front of the camera
and he started doing the scene,
1508
01:34:01,355 --> 01:34:05,442
and I just felt,
"Thank God. That's Marty McFly."
1509
01:34:05,526 --> 01:34:07,778
"It's gonna work now. It's gonna work."
1510
01:34:07,861 --> 01:34:11,365
Kind of along the same lines,
about your expectations with the actors,
1511
01:34:11,448 --> 01:34:14,201
you said you were very happy
with the performances.
1512
01:34:14,284 --> 01:34:17,037
But would you say
that they exceeded your expectations?
1513
01:34:17,121 --> 01:34:19,498
Yeah, they're brilliant.
1514
01:34:19,581 --> 01:34:25,629
This is one of those movies
where everybody just is on the same page.
1515
01:34:25,712 --> 01:34:29,715
Once Michael came into the movie, it
was like everything just gelled together.
1516
01:34:29,799 --> 01:34:35,388
Everybody just got the tone
of what the humor of this movie should be.
1517
01:34:35,471 --> 01:34:38,724
All the performances around Michael
were better.
1518
01:34:38,808 --> 01:34:42,979
Lea was fine with Eric Stoltz,
and Chris was fine,
1519
01:34:43,062 --> 01:34:47,900
but when Michael J. Fox was working
with them, it just supercharged it.
1520
01:34:47,984 --> 01:34:50,611
It just went into the stratosphere.
1521
01:34:52,697 --> 01:34:56,284
If you talk to actors, they'll talk about
1522
01:34:56,367 --> 01:35:01,371
give and take, and how important it is
to be playing a scene with somebody
1523
01:35:01,454 --> 01:35:04,666
that gives back something
for them to work from.
1524
01:35:04,749 --> 01:35:07,127
And that was always what was happening.
1525
01:35:07,210 --> 01:35:10,589
I would say, honestly, they're better
than I thought they could ever be.
1526
01:35:10,672 --> 01:35:14,593
I've been fortunate to work
with so many great actors
1527
01:35:14,676 --> 01:35:20,348
that it's always better than I ever
imagined. It really is. It really, truly is.
1528
01:35:20,432 --> 01:35:23,685
How much control did you have
over the final cut?
1529
01:35:23,768 --> 01:35:25,061
That's the final cut.
1530
01:35:25,145 --> 01:35:30,357
You know, I've never had
any of these final cut problems.
1531
01:35:30,441 --> 01:35:35,196
Never, ever, once in my entire career
have I ever had to have a struggle
1532
01:35:35,279 --> 01:35:36,655
over the cut of the picture.
1533
01:35:36,739 --> 01:35:40,743
Now, of course, I contractually have
final cut in everything that I do.
1534
01:35:40,826 --> 01:35:42,578
But even in the early days,
1535
01:35:42,661 --> 01:35:46,999
I didn't have final cut,
but nobody wanted to tamper with it.
1536
01:35:49,293 --> 01:35:51,295
You know, I really believe that
1537
01:35:51,378 --> 01:35:57,217
most studio executives don't want
to do the filmmaker's work.
1538
01:35:57,300 --> 01:36:00,220
And it becomes more of a personality clash
1539
01:36:00,303 --> 01:36:04,974
than it has anything to do with the movie,
when you have these issues about final cut.
1540
01:36:05,058 --> 01:36:09,729
I've never had anyone ever try
to take the movie away
1541
01:36:09,812 --> 01:36:11,564
on any movie I've ever made.
1542
01:36:11,648 --> 01:36:14,859
Are you making any changes
to the movie for the DVD?
1543
01:36:14,943 --> 01:36:17,779
Taking out, for example,
the wires that you mentioned,
1544
01:36:17,862 --> 01:36:20,281
the ones we see in the clock tower scene?
1545
01:36:20,365 --> 01:36:23,993
-No.
-Nope. I hate that.
1546
01:36:24,077 --> 01:36:26,954
I don't think you should ever do that.
That would be like...
1547
01:36:27,037 --> 01:36:30,624
That's like colorizing a movie,
a black-and-white movie.
1548
01:36:31,208 --> 01:36:33,502
-It is what it is.
-Warts and all.
1549
01:36:34,586 --> 01:36:40,092
I don't get this adding scenes back in
and re-cutting the movie.
1550
01:36:40,175 --> 01:36:42,010
I don't get that at all.
1551
01:36:44,554 --> 01:36:47,266
It should be the way it was.
1552
01:36:47,349 --> 01:36:50,560
At that moment in time, this is the movie
and this is the way it was, and...
1553
01:36:50,644 --> 01:36:53,105
That, I think, is what it's supposed to be.
1554
01:36:53,188 --> 01:36:57,817
For those of you that have only seen
the movie on home video,
1555
01:36:57,900 --> 01:37:02,863
on the video it says
"To be continued" at the end.
1556
01:37:02,947 --> 01:37:06,200
You didn't see that here.
That was never on the theatrical release.
1557
01:37:06,284 --> 01:37:08,077
It won't be on the DVD.
1558
01:37:08,160 --> 01:37:12,957
We only put that on the video
as a way of telling the world
1559
01:37:13,040 --> 01:37:14,959
that there was going to be a sequel.
1560
01:37:15,042 --> 01:37:19,380
So, if anybody says,
"That's different." No.
1561
01:37:19,463 --> 01:37:24,927
The film that you saw was a new print
made from the original elements.
1562
01:37:25,011 --> 01:37:30,724
It's been re-mastered in hi-def,
and it looks absolutely great.
1563
01:37:30,807 --> 01:37:35,854
I supervised the video transfer.
But it is the movie that you just saw.
1564
01:37:35,937 --> 01:37:37,981
Is the trailer for III
going to be on the end of II?
1565
01:37:38,064 --> 01:37:39,190
Yes.
1566
01:37:51,286 --> 01:37:54,914
If you could travel in time,
where would you go?
1567
01:37:54,997 --> 01:37:57,875
It depends. If I could come back,
1568
01:37:57,958 --> 01:38:01,003
I would go to the future.
I mean, I would go to the past.
1569
01:38:01,086 --> 01:38:03,505
But if I could only go one way,
I would go to the future.
1570
01:38:03,589 --> 01:38:06,342
And Bob Gale? Where would you go?
1571
01:38:06,425 --> 01:38:10,220
Maybe I'd go back and see
what my parents were like in high school.
1572
01:38:10,304 --> 01:38:14,600
That would certainly be about
the most interesting thing I can think of.
1573
01:38:14,683 --> 01:38:18,187
Can you tell us
who were some of your major influences,
1574
01:38:18,270 --> 01:38:20,147
when you were making this movie?
1575
01:38:20,230 --> 01:38:24,234
Any other writers, directors,
that truly inspired you?
1576
01:38:24,318 --> 01:38:26,861
The classic American directors.
1577
01:38:26,944 --> 01:38:31,282
I mean, I think that the main influences
on this movie are definitely,
1578
01:38:31,366 --> 01:38:33,701
you know, Frank Capra and Billy Wilder.
1579
01:38:33,785 --> 01:38:38,206
Throw a little John Ford in there
when you start getting into the sequels.
1580
01:38:38,289 --> 01:38:42,543
But I'd say it's probably like
a Billy Wilder movie more than anything.
1581
01:38:42,627 --> 01:38:45,797
Maybe? But those are
the filmmakers that we love.
1582
01:38:45,880 --> 01:38:48,883
The classic American filmmakers.
1583
01:38:48,966 --> 01:38:51,052
I think we're going to end on that note.
1584
01:38:51,135 --> 01:38:54,263
Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale,
thank you so much for your time.
1585
01:38:54,347 --> 01:38:58,100
This was really, truly an amazing
experience. Thanks so much, everybody.
1586
01:38:58,183 --> 01:38:59,351
Thank you.
1587
01:40:40,407 --> 01:40:41,742
Doc.
1588
01:42:17,918 --> 01:42:20,004
Crazy drunk driver.
1589
01:42:34,392 --> 01:42:37,145
All right. Red.
1590
01:42:38,896 --> 01:42:41,691
You look great. Everything looks great.
1591
01:42:42,984 --> 01:42:46,946
1:24. I still got time. I'm coming, Doc!
1592
01:42:50,617 --> 01:42:55,370
No! No, not again! Come on! Come on!
1593
01:43:09,176 --> 01:43:10,469
Libyans.
1594
01:43:33,115 --> 01:43:34,200
No!
1595
01:43:35,534 --> 01:43:36,994
You bastard!
1596
01:43:50,341 --> 01:43:51,676
Go!
1597
01:44:26,083 --> 01:44:28,168
Doc! Doc!
1598
01:44:33,632 --> 01:44:35,801
No! No!
1599
01:44:50,774 --> 01:44:52,233
You're alive.
1600
01:45:01,492 --> 01:45:03,119
Bulletproof vest?
1601
01:45:04,412 --> 01:45:06,080
How did you know?
1602
01:45:06,873 --> 01:45:09,333
I never got a chance to tell you.
1603
01:45:22,846 --> 01:45:26,933
What about all that talk
about screwing up future events?
1604
01:45:27,017 --> 01:45:29,060
The space-time continuum?
1605
01:45:29,519 --> 01:45:32,439
Well, I figured, what the hell?
1606
01:45:42,699 --> 01:45:47,746
-So, how far ahead are you going?
-About 30 years. It's a nice, round number.
1607
01:45:47,829 --> 01:45:52,291
Look me up when you get there, all right?
Guess I'll be about 47.
1608
01:45:52,374 --> 01:45:53,584
I will.
1609
01:45:54,043 --> 01:45:56,837
-Take care.
-You, too.
1610
01:45:57,505 --> 01:45:59,840
Right. Bye-bye, Einie.
1611
01:46:00,299 --> 01:46:03,302
And watch that re-entry.
It's a little bumpy.
1612
01:46:04,053 --> 01:46:05,304
You bet.
1613
01:47:10,242 --> 01:47:11,869
What a nightmare.
1614
01:47:23,212 --> 01:47:26,173
If Paul calls me, tell him I'm working
at the boutique late tonight.
1615
01:47:26,257 --> 01:47:28,342
Linda, first of all,
I'm not your answering service,
1616
01:47:28,426 --> 01:47:31,888
second of all, somebody named Greg or
Craig called you just a little while ago.
1617
01:47:31,971 --> 01:47:33,556
Well, which one was it, Greg or Craig?
1618
01:47:33,639 --> 01:47:36,392
I don't know! I can't keep
up with all of your boyfriends.
1619
01:47:36,475 --> 01:47:37,602
Hey.
1620
01:47:38,644 --> 01:47:41,939
-What the hell is this?
-Breakfast.
1621
01:47:42,648 --> 01:47:45,067
Did you sleep in your clothes
again last night?
1622
01:47:45,151 --> 01:47:46,527
Yeah. I...
1623
01:47:47,486 --> 01:47:50,071
Yeah. What are you wearing, Dave?
1624
01:47:50,363 --> 01:47:53,199
Marty, I always wear a suit to the office.
1625
01:47:54,910 --> 01:47:56,745
-You all right?
-Yeah.
1626
01:47:57,495 --> 01:47:59,748
-I think we need a rematch, George.
-A rematch?
1627
01:47:59,831 --> 01:48:01,958
-Why? Were you cheating?
-No.
1628
01:48:02,042 --> 01:48:03,919
-Hello.
-Good morning.
1629
01:48:06,004 --> 01:48:07,505
Mom! Dad!
1630
01:48:07,839 --> 01:48:09,525
-Did you hit your head?
-Marty, are you all right?
1631
01:48:09,549 --> 01:48:13,553
You guys look great. Mom, you look so thin.
1632
01:48:13,887 --> 01:48:16,431
Why, thank you, Marty. George!
1633
01:48:17,891 --> 01:48:19,975
Good morning, sleepyhead.
1634
01:48:20,893 --> 01:48:23,729
-Good morning, Dave. Linda.
-Good morning, Mom.
1635
01:48:23,812 --> 01:48:26,315
Marty, I almost forgot.
Jennifer Parker called.
1636
01:48:26,398 --> 01:48:30,027
I sure like her, Marty.
She is such a sweet girl.
1637
01:48:30,527 --> 01:48:34,615
-Isn't tonight the night of the big date?
-What? What, Ma?
1638
01:48:34,698 --> 01:48:38,786
Aren't you going up to the lake tonight?
You've been planning it for two weeks.
1639
01:48:38,869 --> 01:48:41,580
Mom, we talked about this.
How can I go to the lake?
1640
01:48:41,664 --> 01:48:42,790
The car's wrecked.
1641
01:48:42,873 --> 01:48:44,458
-Wrecked?
-Wrecked?
1642
01:48:44,541 --> 01:48:46,752
-When did this happen? Why wasn't I told?
-Quiet down.
1643
01:48:46,835 --> 01:48:48,295
I'm sure the car is fine.
1644
01:48:48,379 --> 01:48:50,630
Why am I always the last one
to know about these things?
1645
01:48:50,713 --> 01:48:53,841
See? There's Biff out there
waxing it right now.
1646
01:48:54,217 --> 01:48:58,596
Now, Biff, I want to make sure that we get
two coats of wax this time, not just one.
1647
01:48:58,680 --> 01:49:02,934
-I'm just finishing up the second coat now.
-Now, Biff, don't con me.
1648
01:49:04,435 --> 01:49:06,479
I'm sorry, Mr. McFly.
1649
01:49:06,562 --> 01:49:09,649
I meant I was just starting
on the second coat.
1650
01:49:10,733 --> 01:49:14,570
Biff. What a character.
Always trying to get away with something.
1651
01:49:15,071 --> 01:49:18,032
I've had to stay on top of Biff
ever since high school.
1652
01:49:18,116 --> 01:49:21,827
-Although, if it wasn't for him...
-We never would have fallen in love.
1653
01:49:21,910 --> 01:49:23,412
That's right.
1654
01:49:23,954 --> 01:49:26,665
Mr. McFly! Mr. McFly, this just arrived.
1655
01:49:26,748 --> 01:49:29,543
Hi, Marty. I think it's your new book.
1656
01:49:32,129 --> 01:49:35,048
Honey! Your first novel.
1657
01:49:36,049 --> 01:49:37,092
Like I've always told you,
1658
01:49:37,175 --> 01:49:40,262
you put your mind to it,
you can accomplish anything.
1659
01:49:40,345 --> 01:49:44,558
Marty, here's your keys.
You're all waxed up, ready for tonight.
1660
01:49:45,142 --> 01:49:46,309
Keys?
1661
01:50:02,616 --> 01:50:05,202
-How about a ride, mister?
-Jennifer.
1662
01:50:06,787 --> 01:50:10,583
Are you a sight for sore eyes!
Let me look at you.
1663
01:50:11,292 --> 01:50:14,211
Marty, you're acting like
you haven't seen me in a week.
1664
01:50:14,295 --> 01:50:15,713
I haven't.
1665
01:50:16,297 --> 01:50:19,549
You okay? ls everything all right?
1666
01:50:22,802 --> 01:50:23,970
Yeah.
1667
01:50:26,139 --> 01:50:27,974
Everything is great.
1668
01:50:42,197 --> 01:50:46,451
Marty! You've got to come back with me!
1669
01:50:47,243 --> 01:50:49,661
-Where?
-Back to the future.
1670
01:50:54,333 --> 01:50:56,460
Wait a minute. What are you doing, Doc?
1671
01:50:57,461 --> 01:50:58,545
I need fuel.
1672
01:51:02,007 --> 01:51:04,426
Go ahead. Quick! Get in the car.
1673
01:51:04,510 --> 01:51:06,553
No, no. Doc, I just got here, okay?
1674
01:51:06,637 --> 01:51:08,656
Jennifer's here.
We're gonna take the new truck for a spin.
1675
01:51:08,680 --> 01:51:11,934
Well, bring her along.
This concerns her, too.
1676
01:51:12,017 --> 01:51:13,661
Wait a minute, Doc.
What are you talking about?
1677
01:51:13,685 --> 01:51:15,771
What happens to us in the future?
1678
01:51:15,854 --> 01:51:18,773
-Do we become assholes or something?
-No, no, no, no, Marty.
1679
01:51:18,856 --> 01:51:22,193
Both you and Jennifer turn out fine.
It's your kids, Marty.
1680
01:51:22,276 --> 01:51:24,529
Something has got to be done
about your kids.
1681
01:51:30,910 --> 01:51:33,955
Hey, Doc, we better back up.
We don't have enough road to get up to 88.
1682
01:51:34,038 --> 01:51:38,209
Roads? Where we're going,
we don't need roads.
166326
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