2015 is coming to a close, so we feel like if we're ever going to do
a part two on Back to the Future, it's now or never.
Or 30 years ago, or 60 years ago.
Look, the point is you guys wanted this, so here we go.
Here are seven more things you didn't know about Back to the Future, probably.
(Sound) >> It could be a disaster.
>> That's a risk you're going to have
to take.
Your life depends on it. >> No.
>> We all know Doc gets into a bit of
trouble on the clock tower in the first film.
And it'll come as no surprise that he has a stunt double for
some of the tougher shots.
What you probably didn't know is, his stunt double was a guy named Bob Yerkes,
and that guy also invented the airbag.
(Sound) No, not that airbag,
though that would truly be the most randomly cool thing ever on this show.
Yerkes invented the airbag (Sound) for stunt use in film making.
So I guess back in the old timey movies, old timey stunt guys would have to
fall onto a pile of snakes or something, I don't know.
But I do know that Yerkes (Sound) definitely did the stunt industry a solid.
(Music)
We told you guys back in part one that Back to the Futures II and
III were basically shot as one big movie.
And since they did in fact end up splitting that one giant movie into two
sequels, Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd each got raises for
Back to the Future III.
It's standard practice after all. >> Yes!
(Sound) >> Well evidently it isn't standard
practice if you're the Bobs, Zemeckis and Gale, who created, wrote, and
in Zemeckis' case directed the movies.
Universal refused to give the Bobs a raise on Back to the Future III.
Studio execs more or
less bullied them into taking the same deal they had on Back to the Future II.
That sucks and all, but
I'm not going to feel too bad for a couple of guys who are still millionaires anyway.
Next thing.
(Music)
Giving the Bobs the shaft on a raise wasn't the only way production saved
money on the Back to the Future sequels.
(Sound) This aerial footage under the credits in Back to the Future II is
totally recycled.
Industrial Light & Magic actually created it for Firefox,
a Clint Eastwood flick from 1982. >> Can you fly that plane?
>> Yeah, I can fly it.
>> Don't worry,
I'd never heard of it before either.
(Music)
As long as we're talking about recycling things from other movies,
let's get into this scene.
It would cost a lot of money to build all of these future cars themselves just for
this sequence.
So production grabbed any futuristic cars they could find on the back
lots around town.
There's one from Blade Runner in there,
along with others from less successful future movies, I bet even from Firefox.
I may very well be wrong, but you haven't seen Firefox either, so
you can't prove it. >> Don't say anything,
just fly the damn plane.
(Music)
>> Power laces, all right. >> The self-lacing shoes
in Back to the Future II are definitely one of the inventions in the movie that
still have a lot of people wondering, why don't we have those?
Well the main reason is, Back to the Future didn't have those either.
(Sound) The shoes were on a piece of fake asphalt, and they laced themselves thanks
to a couple of special effects guys yanking on some wires.
Same goes for Marty McFly's self-tailoring jacket.
It's still kind of hard to believe that technology hasn't caught up with ideas
as simple as these ones though.
Probably too busy wasting time on (Bleep) like those dumb-ass Apple Watches I guess.
(Sound) >> We don't have enough road to get up to
88. >> Roads?
Where we're going, we don't need roads. >> Back To The Future is for
sure a big part of movie history.
So you might be surprised to learn that it would never have happened if it
weren't for a movie that you've probably never seen, and
maybe never even heard of, Firefox. >> Great mother of God, he's up!
(Sound) >> I'm kidding, but
wouldn't it be cool if I wasn't?
The real answer is Romancing the Stone.
See in 1980, Robert Zemeckis had directed a move that he co-wrote with Bob Gale
called Used Cars, and this thing totally tanked.
(Sound) (Bleep). >> It tanked so
bad that he had to go to director jail for a couple of years,
since none of the studios wanted to make a movie with him.
The Bobs wrote the first Back to the Future script during that three or
four years,
and all of the studios kept rejecting it because of the stench of failure.
Zemeckis realized he needed to direct something that he didn't write,
in the hopes it would do well enough to restore his street cred.
And that something was Romancing the Stone.
>> Minimum twice, for taking
a stranded woman to a telephone, is $400. >> $375 in traveler's
checks? >> You got a deal.
>> The movie did super well, and
next thing you know, all of the studios were S'ing his D for Back to the Future.
The same project they'd rejected a couple of years before.
Classic Hollywood.
(Music)
We all know that Ronald Reagan gets name dropped in Back to the Future I.
>> Who's President of the United States in
1985? >> Ronald Reagan.
>> Ronald Reagan,
the actor? >> It's a funny moment, and
Reagan himself thought it was hilarious when he saw the film.
Rumor is he laughed so hard he even had the projectionist run it back so
he could see it again.
But I'm getting off topic with a boom, bonus thing you didn't know.
>> There you go again.
>> Anyway, you probably never heard that
Ronald Reagan almost played the Mayor of Hill Valley for
this scene in the third movie.
Zemeckis offered him the role, and Reagan even considered taking it.
After all, he was no longer President in 1989, which is when they were shooting.
Obviously he didn't take it in the end.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say he made the right call, politically speaking.
And that brings our final episode of Things You Didn't Know for
2015 to a close.
Now if we're being completely honest, and I'd like to think that I am,
we could maybe even do a part three sometime in 2016.
So be sure to let us know if you guys are into that in the comments.
Thanks for watching.
And be sure to check out cinefix.com and subscribe for
more truish things about movies, and sometimes men falling onto
piles of snakes, right here on Things You Didn't Know.
(Sound)