Back to the Future: When Jeff Goldblum was in the running to play Doc

Christopher Lloyd tells us about his hiring in the cult film by Robert Zemeckis, released in theaters in 1985.

Back to the future will return this Thursday evening on TMC. The opportunity to share an extract from our file dedicated to the film in the Première Classics n°8 (July September 2019, with Dirty Dancing on cover)supplemented by the words of Christopher Lloydinterviewed for n°15 (April-June 2021, with Inspector Harry in one). Did you know that before being chosen to play Dr. Emmett Brown, the actor had been in competition with John Lithgow And Jeff Goldblum ? If the first refused, the future interpreter of Dr. Malcolm in the saga Jurassic Park even almost got the role…

40 Years of Hollywood Blockbusters: Back to the Future (1985)

Here is the excerpt regarding the casting of this character:
As for the actors who could play Emmett Brown, the casting directors are aiming broadly: Jeff Goldblum, John Cleese, Bill Cosby, Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, Eddie Murphy, Robin Williams, Gene Hackman, Peter Boyle, James Woods… Producer Neil Canton n I'm not convinced and would like to see Christopher Lloyd or John Lithgow as a mad scientist. Robert and Bob catch up on Lloyd and invite him to meet them at Amblin's. But the supporting actor has never heard of Zemeckis. During that summer of 1984, he filmed in Mexico, was in full doubt about his career (he wondered if he was right to go to Los Angeles to try to break into the cinema) and really wanted to return to the theater: “I got the script and I read it without committing. The first version was pretty damn crazy. To be honest, I had a little trouble grasping the meaning of it all. I called my agent to tell him I wasn't going to Los Angeles, and I threw the script in the trash.” Still intrigued by the name of Steven Spielberg in production, he lets his wife convince him that he is wrong. Barely arriving in Zemeckis' office, he falls under the spell of the director who compensates for his apparent lack of experience with his human warmth and a clear vision of what should be Back to the future. The love at first sight was mutual and Lloyd was preferred to Jeff Goldblum, who had made a strong impression (“He was probably second to Chris“, Gale will say).

The Back to the Future intro scene should have been very different

In a long interview retracing his career, Christopher Lloyd admits to having immediately hit it off with the director, Robert Zemeckis: “He's a very 'real', very clever person. He has a keen point of view on what works and doesn't work in cinema. I obviously wasn't aware of the enormous potential of Back to the future but in talking with Bob, I began to understand Doc's character, and I could see that he knew exactly what he wanted to do. But at the same time, he remained open to all proposals. I remember timidly submitting to him the idea of ​​Doc Brown's long, tousled hair (…) He just said to me: 'Okay, that's perfect!' Confident but ready to listen to others. Robert Zemeckis inspires confidence: filming with him was obvious.”

The trailer for Back to the future :

A nuclear ending was initially planned for Back to the Future