Back to the Future star Michael J. Fox has finally realized why the film has had such an enduring legacy. Fox, who recently retired from acting, was a major figure in 1980s pop culture. He got his start on the sitcom Family Ties, eventually graduating to film in projects like the original Teen Wolf. What launched him into the stratosphere, however, was stepping into a role originally cast with Eric Stoltz in the science-fiction spectacle Back to the Future.
Fox plays Marty McFly in the film, a teenage boy who, along with his eccentric neighbor Doc Brown, travels back in time to the 1950s. He must make sure his parents get together, thus ensuring his own existence, while figuring out exactly how to get back to his original time. The film was a smash hit, taking the #1 slot in the box office in 1985 and spawning a trilogy of films that remain beloved by fans across the world to this day. The films still have a major influence, and indeed the popular animated series Rick and Morty, which has been running since 2013, is essentially a riff on the film's basic premise.
Speaking with AARP Magazine, Michael J. Fox revealed that he has had an epiphany when it comes to his legacy with the science-fiction hit. Understandably, considering that the film features an early performance from the actor who went on to hone his craft for three more decades afterward, he used to have different feelings about watching Back to the Future. Now, however, he admits that he was "better than [he] thought [he’d] been" and that everyone needs to "take credit for what we’ve done and the lives we’ve touched." Read the full quote below:
I came across it on TV last Christmas. And I thought I was really good in it, better than I thought I’d been. More important, I got the spirit of the movie. I understood…that we all need…to take credit for what we’ve done and the lives we’ve touched and to occasionally step back a bit and appreciate that much of life has been great and that there’s a lot more to live.
The legacy of Back to the Future is still tremendous, with new homages and tributes to the franchise dropping left and right despite the last major entry in the franchise (the two seasons of Back to the Future: The Animated Series) being nearly 30 years ago. One such homage happened less than a month ago, when Christopher Lloyd reunited with his series co-star Lea Thompson in the Hallmark movie Next Stop, Christmas on November 6. A Back to the Future musical - featuring original songs alongside classics like "The Power of Love" - is also currently running in London's West End.
Finally, Michael J. Fox has caught up with nearly everyone else in the world in his feelings about Back to the Future. One of the interesting things about being a performer in big-budget blockbusters like that is the sense that major motion picture events become less like iconic films and more like yearbooks. The way that these films captured his teenage years must have been embarrassing for quite some time before he reached the age that he could look back on those years with love and embrace them.
Source: AARP Magazine