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# Never Before Seen Footage of Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly

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<!-- video src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/hq47R9C3.m3u8" -->
## Video: Never Before Seen Footage of Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly

[Watch (HLS stream): Never Before Seen Footage of Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/hq47R9C3.m3u8) (1:13)

![Never Before Seen Footage of Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/hq47R9C3/poster.jpg?width=720)

_Published 2010-10-12. Robert Zemeckis, Steven Spielberg and Bob Gale talking about why they decided to replace Eric Stoltz in Back to the Future._


---

Jul 27, 2023 3:06 PM UTC

---

## More From This Series

[All Videos](https://time.com/video/)

[Late Night Highlight: Michael J. Fox Scrutinizes Marty McFly Action Figure](/video/b7clUSo3/)

### Late Night Highlight: Michael J. Fox Scrutinizes Marty McFly Action Figure

[Thanks, Marty McFly\! Hoverboards Could Be Coming in 2015](/video/tW3ty2q6/)

### Thanks, Marty McFly! Hoverboards Could Be Coming in 2015

[TIME Interviews Steven Spielberg](/video/UKkCumXf/)

### TIME Interviews Steven Spielberg

---


## Transcript

>> We were given a mandate that we had to make the movie by a certain date and if we didn't make the movie by a certain date, they would cancel the movie. So, being a young and a hungry film maker, and maybe having a bit of an inflated ego, I thought well I can make this work.

>> So, you know, as you do when you're making a movie you make-- finally make a decision and that first decision was to go with Eric Stoltz.

>> We shot for five weeks with Eric. He was totally professional but there was just something missing.

>> He's a magnificent actor but his comedy sensibilities were very different than what I had written with Bob and he and I just never were able to make that work.

>> And he showed me the first five weeks of footage cut together, and he just said, " I don't think we're getting the laughs that I was hoping we would-- we would get ." And I looked at Bob and I realized that he was absolutely correct and I said, " Bob, what do you want to do ?"

>> So I had to make this horrific decision, which was very heartbreaking for everybody. But luckily, I was able to convince the studio to let me reshoot five weeks of work.

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