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Back to the Future actor Lea Thompson says it took her a while to warm up to Michael J. Fox when he was cast in the film. The actor recently admitted to being snooty to her co-star on set.
When asked if she got along with Fox when they met on the Back to the Future set, Thompson told the Still Here Hollywood podcast, "Probably not, because I was friends with Eric Stoltz who had just gotten fired." Although Fox was the first choice for the role, director Robert Zemeckis cast Eric Stoltz when Fox was initially unavailable due to his commitments on the NBC sitcom Family Ties. After filming began, the creative team realized Stoltz wasn't the right fit and eventually replaced him with Fox.
Thompson was upset by the casting change since she had already worked alongside Stoltz in 1984's The Wild Life and other projects. However, that wasn't the reason she gave Fox the cold shoulder. "I remember specifically being really snooty because there was a big division between movie stars and TV stars at that point," the actor recalled. "I remember being like, 'He's just a TV star, and I'm a movie star. I was in Jaws 3D.' So, I think it took me a while to warm up to him, but he was so funny and so fun to act with."
Thompson Eventually Had A Change of Heart
Thompson also said she was certain that Back to the Future would be a hit after the casting change. "When we were shooting, and they replaced Eric Stoltz with Michael J. Fox, six weeks in, I was like, 'Oh, they must like what they're doing because nobody does that. That's very expensive.' So, I had a feeling, but no one knew that it was gonna be what it was," she explained."I had done some scenes with Eric already and then had to redo them with Michael, so I could see how they were completely different scenes.
Decades later, Thompson says she and Fox are relatively close and often meet up at fan conventions a few times a year. "So, I see him in the weirdest situation ever, which is, like, in front of 3,000 people," she said. "And sometimes we go out to dinner, the group of us. That's really nice to see him." She also praised his efforts in raising awareness and funds for Parkinson's disease research through his Michael J. Fox Foundation, following his own diagnosis in 1991. "That's really special to me because both of my brothers were diagnosed with Parkinson's a year ago."
Per the official synopsis, "Back to the Future follows teenager Marty McFly (Fox) who is accidentally sent back to 1955 in a plutonium-powered DeLorean time machine invented by a slightly mad scientist (Christopher Lloyd). During his often hysterical, always amazing trip back in time, Marty must make sure his teenage parents-to-be (played by Thompson and Crispin Glover) meet and fall in love to get back to the future."
Back to the Future is streaming on Netflix.
Source: Still Here Hollywood Podcast
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