Profile: Robert Zemeckis (Part 2)

Last week, we featured the first part of Trevor Hogg's profile on screenwriter-director Robert Zemeckis here. Trevor is back with Part 2 on FlickeringMyth.com here. A nice excerpt re Back to the Future:

When Bob Gale wondered what it would have been like to have been a high school classmate of his father, Robert Zemeckis decided to develop the concept with him. The main character was a video pirate who used a kitchen appliance as his transporter; the idea was aborted when the moviemaker became “concerned that kids would accidentally lock themselves in refrigerators.” The modern design of the DeLorean automobile, which could have been realistically mistaken as a spaceship in the 1950s, became the transportation of choice. The first draft of the script, entitled Back to the Future, was completed in February of 1981. Getting the project produced became a four year odyssey of rejection. According to Gale, Columbia Pictures “thought it was a really nice, cute, warm film, but not sexual enough.” Disney passed, as the story was not deemed to be family entertainment. The idea of approaching Zemeckis’s influential mentor was aborted, revealed Bob Gale. “We were afraid that we would get the reputation that we were two guys who could only get a job because we were pals with Steven Spielberg.”

Frustration gave way to approval when Romancing the Stone made Robert Zemeckis a bankable director. With a reputation established on his own merits, the moviemaker approached Spielberg who then arranged for Universal Pictures to fund the project. Unable to break from his commitment to the television series Family Ties (NBC, 1982 to 1989), Michael J. Fox passed on the part of Marty McFly. Taking his place was Eric Stoltz (Mask), but the casting decision was reversed a month into principal photography. Stoltz’s portrayal was too dramatic; a more humorous touch was required. Even though changing the male lead would add another $3 million to the $14 million budget, Zemeckis decided to approach his first choice again. A deal was subsequently struck between the director and the producers of the hit TV show, which enabled Fox to accept the role. Remarking on his signature film performance, the Canadian actor said he could relate to McFly on a personal level. “All I did in high school was skateboard, chase girls and play in bands. I even dreamed of becoming a rock star.”

Back to the Future features the teenaged Marty McFly inadvertently traveling back to the moment when his parents meet, only to find himself becoming the object of his mother’s affections. To temper any negative audience reaction to the Oedipal relationship, the line, “It’s like kissing my brother.” was inserted into the dialogue. Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale had nothing to fear. The movie spent eleven weeks as the number one box office draw; earning $381 million worldwide, it was the top grossing picture of 1985.

At the Academy Awards, the film won for Best Sound Editing and was nominated for Best Original Song, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Sound Design while the BAFTAS lauded it with nominations for Best Film, Best Original Screenplay, Best Visual Effects, Best Production Design, and Best Editing. In 2007, a year after being voted by the readers of Empire Magazine as the twenty-third greatest movie ever made, Back to the Future was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

For the rest of Part 2 of the profile, go here. And here's the original trailer for Back to the Future: