Marty McFly

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Lore & Background

Marty McFly is the Back to the Future protagonist, who is raised in Hill Valley, California, a fictional town set in 1985. He is a confident teenager who attends high school and dreams of becoming a rock star. He also lives in a family with various personal issues. He is the youngest of three children of George McFly and Lorraine Baines-McFly. He has a brother, Dave McFly, and a sister, Linda McFly. Marty's girlfriend is Jennifer. During the development of Back to the Future, Eric Stoltz was initially cast in the role, but was replaced by Fox. Various other actors have portrayed or voiced the character in other media. In the animated series, David Kaufman voices him, and in the video game developed and published by Telltale Games, he is voiced by A.J. LoCascio, while Fox makes vocal cameos as his future counterparts. Olly Dobson played him in the original stage musical adaptation in the West End and Casey Likes plays him in the Broadway production.

In Their Own Story

The concept for Back to the Future originated in co-creators Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale wanting to make a film about time travel. Gale said that the story evolved after he found his father's old high school year book and asked himself 'Would we have been friends if we'd been at school together?' In the early drafts of the script, Doc Brown's technology caused the whole world to change instead of just Marty's family but this idea was rejected. Gale stated that Marty was named after a production assistant on Used Cars because it seemed like a 'good, all-American name'. Zemeckis then suggested the surname McFly. It took some time to work out how Marty would travel in time, but they knew it had to be by accident rather than for some personal gain. In the first two drafts of the script, many elements of the story were different to the final version and featured a time chamber instead of the DeLorean time machine. Marty was characterized as a 'streetwise video pirate', but Zemeckis said that Universal Pictures refused to make a film with a video pirate as the protagonist.

Reader's Guide

Michael J. Fox was the first choice for Zemeckis when casting the role of Marty McFly in Back to the Future, as he had seen him starring in the television series Family Ties in the part of Alex Keaton. Fox was still under contract causing concern about his filming availability, so producer Gary Michael Goldberg did not give him the script. Eric Stoltz was eventually cast as Marty and used method acting, insisting that the film crew call him 'Marty' even when not filming. His intense, serious acting style clashed with the light, comedic portrayal that Zemeckis and Gale were expecting from the part. After reviewing 40 minutes of footage, Spielberg, Zemeckis and Gale knew it was a problem. Five weeks into shooting, Zemeckis replaced Stoltz with Fox. With Fox in the role, Zemeckis had to reshoot the previous five weeks of filming with a new leading man. Fox was 23 years old when he took on the role of 17-year-old Marty in 1985. The producers were impressed by Fox's sense of timing and comic ability. Zemeckis commented, 'He's got the perfect blend of traditional leading man qualities. He's vulnerable but he's calm.' As Fox had joined the production after filming had begun, he was forced to juggle filming of both the film and television series within a punishing schedule. This involved rehearsals for Family Ties from 10am until 6pm followed by filming Back to the Future from 6.30pm until 2.30am. Fox stated that the schedule was exhausting but worth the effort.

Did You Know?

• Marty was named after a production assistant on Used Cars because it seemed like a 'good, all-American name'.
• Eric Stoltz was initially cast as Marty and used method acting, insisting the film crew call him 'Marty' even when not filming.
• Michael J. Fox was 23 years old when he took on the role of 17-year-old Marty in 1985.
• For the scene where Marty plays 'Johnny B. Goode', Fox had to be taught to play guitar by Paul Hanson, and although Fox mimed the guitar playing, it was Tim May who actually played guitar.
• While filming a scene for the third film involving Marty being strung up in a noose, the rope blocked Fox's carotid artery and caused him to lose consciousness for several seconds.