Michael J. Fox Explains the Secret That Keeps Back to the Future Timeless 40 Years Later
Forty years after revving the DeLorean, Michael J. Fox lays out why Back to the Future still captivates—and admits he recently stumbled across it on TV.
We never really stop time-traveling back to Back to the Future, do we? Four decades on, it is still one of the easiest, most purely entertaining movies to throw on. And for better or worse, it will always be the role people think of first for Michael J. Fox. Honestly, same goes for Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, and Thomas F. Wilson. Fox seems more than cool with that. In a new chat with the Associated Press, he leaned right into why the movie keeps hanging around and why he still gets a kick out of it.
Still Marty, even when he is not
Fox says he still gets stopped by kids who point and call him Marty McFly. His response is basically: you are looking at an old guy here, not a skateboard-toting teen. The recognition makes him think about the time gap too — he has a 37-year-old son who was not even born when the first movie hit theaters. It has been a minute.
Why it still clicks
Fox has a simple read on the film’s staying power: the distance from now back to 1985 is bigger than the jump the movie makes from 1985 to 1955, and somehow that extra distance makes it easier to meet the movie on its own terms. Viewers are not hung up on what is accurate or realistic — they take it as a straight-up fantasy, which is exactly how it plays best. In other words, the movie has outlasted the specifics of its time, and that helps new audiences keep discovering it as fans pass it along.
Old friends and an old rumor
He still keeps up with a lot of his castmates. And in one of those behind-the-scenes wrinkles that never quite goes away, there is word he has even smoothed things over with Eric Stoltz — the original Marty before the role was recast. Reportedly, whatever tension lingered there has been put to bed.
Yes, he watches it too
Fox admits he will get sucked in if he stumbles onto the movie on TV, even if it is at the worst possible time for everyone else in the house. Case in point: one Christmas Eve, he stepped away while decorating the tree, heard the opening notes from the living room, and disappeared into Hill Valley for an hour.
"I am watching 'Back to the Future.' And, you know, it is really good. I am good in it."
"Watching it on Christmas Eve, with a bowl of popcorn, I really loved it."
Back to the Future is going to keep building its legend, because people keep sharing it — parents to kids, friends to friends. Fox gets that, and he is happy to ride the wave with the rest of us.
So, why do you think Back to the Future still lands 40 years later? What makes it special for you? Drop your thoughts below.