Eric Stoltz Wasn’t the Only One Who Got Fired from Back to the Future

For the actors who snagged parts in Back to the Future during the mid-1980s, the future looked bright. But six weeks into filming the classic sci-fi movie, things had to change. Eric Stoltz, who had been cast as the lead character Marty McFly, wasn’t putting in the performance that director Robert Zemeckis was looking for. He was just too serious, and after some behind-the-scenes meetings, Stoltz was fired and replaced by Family Ties actor Michael J. Fox.

The rest, as they say, is history. Back to the Future was a smash hit and went on to spawn two blockbuster sequels, but Stoltz wasn’t the only one fired from the film when Fox replaced him as Marty. The legendary casting move also affected the actress playing Marty’s girlfriend.

The Office star Melora Hardin had been shooting alongside the “perfectly tall” Stoltz as Jennifer Parker for a while. When the 5’4″ Fox came aboard, she was suddenly deemed too tall for the role and let go. Fox writes about the unfortunate firing in his new book, Future Boy, describing the decision as straightforward prejudice against the world’s short kings.

“Initially, Bob Zemeckis thought perhaps the audience could look past our height difference, but when he quickly surveyed the female members of the crew, they assured him that the tall pretty girl in high school rarely picks the cute short guy,” Fox writes (via EW). “No one asked for my opinion, but I would have risen to Melora’s defense.”

Hardin has previously discussed her reaction to being replaced as Jennifer, saying, “At the time, at 17 years old, that was crushing for me, and very, very upsetting. Whatever! If I had done it, I’m sure it would have all gone in a different way. I wouldn’t have done The Office.”

5’3½” actress Claudia Wells then stepped in as Jennifer, but didn’t return to the part, as she left acting to focus on her mother’s health. Adventures in Babysitting star Elisabeth Shue would play Jennifer in the sequel, only for the character to be sidelined because Zemeckis and co. had never planned to continue the story.

“I wasn’t designing a movie for a sequel because if I was, I never would have put the girlfriend in the car,” Zemeckis explained in the film’s Making The Trilogy documentary. “That became a gigantic problem in writing a sequel.”