WI: Back To The Future WITHOUT Michael J. Fox?

How would the film series survive without Michael J. Fox and how would his career turn out because of this? Let's say Eric Stoltz stays on board or John Cusack gets the role. How would their careers progress?
 
Well, "Dirty Laundry" had John Cusack take the role, and it was a 4 film franchise.

I think another actor could have fit, regardless of whether the film would have felt slightly different as a result. However, I do not think Eric Stoltz would have worked. He simply was not the right fit, and alienated people, evidently wanting to bang Leia Thompson and his character acting meant he was a jerk to Tom Wilson, who almost came to blows with him. (Google the Youtube interview with Wilson on that)
 
Well, "Dirty Laundry" had John Cusack take the role, and it was a 4 film franchise.

I think another actor could have fit, regardless of whether the film would have felt slightly different as a result. However, I do not think Eric Stoltz would have worked. He simply was not the right fit, and alienated people, evidently wanting to bang Leia Thompson and his character acting meant he was a jerk to Tom Wilson, who almost came to blows with him. (Google the Youtube interview with Wilson on that)

John Cusack could maybe pull it off. How would the film had turned out had it been Ralph Macchio?
 
I bet once he does Back to the Future you couldn't NOT see Macchio everywhere.

Doubt it. the Karate Kid trilogy was hugely popular but his career took a nosedive nonetheless as he got older and was unable to shake off his teenage actor look.

There's also the fact that ralph doesn look like a WASP so that to have him play the lead you would have to change the actors playing his parents which not only introduce another variable as to the success of the movie in term of acting and interaction but could potentially introduced a subtext of racism between biff and marty's dad.
 
Doubt it. the Karate Kid trilogy was hugely popular but his career took a nosedive nonetheless as he got older and was unable to shake off his teenage actor look.
i know nothing about the actor, but conceivably he could take the route that both Mark Hamill and Crispin Freeman took: voice acting. Hamill's only notable live action role is, of course, Luke Skywalker, after which he went into voice acting. Crispin Freeman, on the other hand, was in theater at first but was largely limited in his roles because his much older-sounding voice didn't match very well with his more youthful appearance, hence voice acting
 
John Cusack and Matthew Broderick would have bee a good fit. Either/or.

I heard Johnny Depp went for the role too. Discuss.

all 3 would probably play it too straight in my mind, one of the attraction of micheal J. fox was the "little guy on the verge of getting hysterical" thing. Not saying the movie would bomb but the role would probably come off pretty different. In my mind, a good fit would be someone like John Cryer although in 1985 he would have been largely unknown.
 
all 3 would probably play it too straight in my mind, one of the attraction of micheal J. fox was the "little guy on the verge of getting hysterical" thing. Not saying the movie would bomb but the role would probably come off pretty different. In my mind, a good fit would be someone like John Cryer although in 1985 he would have been largely unknown.

John Cryer... good choice. He certainly would have brought a nerdier edge to Marty.
 
Stoltz no
Matthew Broderick could probably pull it off

The 80s had lots of good and lots of bad.stickk to fixing the bad
 
Stoltz no
Matthew Broderick could probably pull it off

The 80s had lots of good and lots of bad.stickk to fixing the bad

It's just a thought, mind. I've always been curious about Eric Stoltz because I enjoyed his role in Mask. It's not like I'm delaying it so it can feature the Two Coreys ;)
 
It's interesting how the actor chosen to play Marty would have affected casting for the rest of the characters. According to Wikipedia:
Lea Thompson was cast as Lorraine McFly because she had acted opposite Stoltz in The Wild Life; the producers noticed her as they had watched the film while casting Stoltz.
Thomas F. Wilson was cast as Biff Tannen because the producers felt that the original choice, J. J. Cohen, wasn't physically imposing enough to bully Stoltz.
Melora Hardin was originally cast in the role of Marty's girlfriend Jennifer, but was let go after Eric Stoltz was dismissed, with the explanation that the actress was now too tall to be playing against Michael J. Fox.
How about Robert Downey Jr. or even Tom Cruise? I think they could probably work.
 
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