Doc Brown’s time-traveling DeLorean first drove into theaters on July 3, 1985. But even after 35 years Back to the Future still has old secrets to share. An all-new special anniversary box set will mark the anniversary by including never-before-seen auditions, including footage of Ben Stiller reading for the role of Marty McFly.
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment announced a special, absolutely loaded, seven-disc 35th anniversary collection of director Robert Zemeckis’ iconic time-traveling series. Back to the Future: The Ultimate Trilogy, which will hit stores on October 20, will mark the franchise’s first foray into Ultra HD 4K. Among the many, many bonus extras included in the set is over an hour of “brand-new content such as rare audition footage from Hollywood stars Ben Stiller, Kyra Sedgwick, Jon Cryer, Billy Zane, Peter DeLuise, and C. Thomas Howell.”
This won’t be the first time we’ve seen someone else “read” for Marty McFly. Eric Stoltz famously filled the role for the first few weeks of filming. He was then replaced by a previously unavailable Michael J. Fox. But these “lost” auditions are entirely new to us. According to Stiller, however, we haven’t been missing much.
Rest assured @realmikefox was never in jeopardy. I actually think I blocked out this memory.
— Ben Stiller (@BenStiller) July 28, 2020
We want to see that audition even more now.
This announcement has already led to some fascinating insights about how the movie might have looked like in an alternate timeline. On Twitter Jon Cryer shared what he remembered about the very different script he was given to read ahead of his audition. And there was no DeLorean and Marty needed a refrigerator to get back to the present. Yeah, it’s bonkers. Make sure you check out Cryer’s thread starting here.
And he certainly was in no jeopardy from me either (you’ll see)
— Jon Cryer (@MrJonCryer) July 28, 2020
But the #BackToTheFuture script that I read before my audition was VERY DIFFERENT than what ended up on screen.
Thread👇👇 https://t.co/WrtC3PitE3
The rest of the collection’s bonus material is so extensive you might need a flux capacitor to have enough time to watch everything. You can find the full rundown of extras at the official Back to the Future site. You can also already pre-order one of three different sets. Two (via Amazon and Target) come with exclusive commemorative levitating hoverboard replicas. The Best Buy edition comes in three newly-designed steelbooks.
It’s amazing there are still new ways for us to appreciate Back to the Future after 35 years. But hopefully Universal isn’t holding back any more lost footage. We still don’t have time machines, and we want to see everything while we still can.
Featured Image: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
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