Book review: Behind Michael J Fox’s iconic double act

This book is more than a memoir, it’s a piece of film history, told with humour and fun about one of the world’s most beloved films

Michael J Fox in ‘Back to the Future’. Fox worked double time as he was filming ‘Family Ties’ at the same time as work on the film began.

• Future Boy 
• Michael J Fox 
• Flatiron Books, €19.99

Michael J Fox will long be remembered for his role as Marty McFly in the Back to the Future films. But this iconic, well-loved film could have been completely different if not for a few months in 1985.

In his memoir, Future Boy, Fox tells the story of those months when his life changed completely, and how he juggled two major roles simultaneously in a feat that is surely unique in Hollywood history.

Before Fox hit the big time with his role in Back to the Future, he played Alex P Keaton in the TV sitcom Family Ties: One of the most popular sitcoms during the 1980s in the US. Fox’s role as Alex Keaton was pivotal in its success.

During filming for the third season of Family Ties, Back to the Future was in full production with actor Eric Stoltz playing the role of Marty McFly. 

Fox had originally been approached to play the role but had to turn it down due to his commitment to Family Ties.

Director Robert Zemeckis and producer Bob Gale were smitten with Fox but the studio were under pressure to begin production on the movie, so they proceeded with Stoltz.

Crucially, there was an in-built proviso from Universal head Sid Sheinberg “that they could recast if it didn’t work out”.

Six weeks later, that’s exactly what happened. And then came the negotiations necessary for Fox to play McFly. As Fox puts it “the stakes were high”. 

Paramount and Universal devised a schedule that would enable Fox to play both Alex P Keaton and Marty McFly — Alex by day, Marty by night.

“During the first months of 1986, I laid a well-worn path through [the Cahuenga Pass], back and forth and back again, never with the benefit of actually seeing it. For the most part, I spent those months in perpetual noir. There was little difference for me between day and night. Just slam! Daylight. Slam! Darkness.”

During the ride from Paramount studios to the Back to the Future filming location, Fox “shed type-A wunderkind Alex Keaton, and morphed into the ever-impressionable Marty McFly”. 

In a chapter called If It’s Midnight, I Must Be Marty, Fox goes into fascinating detail of how the intensely choreographed schedule worked.

“In unison, the crew members’ walkie-talkies blare throughout the set: ‘Michael Fox is in the car. Forty-five minutes until arrival’. Announcements continue updating my progress, every fifteen minutes, until I’m standing in front of them.”

Fox has a unique storytelling style that feels like he’s speaking directly to you. 

He is self-deprecating, while cleverly using quotes and commentary from those working with him to illustrate just what a feat he accomplished by playing two massive roles at the same time.

The book also gives us a wonderful behind-the-scenes look at how Fox inhabited the role of McFly from the beginning. 

Remember, he was coming on to a set with a crew and cast who had spent months working with a different lead actor. 

There was an incredible amount of pressure on him to live up to the expectations of Zemeckis and Gale.

He gives us the background on choosing the Marty McFly wardrobe, introducing the skateboard, that Johnny B Goode number at the school dance in 1955, and ultimately how he made the role his — adding that layer of comedy that makes Back to the Future so compelling.

In this book, we’re also treated to a series of photos: From the Family Ties set, stills from the Back to the Future film, production shots of the film, and various photos of Fox asleep. 

During the months of double jobbing, he was averaging three hours of sleep a night.

This book is more than a memoir, it’s a piece of film history, told with the humour and fun we associate with Michael J Fox; about arguably, one of the world’s most beloved films.

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