The moment inBack to the Futurewhen Michael J. Fox’s Marty McFly masquerades as “Darth Vader, from the planet Vulcan,” is soundtracked by a song that had already appeared in a movie the year before, and starred the actor who was originally cast as Marty. Often heralded not only as one of thebest time travel movies of all timebut also one of thebest movie trilogies ever,Back to the Futureremains as popular as ever. That being said, it went through quite a process to end up in its original form.
Back to the Futurebegan production with Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly, but he was let go weeks into shooting after it was determined he wasn’t right for the role. Thankfully, Fox was brought in to fill the void and was just what the 1985 movie needed, as well as the two sequels that followed. After the reshoots,Back to the Futurewas well on its way to what it was intended to be, butthe dismissal of Stolz avoided what would have been an interesting musical recurrence.
Back To The Future’s Darth Vader Song Originally Appeared In The Wild Life
The music that Marty blasts into his father’s ears inBack to the Futurewhile wearing a hazmat suit was written by Eddie Van Halen, but it wasn’t a genuine Van Halen song. Instead, it had appeared as part of the score for 1984’sThe Wild Life Lifein which Eric Stoltz appeared as Bill Conrad.The music on Marty’s cassette was part of Eddie Van Halen’s score forThe Wild Life, which Universal had the rights to use.
Stolz appeared in several projects betweenThe Wild LifeandBack to the Future’s release date, so although they wouldn’t have been back-to-back projects for the actor, there would still have been a strong connection between both movies. Lea Thompson, who played Lorraine Baines (Marty’s mom) inBack to the Future, also played Anita inThe Wild Life. Thankfully,Bill and Anita had a much more healthy romantic arc inThe Wild Lifethan Marty ended up enduring with Lorraine.
Why Marty McFly’s Tape Says “Edward Van Halen,” Not “Van Halen”
Eddie’s band objected to being credited with writing the track
Van Halen is eponymously named after the band’s frontman, Eddie Van Halen. With Marty’s Darth Vader moment implying that the song on his tape is by the band, it’s a little unusual that the name “Edward” is included in small letters before the title of the band. The reason behind this, according to the movie’s DVD commentary, was that whileEddie signed off on having his composition credited to him, the band didn’t authorize the song being attributed to them - even inBack to the Future’s fictional setting.
Back to the Future
Cast
Back to the Future follows teenager Marty McFly as he is inadvertently sent back to 1955, where he disrupts his parents' meeting. With the assistance of eccentric inventor Doc Brown, Marty must restore the timeline by ensuring his parents fall in love and find a way back to 1985.
