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It’s been almost 30 years, but today is finally Back to the Future Day!
At the end of the 1985 cult classic sci-fi film, Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) & Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) blasted their DeLorean into the future. They landed in Hill Valley at the start of 1989’s Back to the Future Part II and the date was 21st October 2015, that day has finally arrived.
Thirty years later, you can catch all three films in the cult classic (Part III came out in 1990) on a special 30th Anniversary Blu-ray set, and it’s also back in selected cinemas across the city of Liverpool. While you’re catching the hit franchise at the cinema, we’re taking a little look at where the stars are now.
Michael J. Fox was the main star of the franchise and back then, he was America’s favourite teenager starring in the hit show Family Ties, although Canadian-born Fox was actually 24 when he first starred as Marty McFly. However, he almost didn’t get the role….
Family Ties producer Gary David Goldberg didn’t want to risk losing Michael, so Eric Stolz was cast as McFly instead. Initial filming was done though, and it was clear that Stolz was miscast, director Robert Zemeckis went back to Goldberg. A deal was then struck for Fox to shoot the hit movie at night after he’d filmed Family Ties.
Once Part II shooting had wrapped, Fox was a huge star, he took on the additional roles of his character’s twin kids Marty Jr and Marlene McFly. In addition to starring in all 3 movies, Fox starred in others including Bright Lights, Big City and Doc Hollywood. In 1996, he returned to TV in the hit sitcom Spin City. during the third season, he announced that he had Parkinson’s Disease and retired from the show in the fourth season.
He then scaled back from showbiz, becoming a strong advocate for Parkinson’s research, creating The Michael J. Fox Foundation. In recent years, he’s appeared on The Good Wife and Curb Your Enthusiasm among other shows. He also starred in NBC’s The Michael J. Fox Show, it was loosely based on his life, it only lasted 1 season.
Fox, now 54, is the father of four children with his wife of 27 years, actress Tracy Pollan.
Christopher Lloyd was another TV veteran, starring in the show Taxi. Lloyd starred alongside Fox in all 3 Future films as Dr. Emmett “Doc” Brown, the inventor of the time-travelling DeLorean.
Lloyd is now 76, he appeared in a number of movies including One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, before starring in Back to the Future, he is best known for his role in the latter however. He’s had a slew of roles since both on the big and small screen including the short lived TV show Stacked.
Lloyd also reprised his role as Doc Brown in the Back to the Future video games and animated series, he also reunited with Fox on Spin City, The Michael J. Fox Show and most recently, a Toyota ad.
Lea Thompson played Marty’s mum Lorraine Baines-McFly in the franchise, she reprised her role in “Part II” and “Part III.”
The now 54-year old actress started out as a dancer before transitioning into acting. She’d starred in All the Right Moves opposite Tom Cruise and Red Dawn with Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen before being cast in Back to the Future.
Afterward, she appeared in a number of films throughout the 90s, including “Howard the Duck” and “The Beverly Hillbillies,” and found moderate success on television in “Caroline in the City.” Taking a break to raise her two daughters with director Howard Deutch, Thompson returned to acting mostly on the small screen in Hallmark Films and ABC Family’s “Switched at Birth.” She also competed on “Dancing With the Stars” 19th season.
So that was our quick look at where the main stars of the Back to the Future franchise are up to in the present day, I wonder if they’ll be catching the hit movies on this special day?