1.21 Gigawatts: 40 years of "Back to the future"

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“Roads? Where we're going, we don't need … roads.” “Back to the Future” is not only the most successful movie of 1985, ahead of “Rambo 2”, “Rocky IV” and “Out of Africa”. It is the most successful youth film of the entire decade, far ahead of “Dirty Dancing”. It was released in US cinemas on July 3, 1985, and is now 40 years old.

BTTF, as the movie is often called for short, is only superficially science fiction. It is an adventure, a comedy, a fairy tale, a romance, a lesson about growing up. It fires up the skateboard boom and popularizes the fifties: the music, the fashion, the style, the innocence. And he has a moral for which there is a nice saying: Every man is the architect of his fortune.

The screenplay

The film is the brainchild of Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis. Both studied at the renowned School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles and subsequently tried their hand at a career as writers and directors. Traveling back in time appeals to both of them, especially to the future, but they lack a brilliant idea until Bob Gale leafs through his father's yearbook. Would they have become friends if they had gone to school together? Together with Robert Zemeckis, he takes the idea further: was his mother as chaste as she always said?

After finishing “With One Foot in the Clink” in the summer of 1980, the two begin writing a screenplay for the time travel film. The 1950s seem appropriate: the hero of the story is 17 and travels back 30 years to meet his parents at the same age.

At the beginning, there is no common thread as to what the plot should look like. They write down ideas on index cards, one leading to the next. They ponder for a long time about how Marty can resolve his mother's crush on him. Then the penny drops: it is she herself who realizes: “When I kiss you, it's like kissing my brother.”

Rejected 44 times

The first draft is finished in February 1981. They say that the script was rejected 44 times by producers and studios. Their three previous projects (for Steven Spielberg) had all flopped. And nobody likes the subject: Time travel is no longer in demand, the humor is too staid, too “sweet” for the shrill and raucous eighties. Disney thinks it's too dirty for a mother to fall in love with her son. Only Spielberg is interested, but Zemeckis hesitates. “If we make this movie, and it's another flop, we'll never make another movie.” And Spielberg knows: “You're right.”

The tide only turned a few years later when Robert Zemeckis was allowed to shoot “The Hunt for the Green Diamond” for (and with) Michael Douglas, which cost 10 million dollars and grossed 115 million. He proves that he can direct successful films. And he approaches Spielberg again, from whom he actually wants to become independent, but who is the only one who believes in the idea and less in the revenue. With the success of “The Diamond” and with Spielberg as producer, Universal is won as a financial backer.

There are many changes from the first draft of the script to the finished film. 1952 instead of 1955: Marty illegally copies and sells films (the studio doesn't like this). His girlfriend is called Suzy Parker instead of Jennifer Parker. His father George is a boxer, not a writer. The dance evening is called “Springtime in Paris” instead of “Enchantment under the Lake”.

Some requests come from studio boss Sid Sheinberg. Not “Prof. Brown”, but “Doc Brown”, which sounds less old-fashioned. Who shouldn't have a monkey as a pet, but a dog: “No movie with a chimpanzee has ever made a profit.” And may Marty's mother, please, be called Lorraine (like Sheinberg's wife). They give in, but there is a tough battle for the title. Sheinberg doesn't like it and insists on “Space Man from Pluto” in a circular letter. Zemeckis and Gale are very worried about this. Spielberg responds casually with a reply that has become legendary: “Hi Sid, thanks for your funny memo, we all had a good laugh, keep up the good work.”