Future Boy
I read a book!
In 7th grade I had a reading teacher who had an overstuffed couch and a giant library in her classroom. Instead of book reports we had to do book reactions. Of note, that same teacher also taught P.E., and occasionally she’d make us meditate after the 10 minute run. It was 1981. Hippie teachers were awesome. In honor of 12-year-old Janet, each week I will try to share a book reaction. Far out, man. Enjoy!
I had no particular interest in reading this latest book from Michael J. Fox about his experience filming Back to the Future back in 1985. I thought I knew enough about it that this would all be old news. I knew that Eric Stoltz was originally cast as Marty McFly, and the studio replaced him with Michael leading to re-shooting many scenes and stretching the production period. But the audiobook was available at the library, so I took a quick listen, and I was hooked. What I didn’t know was Eric was fired after 6 weeks of filming, which was a huge chunk of the movie. And I didn’t realize part of the reason Eric was fired was for his method acting and his choice to make Marty a pretty dark character. What a different movie that would have been!
But Michael J. Fox doesn’t spend much time on the Eric recasting (in fact at the end of the book he talks about getting together with Eric to privately discuss their experiences - so no hard feelings). Instead he shares how the negotiations went down to allow him to shoot Back to the Future and Season 3 of Family Ties simultaneously, and the near Herculean effort it took to make that happen. Michael J. Fox is an engaging storyteller, and the audiobook even includes sound clips from some of the actors and studio executives involved in filming. You really get a sense of his comic genius while reading his amusing version of events. This is a very short read, and it’s a nice way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of Back to the Future, a generational classic that holds up after all these years. If, like me, you were a Family Ties fan back in the ‘80s, this journey through the space-time continuum will give you a little extra special nostalgic joy. I give Future Boy 25 flux capacitors.