Stoltz was fired from Back to the Future — replaced by Fox after the creators opted to go another route with Marty's character approach. One of the reasons Stoltz was let go was because of the intense way he interpreted and portrayed Marty.
Has Eric Stoltz ever commented on Back to the Future?
Stoltz has never publicly discussed Back to the Future. Lloyd's concern is better understood when, later in the retrospective, the actor explains that while making One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, after a break in production he struggled to recommit to the Max Taber character.
Fonda met Eric Stoltz in 1986 and they began dating in 1990. The relationship ended after eight years. In 2003, she suffered a serious car crash which fractured a vertebra. In March of the same year, she became engaged to film composer and former Oingo Boingo frontman Danny Elfman, and they married in November.
Eric was raised in both American Samoa and Santa Barbara, California, where by the age of fourteen, he was earning money by playing piano for the local musical theater productions, including "Mame" starring Anthony Edwards, whom he co-starred with as two of Jeff Spicoli's stoner friends in Fast Times at Ridgemont High ...
Eric Stoltz On Being In Quentin Tarantino's Classic Film, "Pulp Fiction"
Is Eric Stoltz in the Flash?
Stoltz was Sidney Sheinberg's (then CEO of Universal Pictures) favorite choice for McFly, so Sheinberg convinced director Robert Zemeckis to hire Stoltz with the contingency that if he wasn't right for the role, the film would be reshot.
Why did Eric Stoltz get kicked off Back to the Future?
Stoltz's method acting and lack of comedic chops led to reservations from cast and crew, who felt he wasn't bringing the right energy to the role. Michael J. Fox joined the production last minute, juggling a full workload between filming Back to the Future and his sitcom Family Ties.
Many other young actors also tried out for Marty McFly. John Cusack, Johnny Depp, Billy Zane (who appears in Back to the Future as Match, one of Biff's gang), Peter DeLuise, Matthew Modine, George Newbern, Christopher Collet, and Robert Downey Jr. were all considered but ultimately turned down.
He played Rocky Dennis in the biographical drama film Mask, which earned him the nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture, and has appeared in a wide variety of films, from mainstream ones including Some Kind of Wonderful to independent films such as Pulp Fiction, Killing Zoe ...
While there's no evidence Michael J. Fox was ever up for the lead role in Footloose, The Flash's other '80s leading man switcheroo was a possibility. Producers did consider Kevin Bacon for the role of Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. A bevy of other actors either turned it down or got passed over, too.
He continued to work in television as well, doing a recurring role as Helen Hunt's ex on Mad About You (1992), a year on Chicago Hope (1994), and in the television and cable movies Inside (1996) (directed by Arthur Penn), A Killer in the Family (1983) (with Robert Mitchum) and The Passion of Ayn Rand (1999) (with Dame ...
You're probably aware of how the famous story goes: Eric Stoltz was the original Marty McFly for a little over a month before he was replaced by Michael J. Fox, effectively adding a few million to the budget for reshoots.
Fox very nearly didn't play Marty McFly. Before Fox donned Marty's legendary life preserver and aviator-styled sunglasses ('80s fashion was wild), Eric Stoltz was infamously cast as the accidental teen time-traveler in Robert Zemeckis' classic 1985 sci-fi flick.
Unfortunately, the actor's schedule didn't align with the production's so they cast Stoltz, who had previously starred in Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Running Hot. Stoltz, however, was eventually let go a few weeks into production because Zemeckis and Gale felt his reading was too intense.
An Eric Stoltz Back to the Future role almost happened when he was cast as Marty McFly, the role that eventually went to Michael J Fox. Stoltz's time playing Marty McFly was cut short, partially due to his interpretation of the Back to the Future ending as a tragedy.
