Marty McFly and Doc Brown are back together again. The Back to the Future stars posted reunion snaps on their Instagram feeds. The iconic pair of Chistopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox were at a poker night in aid of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. In a reference to the sci-fi adventure classic Lloyd commented: “Going 88 mph for the @michaeljfoxorg Poker Night”. 88 mph was the magic figure Doc’s DeLorean car had to hit in order to travel through time.
Fox’s photo also showed the affection these actors clearly have for each other, almost 30 years after the release of final installment Back To The Future III. There have been other reunions. In 2018 Fan Expo Boston hosted a get together with Fox, Lloyd, Lea Thompson (Lorraine McFly) and Thomas Wilson (Biff Tannen).
Speaking to the New York Times last year, Fox enthused about his co-star. “The specific thing that he did amazingly is taking what every actor hates, which is the exposition, the laying pipe, and turning it into high-art Kabuki theater,” he said. “And that’s why people love the relationship so much, because Marty would suck the information out of Doc’s craziness. He’d have that second of like, O.K., got it!”
Interviewed by the Phoenix New Times in 2018, Lloyd looked back fondly on the franchise. “A lot of people, especially at events, have told me Back to the Future helped them survive whatever issues they dealt with in their adolescence or before that,” he reflected. ”Back to the Future helped lift their spirits and be more optimistic. I think that’s a big thing”. The Michael J. Fox Foundation was set up in 2000 by its namesake.
Aside from playing Marty McFly, he’s starred in movies such as The Secret of My Success (1987) and Peter Jackson’s The Frighteners in 1996. His most recent movie project saw him return to time travel in Netflix’s See You Yesterday.
Fox almost didn’t appear as Marty – he replaced original choice Eric Stoltz after shooting had commenced. Stoltz lacked the comedy chops director Robert Zemeckis wanted. With his sitcom background, Fox proved perfect and made the part his own.
Lloyd is well-known to sci-fi and fantasy fans. He appeared as Uncle Fester in the first 2 Addams Family movies, played Klingon Commander Kruge in Star Trek III (1983) and the terrifying Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988). Doc Brown remains his most famous role however.
The final Back to the Future movie appears to be Lloyd’s favorite out of the trilogy. “I kind of like the last one the best. It was a western,” Lloyd told the Phoenix New Times, “and westerns are always fun… the third one, I think, is the most fun. I don’t know if anything can top the original.”
The inevitable question is, does Back To The Future have a future for another reunion? A revival has been talked about over the years and a musical opened in Manchester England last month. As quoted by The Hollywood Reporter in 2017, Lloyd thinks “it would be a real challenge for the writers to come up with an original Back to the Future story that has the same passion and intensity and excitement as the other three.” He doesn’t rule out donning Doc’s white coat for another ride.
