Back to the Future’s Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis wanted to cast an ‘80s musician in one of the key roles. Originally released in 1985, the classic film was directed and co-written by Zemeckis. Spielberg served as an executive producer for Back to the Future, which featured a leading cast of Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Tom Wilson.
Speaking at the Sundance Film Festival (via TheWrap), DEVO founder Mark Mothersbaugh explains how he was almost cast in Back to the Future. According to the artists, Zemeckis and Spielberg attended one of DEVO’s shows, and came up to Mothersbaugh after wanting to meet with him.
Mothersbaugh agreed, thinking that the Hollywood duo was “going to hire [him] to score their film.” Instead, Zemeckis and Spielberg offered Mothersbaugh the iconic role of Doc Brown, which he turned down. Check out the full quote from Mothersbaugh below:
“We did a sit down show, and it got filmed. Zemeckis and Spielberg were in the audience. And they walk up to me and say ‘Hey, we want to talk to you about something. We have a film we’re working on and want to talk to you about working on.’ And I’m like ‘oh, that sounds great.’ And I just remember for like two weeks, I kept thinking ‘they’re going to hire me to score their film.’ So I went into this meeting and they said ‘well, we loved you on stage. We loved the way your band looks, and we loved the way you guys look. We want you to be a, sort of a crazy mad scientist in this film we’re doing.’ And I go ‘what do you mean?’ And they go, ‘well, there’s a part in the film of a guy who runs around in a lab coat, and he has a car that he turns into that goes through time. We want you to play that part.’ And I go ‘I don’t want to act in a movie.’ And they go ‘well, you act on a stage, you do great.’ And I go ‘well, we make that stuff up ourselves. I mean, I don’t do what other people ask, I’ve never had people ask me to do this, I don’t want to do that.’ And I just remember leaving, and I’m going ‘they didn’t ask me to score the film, I can’t believe it. I thought that’s what was going to happen.’ Well there you go.”
How Back to the Future Ended Up With An Iconic Doc Brown (And Score)
The character in question is Doctor Emmett Brown, more commonly known as Doc Brown. A zany scientist with big dreams, Doc Brown is the creator of the plot-critical DeLorean time machine that catapults Marty McFly into the past and then, back to the future. The role was eventually taken on by Lloyd, whose pre-Back to the Future screen appearances include the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and two episodes of the hit TV show Cheers.
In addition to passing up the role of Doc Brown, Mothersbaugh also lost out on the chance to score the film. This honor ended up going to Alan Silvestri, who did the score for the first Back to the Future film as well as its sequels, Back to the Future Part II and Back to the Future Part III. After doing these films, Silvestri went on to become a twice-Oscar nominated talent, including for writing the original score for Forrest Gump.
“Rejected Over 40 Times” Back To The Future’s Early Studio Response Looks Ridiculous 38 Years Later
38 years later, it’s worth revisiting the baffling decision-making that caused dozens of studio executives to pass on Back to the Future.
Both the score and the Lloyd performance became iconic parts of Back to the Future. The film is still touted as a classic to this day, which is definitely due in part to key characters like Doc Brown. Mothersbaugh may not have been interested in acting in Back to the Future at the time, but in passing up the Doc Brown chance, he certainly missed an opportunity to play what is now a quintessential 80s character.
Back to the Future
Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown. In 1955, he meets his parents when they were his age, and must step in to make sure they wind up together before he gets back to 1985.
