Future Boy

In this memoir, actor Michael J. Fox recounts the extraordinary three-month period in early 1985 when he simultaneously filmed the final nine episodes of the NBC sitcom Family Ties, on which he starred as Alex P. Keaton, and shot the science fiction comedy Back to the Future, in which he played teenager Marty McFly. The book traces how the film nearly fell apart, how Fox came to replace another actor midway through production, and how the grueling double schedule produced what he calls "a near-perfect movie."

Fox opens with one of his first scenes: the bedroom sequence with Lea Thompson, who plays Lorraine Baines, Marty's future mother as a teenager in 1955. Fox and Thompson met 10 minutes before cameras rolled. Thompson was resentful, feeling loyal to Eric Stoltz, the actor originally cast as Marty, with whom she had costarred in The Wild Life. Fox, operating on instinct, suggested an ad-lib to director Robert Zemeckis for a bigger laugh. The crew responded with genuine delight. Fox added a pratfall off the bed, one leg in his trousers, and Thompson warmed to his comedic skill.

Fox flashes back to explain how the opportunity arose. In late 1984, Gary David Goldberg, creator and executive producer of Family Ties, revealed that executive producer Steven Spielberg and Zemeckis had wanted Fox for Marty McFly four months earlier, but Goldberg had declined without telling Fox, considering him indispensable to the show. Spielberg and Zemeckis cast Stoltz and filmed for over a month, but daily screenings of the raw footage were disappointing and Stoltz proved not the right fit. Spielberg returned to Goldberg and proposed a compromise: Fox would work on Family Ties during the day and shoot Back to the Future at night. Goldberg agreed on the condition Fox not miss a single minute of the television show. Fox committed immediately, declaring he loved the script before he had even read it.

After spending the final days of 1984 with his family in Vancouver trying to bank sleep, Fox returned to Los Angeles. On January 10, Zemeckis informed Stoltz he was being let go. Two days later, Fox met the creative team at Goldberg's Malibu beach house: Spielberg, Zemeckis, cowriter and producer Bob Gale, and executive producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall. Fox resolved not to make these people feel foolish for hiring him and went straight into a wardrobe fitting. The costume team created Marty's new look, anchored by an orange puffy vest and Fox's own Nike Bruin sneakers, which the wardrobe department had forgotten to source. When the shoes proved impossible to find in stores, Marshall contacted Nike's fledgling product placement department, which manufactured 20 pairs at no cost, launching the brand's long association with the franchise.

Fox interweaves the production with reflections on his earlier life. His nightly commute over the Cahuenga Pass, the highway connecting Paramount to Universal, became a transformative ritual. The route evoked earlier journeys: a childhood visit to Universal's backlot in 1972, a 1979 drive from Burnaby to Los Angeles to pursue acting, and the years of poverty that preceded Family Ties.

Fox's first night filming Back to the Future was January 15, at the Puente Hills Mall east of Los Angeles. The crew had shifted to a nighttime schedule to accommodate him. His debut scene required a cumbersome yellow radiation suit that fogged up and made it difficult to hold props. When Christopher Lloyd burst in as the eccentric inventor Doc Brown with manic energy, Fox stifled a laugh and recognized their complementary dynamic. Over the following days, Fox filmed at the Golden Oak Ranch in Newhall for Marty's 1955 arrival and barn crash scenes. Script supervisor Nancy Hansen shared a crucial morale update: The daily screenings now featured laughter, a sharp contrast to the previous weeks.

Fox details the punishing mechanics of his double schedule. Mondays through Thursdays followed a pattern of daytime Family Ties rehearsals at Paramount and nighttime Back to the Future filming at Universal. Fridays were the most demanding: Fox taped the sitcom episode all afternoon, performed before a live studio audience in the evening, and then raced to Universal to film through the night until sunrise. He describes a moment of panic backstage when he momentarily confused Marty's camcorder prop with Alex's briefcase. His Family Ties colleagues, including costar Justine Bateman and supervising producer Michael Weithorn, later reported noticing no decline in his performance. Fox credits his survival to Goldberg, whom he identified as an essential champion and father figure who taught him professionalism.

Fox devotes particular attention to the "Johnny B. Goode" scene at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance, which he identifies as his favorite sequence in the movie. He spent weeks rehearsing with guitar instructor Paul Hanson, learning to play the chords precisely on camera even though a professional musician recorded the audio track. With choreographer Brad Jeffries, Fox designed a performance paying tribute to his guitar heroes: dropping to his knees like Jimmy Page, slinging the guitar over his head like Jimi Hendrix, windmilling his arms like Pete Townshend, and hammering the fretboard like Eddie Van Halen. Zemeckis later told Fox that filming this sequence was the most fun he had on the movie.

Fox also recounts working with Crispin Glover, who plays the meek George McFly with singular, unconventional methods. Glover repeatedly drifted out of Zemeckis's carefully framed shots, and in one scene produced a hidden broom mid-take, later explaining the gesture as "a sweep of indignation." Despite escalating friction between Glover and Zemeckis, Fox expresses deep admiration for the actor's talent.

Principal photography wrapped on April 26, 1985. Fox had never seen a frame of edited footage. A test screening in San Jose three weeks later scored 99 percent in the top audience response categories, a Universal record. Studio chief Sid Sheinberg insisted on a July Fourth opening, giving the post-production team less than 10 weeks to finish visual effects, Alan Silvestri's orchestral score, editing, and sound design. Fox missed the premiere while filming a Family Ties television movie in London but returned to see the film at the Cinerama Dome, where a paying audience cheered throughout. Back to the Future became the highest-grossing film of 1985, with the franchise eventually grossing over one billion dollars. Years later, Fox permitted himself to acknowledge that he was really good in it, concluding that the 23-year-old version of himself will remain forever young.

Fox credits the film's survival to its many heroes: Spielberg, who took the project under his wing when no one else would make it; Sheinberg, who honored his promise to allow it; Goldberg, who risked his show to clear the path; the cast and crew, who restarted production without a single resignation; and above all, Zemeckis and Gale, whose idea sprang from Gale's musing about whether he would have befriended the teenage version of his own father. In the Epilogue, Fox recounts reaching out to Stoltz for the first time, 40 years after the actor's departure. Stoltz declined to participate in the book but agreed to meet at Fox's home. They discovered they once auditioned together and bonded over a shared love of classic films. Fox frames the connection as one more gift from 1985, a reminder that some of the best parts of the future can come from the past.