Back In Time features interviews with many of the
key players, including Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale, Steven Spielberg, Michael J.
Fox, Lea Thompson and Christopher Lloyd. Bob Gale talks about how he wanted to
do a time travel movie, and then how seeing his father’s picture in his high
school yearbook sparked the idea. There is some great stuff about the studios
turning the project down because, as they surmised, no one goes to see a time
travel film (Disney, however, turned it down because of the incest angle). So
Robert Zemeckis went and did Romancing The Stone, and after that film
was a hit he was able to do Back To The Future.
Michael J. Fox talks about working all day on Family
Ties, then working on Back To The Future at night. He also tells an
anecdote about meeting Princess Diana, and having her seated next to him at a
screening of the film. Lea Thompson says, about her character, “Lorraine
McFly is essentially in love with her own son, which I thought was hilarious.”
There are also interviews with cast members Don Fullilove, James Tolkan and
Claudia Wells. And yes, there is stuff on the original casting of Eric Stoltz,
and how he didn’t quite work out. Robert Zemeckis says: “I didn’t want to
believe that it wasn’t working, so that’s why I kept shooting and shooting. I
was kind of in denial about it.” We do see a bit of Eric Stoltz’s footage,
but without sound. There are also interviews with Huey Lewis, who wrote “Power
Of Love” and appears in the film, and some key crew members.
A large section of this documentary, however, is about
the fans, particularly about those who build and collect their own DeLorean
time machines, as well as the folks who were part of the car restoration team.
And members of the band The Flux Capacitors are interviewed. The film does
include a bit of interesting criticism, like how Marty McFly has no real
character arc and doesn’t learn anything over the course of the film. Keep in
mind that this criticism is from a fan. No one who actually dislikes the film
is interviewed here. (Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone
who dislikes Back To The Future.) It does feel like perhaps there is a
bit too much time dedicated to those folks who have DeLoreans. I would have
liked more with the cast about their personal experiences, and it would have
been great had this film included an interview with Eric Stoltz. But it is wild
that some fans actually built a replica of the entire town. And I was surprised
to learn of the weird connection between the early drafts of Back To The
Future and Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. The
documentary does include some material on the sequels, but the focus is on the
original film and its lasting effect on fans and on our culture in general.
Back In Time was directed by Jason Aron, and is
scheduled to be released on DVD on September 13, 2016 through MVD Visual. The
DVD contains no special features. By the way, during the closing credits, those
interviewed talk about which periods they would visit if they owned time
machines. I would visit Elizabethan England to watch some of Shakespeare’s
original productions, then I’d move forward to 1965 to check out some early
Grateful Dead concerts and attend an acid test or two. What about you?
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