Actor Jon Cryer says the Back To The Future movie script he read for his failed audition used a 1950s bottle of coca-cola to power the time machine. Cryer, best known for playing the hapless Alan Harper through all 12 seasons of Two And A Half Men, took to Twitter yesterday to reveal that he had auditioned for the movie, commiserating with fellow actor Ben Stiller, who also failed to pass his audition.
Both actors eventually lost out to Michael J. Fox, who was the first choice for the role. First, though Eric Stoltz was cast due to Fox’s unavailability, but he was let go from the film after producers realized he was too intense for the role, though there are reports that Stoltz still appears in the film as the hand that punches Biff. Fox joined the cast on a deal to film nights in order to fit in with his schedule on the sitcom Family Ties. The rest is history. The movie smashed box office records, spawned two incredibly successful sequels and is still regarded as a classic action adventure 35 years later.
In addition to confirming he’d auditioned for the movie, Cryer also posted a tweet thread describing how different the script he read was from the movie eventually released to cinemas. In addition to confirming the already-known fact that the infamous Indiana Jones And The Crystal Skull fridge-nuking scene was originally in Back To The Future, Cryer also revealed that the original time machine wasn’t a Delorean but just a regular time machine. Even better, the secret ingredient for running the machine was a Coca-Cola. You can see Cryer’s tweets about the soda connection below.
Cryer also revealed that in the original script that McFly drops the bottle of coke at the critical moment, but realizes he’s in a 1950s house, which is guaranteed to have a bottle of coke in the fridge. He then saves the day, climbs in the infamous fridge to escape the nuclear bomb being set off and returns home to the 1980s. If what Cryer says is true, it’s got to be one of the most shameless attempts at product placement of all time.
Thankfully, the script was changed and, all due respect to Cryer and Stiller’s respective acting ability, Fox was chosen for the role. What resulted was an instant classic that pushed the boundaries of reality just far enough to remain credible while also entertaining. And the shameless product placement is reserved for Pepsi rather than Coke.
If the original script was kept, it’s doubtful Back To The Future would have been as successful. There was something about the use of the Delorean as the time machine, and the exciting climax with McFly and Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) attempting to harness the power of lightning, that resonated, and still resonates, with audiences.
