It's the 35th anniversary of Back to the Future, one of the '80s best and most iconic sci-fi adventure films. With the release of all three movies in the franchise being released on 4K UHD on October 20, we're certainly learning a lot more about this movie, like that the ending was originally way different. However, one of the special features in the new box set features audition tapes, and one of the auditions for the role of Marty McFly is none other than Ben Stiller.
In the special feature "An Alternate Future: Lost Audition Tapes," six audition tapes are shown for various actors, with the most notable being Ben Stiller. While he may be a household name now, back in 1984-85, he hadn't landed a major role. Stiller was around 19 at the time, trying out to play Marty McFly. The brief video shows Stiller reading lines, and he's pretty great. Both C Thomas Howell (The Outsiders) and Jon Cryer (Pretty in Pink) tried out for Marty McFly as well, but neither fit the role as well as Stiller did from the audition tapes. However, as good as Stiller seemed from the short clip, there is no one better for that role than Michael J. Fox.
However, there are other audition roles in the featurette. Billy Zane (Titanic) tries out for the role of Biff Tannen--and frankly, he's not very believable as the infamous bully. However, he ended up being in both Back to the Future 1 and 2 as Match, Biff's sidekick. Peter DeLuise (21 Jump Street) also tried out for the role of Tannen. Casting made a great call on this because no one embodied the role more than Thomas F. Wilson.
For the love interest of Jennifer Parker, Kyra Sedgwick (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) tried out. There isn't anything too memorable about Sedgwick's performance from the clip. And even though Claudia Wells landed the role for the first movie, she was recast for the sequel when Elisabeth Shue came aboard the franchise.
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Back to the Future: The Ultimate Trilogy will feature all three movies in ultra high definition and plenty of special features, including ones that have never been released before.
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The boxed set will have all three movies along with an extra disc filled with special features both old and new. Below, you'll find the new additions for this collection.
Mat Elfring on Google+