20 Interesting Facts About Back to the Future You Might Not Know
It is a story of Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student and a scientist named Doc Brown. The boy accidentally sent thirty years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the eccentric scientist Doc Brown.
Marty McFly, a typical American teenager of the Eighties, is accidentally sent back to 1955 in a plutonium-powered DeLorean “time machine” invented by a slightly mad scientist.
During his often hysterical, always amazing trip back in time, Marty must make certain his teenage parents-to-be meet and fall in love – so he can get back to the future. It was the top grossing release of 1985.
The film is directed by Robert Zemeckis. The story is written by Robert Zemeckis & Bob Gale. The movie stars top cast namely, Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, Christopher Lloyd as Doc Brown, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, Thomas F. Wilson, Marc McClure, Wendy Jo Sperber.
1. Back to the Future (1985) Enjoys Average Ratings of 8.5/10.
The movie has been popular among science fiction lovers since 1989. According to, the ratings given by 1,173,994 IMDb users are 8.5 / 10. The movie has a dedicated fanbase. The ratings are given by different age groups and different demographics.
Out of those 1,173,994 IMDb users:
- 25.6% i.e. 300,977 users gave 10 out of 10 to the movie.
- 26.5% i.e. 310,726 users gave 9 out of 10 to the movie.
- 27.7% i.e. 325,505 users gave 8 out of 10 to the movie.
- 13.2% i.e. 154,957 users gave 7 out of 10 to the movie.
- 4.1% i.e. 47,791 users gave 6 out of 10 to the movie.
- 1.4% i.e. 16,782 users gave 5 out of 10 to the movie.
- 0.6% i.e. 6,660 users gave 4 out of 10 to the movie.
- 0.3% i.e. 3421 users gave 3 out of 10 to the movie.
- 0.2% i.e. 2138 users gave 2 out of 10 to the movie.
- 0.4% i.e. 5,037 users gave 1 out of 10 to the movie.
The ratings being discussed are as on July 24, 2022. Rating Source: Back to the Future (1985) – User ratings – IMDb
As this can be considered as a biased opinion by cult followers. But, getting such an amount of votes is not a small achievement. And, people have a dedicated feeling for this old science fiction masterpiece.
2. No Back to the Future Remake Will Be Made Until Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale Are Alive!
Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale own the rights to “Back to the Future” and all the sequels and they will not allow anyone to reboot the series in the lifetime. In a 2015 interview, Zemeckis confirmed that no reboot or remake of the film would be allowed during his or Gale’s lifetime.
3. For So Many People’s Michael J. Fox is Still Marty McFly!
Michael J. Fox portrayed the character of Marty McFly so iconic that sometimes people call him Marty McFly. In 2010, during a cast reunion, Michael J. Fox said that strangers still call him “McFly!!!”. Michael Fox recalled one amazing instance of such an occurrence.
He told in the interview, that, when he was in a remote jungle in the South Asian country Bhutan, located between China and India in the eastern Himalayas. A group of Buddhist monks passed him and one of them looked at Fox and said, “Marty McFly!” It happens a lot of time with iconically played characters.
One such example with a mad fanbase is Robert Downey Jr. People sometimes mistake his original name for Tony Stark aka Iron Man.
4. John DeLorean is One of the Big Back to the Future Fans Among Millions.
Writers Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis actually received a fan letter from John DeLorean after the film’s release, thanking them for immortalizing his car.
5. The Back to the Future script was rejected at least 44 times.
The script was rejected 44 times before it finally got into the flow. Multiple reasons affecting the decision whether to proceed with the script or not were given by many producing houses.
Some told the concept of the movie being unappealing to contemporary rebellious youth. Also, the failures of other time travel films such as The Final Countdown and Time Bandits also affected the opinion.
6. After the film’s release, body kits were made for DeLoreans to make them look like the time machine.
7. Universal Pictures head Sheinberg did not like the title “Back to the Future”
Sheinberg did not like the title “Back to the Future”. He thought people would not like to watch a movie with “future” in its title. He suggested alternate name such as “Space Man From Pluto”, and also suggested changes in script such as replacing the “I’m Darth Vader from planet Vulcan” line with “I am a spaceman from Pluto!”
8. Christopher Lloyd Wanted To Do One More Time Travel Movie With Marty.
Christopher Lloyd stated that he always wanted to do one more movie, in which Marty and Doc Brown time-travel back to Ancient Rome. Lloyd originally turned down the role offered to him, but changed his mind after his wife convinced him to take the role. He improvised some of his lines.
9. Lorraine & Doc Brown Had Only One Occurrence Communicating Together.
When Lorraine follows Marty back to Doc’s house, she and Doc exchange an awkward greeting. This marks the only on-screen dialogue that Christopher Lloyd and Lea Thompson ever have, though they have appeared together in six movies.
10. It Was Not Actually Marty McFly’s Singing Voice.
Mark Campbell provided Marty’s singing voice, but did not receive credit as the filmmakers wanted to create the illusion Fox was singing. When music supervisor Bones Howe learned of this, he secured Campbell a small percentage of the soundtrack revenue as compensation.
11. The DeLorean Was Chosen With Purpose To Make Alien Spacecraft Illusion.
The DeLorean was selected with the purpose of its appearance and gull wing doors. The goal was to make it plausible that people in 1955 would presume it to be an alien spacecraft.
12. Michael J. Fox Didn’t Have To Learn To skateboard. He Was Already Pro In It.
Fox was a reasonably skilled skateboarder, having ridden throughout high school. Per Welinder acted as a skateboarding double for the complex scenes.
13. Back to the Future Is Preserved in the Library of Congress.
In 2007, the United States Library of Congress selected the Back to the Future film for preservation in the National Film Registry.
14. Bob Explained Why Marty’s Parents Didn’t Remember Him As the Kid in High School Who Got Them Together?
In one of his interviews, Back to the Future screenwriter Bob Gale explained the popular question raised by critics, “why Marty’s parents didn’t remember him as the kid in high school who got them together?” He argued how you could keep in mind a person whom you met occasionally not more than seven days.
It does make sense. Just try to recall any kids that might have joined your school for a semester and then gone. It’s not possible, how can you recall such unrelated or irrelevant memories after so much time.
15. Fox Had Always Been The First Choice For Marty.
Fox had always been the first choice for Marty. There is this interesting story that he was unavailable due to scheduling conflicts with his work on Family Ties (1982). Zemeckis and Gale then cast Eric Stoltz as Marty.
They had seen his work in the Mask (1985) film, so they approached him and started the filming. But, things couldn’t go as expected. After six weeks of filming Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale came to the conclusion that Stoltz wasn’t right for the part.
The show producers couldn’t afford to let Fox go so they approached him. Michael J. Fox worked out a schedule to manage both of the projects and this is how we got our favorite iconic Marty McFly. It was the role made for Michael J. Fox only.
16. During The Film Production Eric Stoltz Refused To Answer To Any Other Name, Marty McFly.
Eric Cameron Stoltz is a theater-trained actor and producer who has starred in both independent and studio films. During his time on the film, and being a method actor, Eric Stoltz refused to answer to any other name, but that of his character, Marty McFly.
17. Apart From Michael Fox Other Youngsters Were Also Taken Into Consideration.
Other young stars were considered including: John Cusack, C. Thomas Howell, Johnny Depp, Ralph Macchio, Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, Ben Stiller, Peter DeLuise, Billy Zane, George Newbern, Robert Downey Jr., Christopher Collet, Matthew Modine, and Corey Hart. But, Fox Won The Race Against All The Odds.
