'Back to the Future' 40th Anniversary Interview: Bob Gale

Moviefone speaks with producer Bob Gale about the 40th Anniversary of 'Back to the Future'. "We definitely see the influence in other media," he said.

Screenwriter and producer Bob Gale at the 40th anniversary screening of 'Back to the Future'.

Are you ready to go “Back in Time”?

2025 marks the 40th anniversary of one of the most beloved movies of all time, ‘Back to the Future’. Directed by Robert Zemeckis (‘Forrest Gump’) and based on a script he wrote with producer Bob Gale, the classic film stars Michael J. Fox (‘Family Ties’) as Marty McFly and Christopher Lloyd (‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit') as Doc Brown.

Back to the Future

"He was never in time for his classes... He wasn't in time for his dinner... Then one day... he wasn't in his time at all."

PGAdventure Comedy Science Fiction

Audience
Score

Release Date: Jul 3, 1985

Run Time: 1 hr 56 min

Budget: $19,000,000

Starring: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Crispin Glover

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To celebrate the anniversary, the film is being re-released in theaters on October 31st in premium formats including IMAX, Dolby Cinema, 4DX and D-Box. To kick off the re-release, a special screening and event was held on October 21st, (which is also the date Marty went back in time), at the Universal Cinema at Universal CityWalk Hollywood.

Moviefone attended the event and had a chance to speak with co-writer and producer Bob Gale about the 40th anniversary of ‘Back to the Future’, creating the rules of time travel, Michael J. Fox’s iconic performance, his instant chemistry with Christopher Lloyd, predicting elements of the future with ‘Back to the Future Part II’, and why there will never be another sequel, remake or reboot of the original.

Related Article: Tom Hanks Features in First Pictures of Robert Zemeckis’ ‘Here’

Screenwriter and producer Bob Gale at the 40th anniversary screening of 'Back to the Future'.

Moviefone: To begin with, when you first came up with the idea for the film, did you have any idea that the movie would become a cultural phenomenon and that we would be celebrating the 40th anniversary all these years later?

Bob Gale: Well, we must go back 45 years ago because that's when I got the idea. So, if the me of today went back in time 45 years ago when Bob Zemeckis and I were struggling to write this script and said, "Guess what's going to be going on in 2025?" Our younger selves would've called security and said, "There's an old man lunatic in here. Get him out of here."

MF: In my opinion, ‘Back to the Future’ really created the rules for fictional time travel that are still used to this day in films, television and other mediums. Can you talk about creating those rules and do you see ‘Back to the Future’s influence in other media?

BG: Well, we see the influence in other media. There's no question about it. In fact, in ‘Avengers: Endgame’, they had to specifically say, "Well, that's not how it works in ‘Back to the Future’." Then of course they say, "Well, ours is different," and then it's the same. So yeah, we were inspired by the 1960 version of ‘The Time Machine’ movie in which you could travel through time but not through space, which is important because you're always in the same place, whether that physically makes any sense and violates some rules, I don't know. But that's the way we decided to do it. We had no idea that the movie was even going to be a hit, much less that we were establishing the rules. But people would say to me, "Well Bob, do you think people are going to understand this?" And I said, "Well, if we can explain time travel so that a 10-year-old can understand it, we should be able to explain just about everything."

Michael J. Fox in 'Back to the Future'. Photo: Universal Pictures.

MF: It’s well documented that actor Eric Stoltz was originally cast as Marty McFly and eventually replaced by Michael J. Fox. Can you talk about the energy Fox brought to the set and why he was the right actor to play that role? There would be no ‘Back to the Future’ without Michael J. Fox, correct?

BG: Absolutely. We certainly wouldn't be here if we hadn't made that casting change. I sincerely do believe that. People often ask me, "What's your favorite memory of making ‘Back the Future’?" It was the first night that Michael J. Fox came to work because this was a crazy thing for us to do, to fire an actor five and a half weeks after we started shooting with him. I don't think it'd ever been done before. Maybe in the case of somebody dying, but not like that. People said, "Do these guys know what they're doing?" Then Michael comes to work, and he steps into the Twin Pines Mall scene. He starts doing the same stuff that we'd done the week before with Eric Stoltz and everybody just said, "Oh my God, that's Marty McFly. Yeah, that's the character I envisioned in the script." So, my God, you're right. We would not have ‘Back to the Future’ without Michael. The planets totally lined up.

MF: Was his chemistry with Christopher Lloyd obvious from day one?

BG: From day one with everybody. That's what a great actor can bring to a part is that he can make the actors around him be better. So, he was able to create an interplay with every other character, every other actor. You see it on screen. You absolutely do.

(L to R) Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd in 'Back to the Future'. Photo: Universal Pictures.

MF: This is more of a question about ‘Back to the Future Part II’, but that film predicted a lot of things that have come true including flat screen TVs, video calls, and driverless cars. Is there anything you predicted that came true that surprised you, and do you take credit for any of these inventions?

BG: A lot of things were sort of, "Okay, this is kind of obvious that we're going this way," like the flat screen televisions. One thing that I wish we had that we don't, is food hydrators. How come we don't have that? It seems like that should be something that we should have, but maybe the technology doesn't work. Should we have hoverboards? Well, they would be cool, but the orthopedic surgeons would like it a lot. I don't think we're going to get those anytime soon. Same thing about flying cars. Every so often you hear, "Oh, we've got a new flying car." But people have enough trouble driving in two dimensions, do we want to give them three? I don't know.

MF: Finally, is ‘Back to the Future’ untouchable? In the sense that we will never see another sequel, reboot or remake, correct? The film is perfect, and stands on its own, and there could never be another, is that right?

BG: Exactly. We can't do another. They'll never be a part four, at least not while Bob and I are alive. We don't want to do a reboot because how do you do that? People say, "Well, why don't you do a part four?" "Well, do you want to see a ‘Back to the Future’ movie that doesn't have Michael J. Fox in it?" Absolutely not. Nobody wants to see that. So that just takes it totally off the table. We'll leave it the way that it is. We really want to be the guys that said, "Hey, we were able to say creatively, 'We've told the story we want to tell. We're done.'" People say, "Well, you could make a lot of money if you did another one." Okay, we've already made a lot of money. That's not a good enough reason to do it. Was there a story that we should tell? If there was, we would've told it back in the day. So, we're going to leave well enough alone. Let the viewers enjoy the ‘Back to the Future’ trilogy for what it is and enjoy it.

The 40th anniversary screening of 'Back to the Future'.

What is the plot of ‘Back to the Future’?

Eighties teenager Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) is accidentally sent back in time to 1955, inadvertently disrupting his parents' first meeting and attracting his mother's romantic interest. Marty must repair the damage to history by rekindling his parents' romance and - with the help of his eccentric inventor friend Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) - return to 1985.