Back to the Future: The Trivia

The last few days, Bravo has been giving viewers a heavy dose of Back to the Future, the first VHS tape I ever bought. Let's celebrate the highest-grossing movie of 1985 with some BTTF trivia:

• The role of Marty McFly was originally played by Eric Stoltz. After filming had started, he was deemed not right for the part and replaced by Michael J. Fox.
• In President Reagan's 1986 State of the Union, he quoted Doc Brown. "Never has there been a more exciting time to be alive, a time of rousing wonder and heroic achievement. As they said in the film Back to the Future, 'Where we're going, we don't need roads.'"
• Producers contacted Reagan's agent Lew Wasserman about taking a role in the third installment, which was filmed the year after Reagan left office. He was to play the Mayor of Hill Valley. He considered, then decided against it. Damn.
• In the alternate 1985 in Back to the Future II, a newspaper headline says, "Nixon to Seek Fifth Term; Vows End to Vietnam War by 1985."
• Elijah Wood made his film debut in II, playing the arcade game Wild Gunman in the Cafe 80s.
• Crispin Glover, who played George McFly in the first movie, demanded Marty money and script approval to appear in the sequels. These were dealbreakers, so the role of George was played by Jeffrey Weissman BTTF II and BTTF III. Footage from the original was used in the sequels, which prompted a lawsuit from Glover, a settlement from Universal, and new rules about future use of an actor's likeness.
• The movie was inspired by screenwriter Bob Gale's father's high school yearbook. Gale saw it and wondered whether he and his dad would have been friends as teenagers.

Back to the Future airs again on Bravo December 19th.