History Trivia / BackToTheFuture

** In a bizarre version of this trope, Creator/ChristopherLloyd played Doc in the live-action bits, and Creator/DanCastellaneta played his animated counterpart.

** Universal president Sidney Sheinberg insisted on several changes, several of them positive. He suggested "Professor Brown" be changed to "Doc Brown", which he felt was less stuffy. He also insisted on Emmett Brown's chimpanzee pet being changed[[note]]his reasoning was that movies with chimps didn't make money; when Creator/ClintEastwood's ''[[Film/EveryWhichWayButLoose Every Which Way]]'' films were pointed out, he retorted "That was an orangutan."[[/note]], which became the dog Einstein, and requested Marty's mother's name go from Meg to Lorraine (his wife's name). One note that was heavily resisted was suggesting the title be ''Spaceman From Pluto'' after the comic seen in the film. Sheinberg went so far as to suggest multiple possible potential [[TitleDrop Title Drops]]. the Bobs were aghast at it, but Steven Spielberg used his clout to veto it by way of faxing Sheinberg and saying it was a "good joke".

** As opposed to the initially ExtremeDoormat role of George [=McFly=], Creator/CrispinGlover [[NiceCharacterMeanActor was actually very demanding and very argumentative, and, in fact, always tended to be at loggerheads with]] Creator/RobertZemeckis and Bob Gale over various matters.

* ''Trivia/BackToTheFuturePartTheGame''

** Universal president Sidney Sheinberg insisted on several changes, several of them positive. He suggested "Professor Brown" be changed to "Doc Brown", which he felt was less stuffy. He also insisted on Emmett Brown's chimpanzee pet being changed[[note]]his reasoning was that movies with chimps didn't make money; when Creator/ClintEastwood's ''[[Film/EveryWhichWayButLoose Every Which Way]]'' films were pointed out, he retorted "That was an orangutan."[[/note]], which became the dog Einstein, and requested Marty's mother's name go from Meg to Lorraine (his wife's name). One note that was heavily resisted was suggesting the title be ''Spaceman From Pluto'' after the comic seen in the film. Sheinberg went so far as to suggest multiple possible potential [[TitleDrops Title Drops]]. the Bobs were aghast at it, but Steven Spielberg used his clout to veto it by way of faxing Sheinberg and saying it was a "good joke".

** Universal president Sid Sheinberg insisted on several changes, several of them positive. He suggested "Professor Brown" be changed to "Doc Brown", which he felt was less stuffy. He also insisted on Emmett Brown's chimpanzee pet being changed[[note]]his reasoning was that movies with chimps didn't make money; when Creator/ClintEastwood's ''[[Film/EveryWhichWayButLoose Every Which Way]]'' films were pointed out, he retorted "That was an orangutan."[[/note]], which became the dog Einstein, and requested Marty's mother's name go from Meg to Lorraine (his wife's name). One note that was heavily resisted was suggesting the title be ''Spaceman From Pluto'' after the comic seen in the film; the Bobs were aghast at it, but Steven Spielberg used his clout to veto it by way of faxing Sheinberg and saying it was a "good joke".

* WorkingTitle: The film was almost titled ''Spaceman from Pluto'' due to ExecutiveMeddling. It took the intervention of Creator/StevenSpielberg to get this resolved, and the way in which he did it is absolutely legendary. Instead of arguing against the title, resulting in a battle he may not have won, he pretended to misinterpret it as a hilarious joke, as if he couldn't comprehend someone seriously suggesting a title like that.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: Lampshaded InUniverse:
** First, when Marty dines with his future maternal family in 1955, Lorraine asks whether his family owns a television set, to which Marty says, "Yeah, you know we have two of 'em...", making her younger brother say "Wow, you must be rich!", to which their mother says, "Oh, honey, he's just teasing you. Nobody owns two television sets!"
** Later, Marty tries to explain his knowledge of an episode of ''Series/TheHoneymooners'' as having seen it as a rerun. In several non-English dubs of the movie, the word 'rerun' doesn't exist (usually because the country concerned had not adopted the policy of re-airing episodes of television shows as of the mid-eighties), so Marty says instead that he saw "The Man from Space" episode of ''The Honeymooners'' "on tape".
** As the 1955 Doc looks at Marty's camcorder, he says "Now this is truly amazing: A portable television studio. No wonder [[UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan your president is an actor]], he's got to look good on television!"

* UnderageCasting: Intentional example. Creator/LeaThompson is just nine ''days'' older than her onscreen son Creator/MichaelJFox. Creator/CrispinGlover is actually three years ''younger'' than Fox, and Creator/ThomasFWilson is just two years older than Fox. This trope is played straight when it comes to scenes in 1985. But it becomes averted once we go back in time to 1955, where Thompson, Glover, and Wilson are playing their characters at or around Marty's age.

* DawsonCasting: Marty, Lorraine, George, Biff, Jennifer, etc. Makes some sense in Lorraine, George, and Biff's cases, since in the first movie they had to play both their teenage selves and [[PlayingGertrude their adult selves]]. Initially, not so much the case with Jennifer, who was played by 19-year old Claudia Wells in the first film, but then played by 26-year old Creator/ElisabethShue in the Sequels and that wig she wore to make her resemble Creator/LeaThompson made her look every bit her age.

* PlayingGertrude: Creator/CrispinGlover is three years younger than Creator/MichaelJFox, Creator/ThomasFWilson is two years older than Fox, while Creator/LeaThompson is only ''nine days'' older than Fox. As mentioned in DawsonCasting above, Glover, Wilson, and Thompson played both their characters' older selves and their teenage selves.

* SleeperHit: ''No one'' expected the movie to become as big as it did. Robert Zemeckis openly admitted he was just hoping it would break even and the final bit with the Delorean flying and "something's got to be done about your kids!" was meant as a joke on Marty having just changed the past for his parents. Michael J. Fox recalled that when he was in London filming the ''Series/FamilyTies'' tv movie, his agent called and told him that the movie was a hit. He was pleased, but the agent had to reiterate that it was a BIG hit.

** Tom Wilson has said that he and Crispin Glover didn't get along very well with Eric Stoltz when he was initially playing Marty, as Stoltz acted fairly arrogant throughout filming. Wilson even said that for years he thought Stoltz was fired due to his behavior on set, not because the producers wanted Fox originally.

* IronyAsSheIsCast: As opposed to the initially ExtremeDoormat role of George [=McFly=], Creator/CrispinGlover [[NiceCharacterMeanActor was actually very demanding and very argumentative, and, in fact, always tended to be at loggerheads with]] Creator/RobertZemeckis and Bob Gale over various matters.

** In a bizarre version of this trope, [[Role Reprise Creator/ChristopherLloyd played Doc in the live-action bits]], and Creator/DanCastellaneta played his animated counterpart.

** In a bizarre version of this trope, Creator/ChristopherLloyd played Doc in the live-action bits, and Creator/DanCastellaneta played his animated counterpart.

* ScullyBox: Because Creator/ChristopherLloyd is 6'1", much taller than the 5'4" Creator/MichaelJFox, camera tricks were used to avoid using one. For example, the two are rarely in the same shot together and, when they are, one is usually sitting down or much closer to the camera than the other. When Doc Brown is talking, he's often moving around so much that the viewer can't really tell how tall he is. Lloyd also improvised a hunch in his posture that helped give the character more of a MadScientist look.

** The script for the film floated around Hollywood for years. Writer-Director Creator/RobertZemeckis and his cowriter, Bob Gale, were shot down by several studios for various reasons; Creator/{{Disney}} and Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox considered the script too raunchy while Creator/ColumbiaPictures thought it was too ''quaint'', and others were hesitant due to their involvement in ''Film/NineteenFortyOne''. The film finally landed with Creator/UniversalStudios after the two scored a hit with ''Film/RomancingTheStone'', but the film's script underwent heavy rewrites just prior to filming, some of which was due to budget limitations and ExecutiveMeddling.

** Cost considerations forced a complete change in the tactic to return to 1985 in Part I, from powered by a nuclear test explosion to powered by the lightning bolt. By all accounts, it was a major improvement, as keeping it "local" in Hill Valley added an immediate urgency and gave Doc something to do with the clock tower (in the original script, he simply watched from a mountainside).

** The script for the film floated around Hollywood for years. Writer-Director Creator/RobertZemeckis and his cowriter, Bob Gale, were shot down by several studios for various reasons; Creator/{{Disney}} and Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox considered the script too raunchy while Creator/ColumbiaPictures thought it was too ''quaint'', and others were hesitant due to their involvement in the BoxOfficeBomb ''Film/NineteenFortyOne''. The film finally landed with Creator/UniversalStudios after the two scored a hit with ''Film/RomancingTheStone'', but the film's script underwent heavy rewrites just prior to filming, some of which was due to budget limitations and ExecutiveMeddling.

** Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis first toyed with the idea of a time travel story as far back as 1975. Their initial inspiration came from the {{Zeerust}} depicted in the General Motors "Futurama" display at the 1964 World's Fair, or the Norman Bel Geddes vision depicted at the 1939 World's Fair, with their first concept being a time travel caper that ends with the present day turning into the future that those expositions promised. Gale notes that they didn't have a precise story or hook in mind, but he did come up with the title ''Professor Brown Visits the Future''.

* InspirationForTheWork: Bob Gale conceived ''Back to the Future'' after he visited his parents in St. Louis, Missouri. Searching their basement, Gale found his father's high school yearbook and discovered he was president of his graduating class. Gale had not known the president of his own graduating class, and wondered whether he would have been friends with his father if they went to high school together.

** Although Creator/EricStoltz was replaced by Michael J. Fox (a few clips of him remain in the finished film), Stoltz regretted his involvement in ''BTTF''. At one point, Stoltz [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrwwYO9bM9g turned down an offer to be interviewed for a BTTF companion book.]]

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[WhatCouldHaveBeen/BackToTheFuture Has its own page]]

* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Most famously, Creator/EricStoltz was originally cast as Marty [=McFly=] before Creator/MichaelJFox. While Fox was always the first choice for the role, the production team behind ''Series/FamilyTies'' didn't want him absent from the series during Creator/MeredithBaxter's pregnancy. After six weeks of filming, Creator/RobertZemeckis and [[Film/Interstate60 Bob Gale]] decided that Stoltz was too much of a dramatic actor for a more comedic part. By this stage, Baxter was back fully on the series and the producers finally agreed to let Fox go off to star in the film.
*** The other secondary choice for Marty aside from Stoltz was Creator/CThomasHowell. Howell was actually Zemeckis and Gale's preferred choice, but the studio executives preferred Stoltz so he got the role. Had Howell been cast, there is a good chance Fox would've never been hired to replace him as Howell had more experience in comedy.
*** Creator/JohnCusack, Creator/JohnnyDepp, Creator/RobertDowneyJr, Creator/RalphMacchio, Creator/MatthewModine and Creator/GeorgeNewbern also auditioned for Marty. When asked about Depp's audition, Bob Gale responded with this.
---> '''Gale:''' Geez, I don't even remember that we read Johnny Depp! So whatever he did, it wasn't all that memorable, I guess!
** Creator/JohnLithgow was the first choice for Doc Brown. However, Lithgow turned down the offer due to scheduling commitments to ''Film/TwilightZoneTheMovie''.
*** Creator/JeffGoldblum, Creator/JamesWoods, Creator/JohnCleese, Creator/JohnCandy, Creator/ChevyChase, Creator/SteveMartin, Creator/GeneWilder, Creator/EddieMurphy, Creator/GeneHackman, Creator/HenryWinkler, Creator/DudleyMoore, Creator/RandyQuaid, Creator/JoePiscopo, Creator/RobinWilliams, Creator/MichaelKeaton, and Creator/DannyDeVito were considered for Doc Brown as well.
** Creator/TimRobbins, Creator/DanielStern, and Creator/VincentDOnofrio were considered for the role of Biff Tannen before Creator/ThomasFWilson was cast.
** Creator/KyraSedgwick was considered for Jennifer.
** The original time machine was a modified refrigerator, changed because it would have been a very stationary prop and Creator/StevenSpielberg had images of children locking themselves in the fridge to the horror of their parents[[note]]For younger readers who don't understand how someone could become trapped in a refrigerator, they used to be held closed with a physical catch that could only be opened by a handle on the outside, and these older models were still somewhat plentiful at the time of the film. Modern ones all use magnets to hold themselves closed, with no catches.Though, many local laws regarding fridge disposal still require doors to be removed, even magnetic catch ones, due to not being amended since the time of locking fridge doors[[/note]] (humorously, he would later use a refrigerator and a nuclear explosion in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull''). They also would have driven into the blast of a nuclear bomb to fuel the flux capacitor, changed because that alone would have doubled the production costs and the clock tower lightning strike made a fairly simple and stationary location.
** Creator/JonCryer and Creator/BenStiller auditioned for the role of Marty in [[https://io9.gizmodo.com/jon-cryer-and-ben-stiller-auditioned-for-a-very-differe-1844544821 a very different version]]. In this draft, a more generic time machine and the aforementioned fridge. However, the time machine required [[BizarreBeverageUse a special ingredient to work]]: ''Coca-Cola.'' In the finale, Marty sneaks into a nuclear testing site, complete with detailed suburban houses. As the countdown starts, he drops the bottle of Coke, and it shatters on the floor. He panics at first, until he realizes that like any American home in that era, the fridge is stocked with another bottle of Coke. It's also lead-lined, so hiding in there lets him survive the blast. This conveniently gives Marty everything he needs to go back to the future. Also, Marty played the ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'' theme on his guitar while pirating a VHS copy of it in the opening scene.
** One version of the script had Biff as a cop that kept "borrowing" stuff from George and had a daughter. After Marty changed the past, Biff became a security guard working for George, who became a boxing champion.
** The producers considered using "Papa Loves Mambo" by Perry Como when Marty arrives in the 1955 Hill Valley, before deciding on "Mister Sandman", thereby making it the MisterSandmanSequence. "Papa Loves Mambo" would however show up in ''Part II'' where it's the song playing on the car radio as Biff drives to the dance..
** There was originally going to be an explanation as to why Marty and Doc were friends: Doc just showed up one day and hired Marty to clean his garage, paying him $50 a week and free beer.
** Originally when Marty looked Doc up in the past, Doc was going to be having a party, and was flanked by two women when he opened the door. The scene played out the same, but with Doc's two girlfriends laughing at Marty. Then, instead of getting the idea for time travel from falling down while hanging a clock, Doc was inspired after whispering something into a woman's ear and subsequently being hit in the head with a beer bottle.
** In the original treatment, the time machine was rigged up inside a car wash. Marty [=McFly=] was chronically depressed, and in a hilarious misunderstanding, he mistook the time machine for a suicide device and climbed into it in order to kill himself. Also, there was originally going to be a major plot point where people in the past repeatedly mistook Marty for an alien.
** The studio wanted Zemeckis to cut the "Johnny B. Goode" scene to improve pacing, but relented because the test audiences considered it one of the best parts of the movie.
** Doc was originally called "Professor".
** As indicated in the novelization, there were once as many as six Libyan terrorists, including a DarkActionGirl named Uranda. The leader was named Sam, who started out as a ChildSoldier (he's in his early forties in 1985 and mentioned to have been a terrorist for 30 years).
** In the scenes shot with Eric Stoltz, Marty was dressed in a black jacket and pants with a white t-shirt, with the idea being that it'd be something a teen in 1985 might wear that, while appearing contemporary, conveniently wouldn't stand out much in 1955. Once Michael J. Fox took over the role, it was decided it would add to the FishOutOfTemporalWater comedy if his clothing ''didn't'' fit in for 1955, leading to Marty getting a more distinctly 1980s look.

* ImageSource: From the entire franchise:
** ActorAllusion (top half: poster)
** BurningRubber (poster)
** CoolTrain
** DeanBitterman
** FailedFutureForecast
** FiringDay
** FlashbackWithTheOtherDarrin
** GenerationXerox
** HighSchoolDance
** HubcapHovercraft (poster)
** IWantMyJetPack (top half)
** IncrediblyObviousTail
** InstantMassJustAddWater
** IntergenerationalFriendship
** [[KickTheDog/LiveActionFilms Kick The Dog.Live-Action Films]]
** MisterSandmanSequence
** ModelPlanning
** NewspaperBackstory
** TheOtherMarty
** RoadApples
** RippedFromThePhoneBook
** RippleEffectIndicator
** [[SequelHook/LiveActionFilms Sequel Hook.Live-Action Films]]
** TimelineAlteringMacGuffin
** ToBeContinued

* QuoteSource: From the entire franchise:
** ALittleSomethingWeCallRockAndRoll
** DateRapeAverted

** FlorenceNightingaleEffect

** ImMrFuturePopCultureReference
** ImmediateSequel
** InternalHomage
** {{Malaproper}}

** OurTimeMachineIsDifferent

** ThrewMyBikeOnTheRoof
** TrainJob

* TheRedStapler:
** The [=DeLorean=]. At the time the movie came out the Delorean Motor Company had been bankrupt for almost 3 years and [=DeLoreans=] were considered a failed car. Nowadays there's an active "time machine conversion" community, [=DeLorean=] dealers, and [=DeLorean=] conventions -- all because of ''Back to the Future''. There's apparently even a company in Texas that bought the rights to the design and is making new [=DeLoreans=].
** The skateboarding sequences in this film resulted in a boom in the sport's popularity.
* ScullyBox: Because Creator/ChristopherLloyd is 6'1", much taller than the 5'4" Creator/MichaelJFox, camera tricks were used to avoid using one. For example, the two are rarely in the same shot together and, when they are, one is usually sitting down or much closer to the camera than the other. When Doc Brown is talking, he's often moving around so much that the viewer can't really tell how tall he is. Lloyd also improvised a hunch in his posture that helped give the character more of a MadScientist look.
* StarMakingRole: For Michael J. Fox.
* TropeNamers: These movies named the following tropes:
** CantHoldHisLiquor
** CaughtInTheRipple
** DelayedRippleEffect
** GetBackToTheFuture
** IfMyCalculationsAreCorrect
** MisterSandmanSequence
** NobodyCallsMeChicken
** NowIKnowWhatToNameHim
** TheOtherMarty
** RightOnTheTick
** RippleEffectIndicator
** RippleEffectProofMemory
** WeDontNeedRoads
** WriteBackToTheFuture

* ImageSource: TheOtherMarty