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Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale wrote the script after Gale mused upon whether he would have befriended his father if they attended school together.  The first draft of “Back to the Future” was finished in February 1981 for Columbia Pictures.  "They thought it was a really nice, cute, warm film, but not sexual enough," Gale said. "They suggested that we take it to Disney, but we decided to see if any other studios wanted it."  Every major film studio rejected the script for the next four years as “Back to the Future” went through two more drafts.  They finally decided to go ahead and pitch “Back to the Future” to Disney and were then told that a mother falling in love with her son was not appropriate for a family film under the Disney banner.   The box office success of Zemeckis' “Romancing the Stone” sparked interest in Zemekis and  the project was finally set up at Universal Pictures with Spielberg as executive producer.  Eric Stoltz was originally cast as Marty McFly when Michael J. Fox declined as he was busy filming the TV series “Family Ties”, but during filming Stoltz and the filmmakers decided Stoltz was miscast so they asked Fox again and he managed to work out a timetable so he gave enough time and commitment to both.  The subsequent recasting meant the crew had to race through re-hoots and post-production to complete the film for its July 3, 1985 release date.

When released, it became the most successful film of the year, grossing more than $380 million worldwide. Ronald Reagan even quoted the film in the 1986 State of the Union Address. In 2007, the Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry, and in June 2008 the American Film Institute's special AFI's 10 Top 10 acknowledged the film as the 10th best film in the science fiction genre.   Adjusted for inflation, the film is the 57th highest-grossing film ever in North America.

Our special guests include the inventor of the Delorean flux capacitor, 3 time Emmy Winner Christopher Lloyd who of course all played in the movies “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”, “One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest”, “Star Trek 3, The Search for Spock”, was Uncle Fester in “The Addams Family” movies, Reverend Jim Ignatowski on the television series “Taxi” and dozens of other movies and televisions shows.   Lea Thompson who played Marty McFly’s mother has appeared in dozens of movies and television shows herself including with Tom Cruise in “All the Right Moves”, “Red Dawn” and “Friends”, “Law & Order” and more.  Claudia Wells is best known as Marty McFly’s girlfriend has also done numerous televisions and movies roles including “Simon & Simon”, “Trapper John M.D.” and “Brothers”.   Character actor extraordinaire James Tolkan has dozens and dozens of television and movie credits to his name including the films “Serpico”, “War Games”, “Dick Tracy”, Woody Allen’s “Love & Death” and for television “Hill Street Blues, “The Wonder Years”, “Miami Vice”, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” but is probably best known for playing “Stringer” in “Top Gun” as well as the gruff principal of Hill Valley High School in the “Back to the Future” movies.