Not The Back to the Future You Remember: Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly!

This is one of those “the way it could have been” stories. If you liked the Back to the Future films (and who doesn’t?), you’re probably already aware that Eric Stoltz was the original choice to play Marty McFly. Less people know that the film was actually shot with Stoltz playing the role for five weeks before he was replaced with the one and only Michael J. Fox. Footage of Stoltz as McFly has never been seen in public… until now! With this year being the 25th anniversary of the first film, why not dig out a few clips from the vault? Click “more” to check out the footage!

It’s very odd watching these clips, because it seems like Stoltz doesn’t belong in the film. I know that’s probably because we’ve seen Michael J. Fox in the film for twenty-five years, but otherwise it certainly confirms that the producers were right (as they explain in the clip) — Stoltz wasn’t right for the film.

So what do you think, readers? Would Stoltz have been able to pull off one of the most celebrated characters of the 1980s, or could only Michael J. Fox make the film work?