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To Be Continued...
©1995-99, To Be Continued...

 October 27, 1999
 Robert Zemeckis talks “BTTF4/5”

Director extraordinaire briefly discusses his views on possible project

Yeah, it's been really slow lately regarding news on the series, thus the very infrequent updates in this column lately.  Obviously, time has been spent lately in other areas on the site, such as the new Message Board.  However, when we get an update, it's usually a biggie, and today we've got a lot of newsworthy mentionables that should fill the void for a while.  Bear with me — this is going to be a long report!
First up, we've been able to snag a few comments from the man himself, Robert Zemeckis, via our ever so helpful anonymous source regarding the fledging BTTF4/5 project.  Our source contacted us a week or so ago to inform us of an upcoming opportunity where our source would be in a meeting with Zemeckis during a break from filming What Lies Beneath, and offered to drop a few questions to Bob that day in our behalf if the opportunity arose.  Naturally, I jumped at the chance, trying to pose as many of our top inquiries without over-doing it.  Of course, my first question was to get some type of comment about the possible sequels, and our source gave us this quote:
"He's not too fond of the idea of BTTF4/5.  His words (as verbatim as I can remember): 'Just because a movie series sets up a great premise, you don't want to corrupt the memory of that series by mining the premise beyond recognition.  You'll end up corrupting those movies, too, out of economic gain, not creative gain.'  Something to that effect.  I agreed.  He said he feared that doing BTTF2/3 would ruin [the first one].  (He confirmed your PARADOX story, too!)"
"He is aware that the project is in pseudo-development ('in the brain stage', he called it), but didn't really say much about his involvement.  I'm assuming he's not involved at all.  He was pretty nonchalant about it.  He also said he can't see the movies getting done without Spielberg or Gale, so I'm assuming that he's pretty down on the movies altogether."
Definitely not the most promising quotes from Zemeckis regarding his feelings towards the sequels.  I would tend to agree with Zemeckis on this theory regarding most film series, even ones that he has directed.  For example, while Paramount would love nothing better, I just don't feel that Forrest Gump lends itself to a sequel, even though it would definitely work if Bob was involved.  The same could be said for Contact, Death Becomes Her and perhaps even Who Framed Roger Rabbit — these films stand on their own and really do not need continuations.  Such could actually corrupt the memory of the earlier films to a degree.  But other film series lend themselves to continuations perfectly, and Back to the Future falls into that category.
I think each of the top four directors in the history of film have a mixture of both types of films under their belts, and I certainly admire those directors who have/had a seemingly perfect balance of the two.  Steven Spielberg has Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park; George Lucas has Star Wars (and also Indiana Jones); and James Cameron has the Terminator movies.  Each director continues to strive towards new levels of creativity, but at the same time, reaches back to their past and fulfills the appetites of their fans (as well as their own) to build upon familiar characters who lend themselves to additional stories.  Of course, each one of these have their own respective films that do not lend themselves to continuations — obviously there's no need for sequels to Lucas' American Graffitti, Spielberg's Schindler's List or Cameron's Titanic.  But they all have plans to return to direct and/or produce their genre series that do lend themselves to additonal chapters.
I just wish we could add Zemeckis to that list.  I seriously do not feel that it is humanly possible in the least sense to taint the memory of the first three films as long as some or all of the principle elements are in place for a fourth and even a fifth film.  There's no doubt that the guy has so much on his plate, that he probably kringes at the very thought of trying to do another film at the moment.  But, does that mean that he hasn't given any thought to doing a fourth film in the past?  Not in the least!
"Zemeckis doesn't really do sequels, I guess.  He told me an idea he had for BTTF4 back in 1992, during Death Becomes Her, and wrote about 25 pages himself before throwing it out.  Mr. Gale's written 'half a script I'm aware of', but threw it out for the same reason: the daunting task of following those movies up."
Ah-ha!!!  I knew it!  I've always speculated that they've each toyed with some ideas in the past, if not on paper, at least in their heads.  Unfortunately, Zemeckis didn't elaborate on the idea he had in '92 nor on Gale's idea, and we may never know what those ideas entailed.  But you have to admit, the fact that they've each gone to the trouble of writing half a script in the past is promising in itself — it shows that even the creative team themselves, deep down, want to somehow continue the trilogy if they can logically and creatively make it work.  It almost sounds as if Bob & Bob's worry of tainting the previous films stems not from a lack of acceptance from audiences, but rather a fear of not being able to creatively enduce a new situation that rivals what they've been able to accomplish in past successes.  I think most of us, given the chance, would pat them on the back with encouragement and the utmost faith in their abilities — fans who have followed their work since 1985 have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that they can pull it off flawlessly.  And should the day ever come that Zemeckis is able to lay aside those fears and put all the pieces together in his head for another trip through time, would any of the cast be willing?  Sure they would!! — just ask Michael J. Fox like I did back in 1996:
"The bottom line of this whole thing is, if Bob Zemeckis called me tomorrow and said, 'I want to do this thing', I'd start packing. Absolutely! I think the thing is, it's not for me or anybody else, but Bob & Bob to make that move.  I couldn't tell you a reasonable premise or pretense for it happening.  And it's not even a choice of playing my own age — I just flat out can't do a lot of that stuff any more!  But if Bob got a brain tweak in the middle of the night and it somehow made sense to him, I'd certainly sit down and talk to him about it — if for no other reason than to see all those folks again."
Anyway, even though we've not gotten the most positive response regarding the prospective future of our series at this point in time, I am still quite encouraged that there's still some glimmer of hope for the future based on the past.  I had asked our source to inquire somehow if Zemeckis was aware just how big of a following that BTTF still has even 14 years later.  Much to my surprise, and a complete & total shock to my system, I was given this little nugget of information:
"He's aware of the tremendous fan base around it, and even named your website.  I said something to the effect of 'You should see the unofficial BTTF website', and he just laughed, saying 'Yeah, I've read it.  Back in June when the BTTF4/5 news first broke — that's where I learned about it.'  He was thoroughly impressed, and said that he 'told the webmaster/designer so in an e-mail', but didn't sign it 'Robert Zemeckis' though for obvious reasons.
What?!  WHAT?!!!!  Okay, okay, okay — somebody pinch me.  Obviously, I'm extremely shocked and surprised to learn that we were responsible for Bob Zemeckis first learning of the plans for BTTF4/5.  I know from past conversations that many high profile people involved with the films, as well as studio personnel frequent our website, but well, I'm just speechless and I don't even know how to express the words to convey the appreciation and initial shock to learn that someone of his stature has been a visitor to our site in the past!  Now, I'll have to spend the rest of the year digging through my in-box and trash-bin email-by-email to see if I can find that email...
In closing, our scooper wrapped up their report on the subject with the following assessment:
"Not a very promising meeting concerning BTTF4/5's fate, but it can still get done without Zemeckis, I suppose.  You never know.  If BTTF4/5 doesn't happen, it doesn't mean it never will.  That's the spirit of filmmaking these days: economics.  It can sometimes work in your favor.  Say that Universal has another hard year (a la 1998) — they'll kickstart old projects again.  BTTF4/5 could very well be shunted onto the fast track quickly."
Given that our source only had a couple of minutes worth of Bob's time to discuss the subject, I'm impressed and quite encouraged that he was willing to talk on the subject given his extremely hectic schedule with What Lies Beneath and Cast Away both ongoing.  Not only does he have directorial duties on these films, but he's also producing them too.  Plus, The House on Haunted Hill debuts in theaters on Friday, which he also produced.  Hopefully the opportunity will arise again in the future to get even more detailed comments when things are a little less crazy.

New light shed on DVD features

Our longtime reliable source has also gotten some first hand details in the ongoing saga regarding the highly-anticipated and endlessly-postponed Back to the Future DVDs.  It turns out now that Universal's "The Future Is Back" campaign will finally ring true and will indeed come into full swing next summer:
"Back to the Future: Special Edition has been penciled in for the last week of June 2000.  It will retail for $26.95 on DVD, $16.95 on VHS (Widescreen/Pan-Scan versions for both).  It will feature all of the extras I mentioned before, plus a new 1:85:1 transfer and THX sound remastering.  Screen-specific audio commentary from Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis, too.  An interactive DVD-ROM section including still photos, the screenplay, and a tour of Back to the Future...The Ride will be included."
"Two weeks later, Back to the Future Part II: Special Edition and Back to the Future Part III: Special Edition will hit the market for the same prices.  BTTF2: SE will have a few deleted scenes, audio commentary (from persons unknown to me at the moment), new transfers and remasterings, trailers, and TV ad campaigns!  BTTF3: SE is slightly thinner in the bonus dept., featuring essentially the same things, if not less."
"I'm told that the three movies have DVD menus as follows:
  1. Clock Tower - 1985
  2. Clock Tower - 2015
  3. Clock Tower - 1885 (half-built)"
The 2+ year wait for these discs are starting to sound like they're gonna be well worth it afterall!  The fact that the tour of ...The Ride will be included with the first DVD is incredible news, especially for our fellow foreign readers who may never have the opportunity to visit a Universal Studios theme park!  This may also be the swan song for the attraction's original film, which I'm still being told is indeed being replaced for the Japan theme park in 2001.
Okay, I know your next question — you want to know what these deleted scenes are, right?  Well, I don't know specifics yet as to what these scenes are, but I can speculate what they most likely will include.  Based on scenes that I know to exist, I can only assume that some or all of these will be added:

Back to the Future:

  • The scene where the 1955 Doc goes through the 1985 Doc's suitcase.  This scene is shown in The Secrets of the Back to the Future Trilogy documentary from 1990 that was hosted by Kirk Cameron.
  • The scene with Lorraine cheating on a test.  Marty peeks into a classroom apparently when he & Doc are looking for George, and discovers his mom looking over at someone else's test.  This photo can be seen in Back to the Future: The Official Book of the Compete Movie Trilogy (©1990, Mallard Press, pages 76-77).
  • The scene where George goes to rescue Lorraine from Marty is longer.  Apparently, George's watch stopped, so he runs to a phone booth to call for the exact time.  While in there, the red-headed kid who later tries to cut in on him at the dance with Lorraine locks George inside the phone booth.  But Strickland happens along and lets him out of the phonebooth in time.  It'll certainly be interesting to see this scene, and how it will fit in with the scenes from BTTF2 we already know about with Strickland's encounter with Biff, Marty & the almanac.
Back to the Future Part II:
  • Several of the scenes that nobody seems to know much about involve George McFly (Jeffrey Weissman), primarily in the 2015 scenes at the McFly house.  The accompanying photo is of George hanging upside down in the ortholux eating a bananna.  Another outtake from that same scene is of him trying to eat a slice of pizza, also upside down.  Both of these were for comedic relief, but were cut out later, apparently due to Crispin Glover's lawsuit regarding the use of his likeness.  Weissman's role seemingly was cut down to what they felt was absolutely essential to avoid any further problems.
  • A scene described in the script & novel, but that never made the final cut, was when Old Man Peabody sees Doc flying the DeLorean near Lyon Estates in BTTF2, and he starts shooting at the "spaceship" again, remembering it from a week earlier.  I once asked Bob Gale about this scene, and he was relatively sure that they filmed it.
  • A scene in the evil 1985 has Marty meeting his brother Dave (Marc McClure), who is a drunken bum.  He sees him right in front of the Biff Tannen museum, and they have some type of brief conversation before Marty heads up the stairs to go inside the museum to find his new "family".
  • A couple other scenes are also shown in the The Secrets of the Back to the Future Trilogy documentary, including Old Biff disappearing on the street in 2015, and Marty seeing his burnt High School in the evil 1985.
Back to the Future Part III:
  • I do not know of any cut scenes, just scenes that were cut down.  One is seen in the original trailer for BTTF3, where Doc is aiming his gun at Buford and yells "Don't try it, Tannen!!!" (not in the final print).  Another is the drive-in scene where Marty is in the DeLorean ready to head west.  Doc actually offers Marty his revolver to take along, but Marty refuses, not thinking he'd need it.  And there was some additional dialogue and maybe a scene with the uncovering of the DeLorean in the Delgado mine.
Whatever the case, there's still a lot of footage we've yet to see besides the infamous Eric Stoltz footage, and in about 8 months, all of this will finally be revealed to fans after a 15 year wait.

Project updates
THE CRIMSON EAGLE (a.k.a. ROMANCING THE STONE 3):  We understand that this project is finally picking up steam over at 20th Century Fox, and that Robert Zemeckis may actually come on board to produce this one.  Zemeckis was not involved with the first sequel, The Jewel of the Nile, and Michael Douglas has been quoted recently to be only interested in a third one if Zemeckis was involved again.  Other than BTTF2/3, Zemeckis has always stayed away from sequels, so time will tell on this one.

HISTORY'S GREATEST BLUNDERS: THE SPRUCE GOOSE / THE DELOREAN CAR:  Slated to air October 31 on the History Channel, this 60-minute documentary "looks at two machines designed for style and speed, but flawed and confined to the scrap heap of history: the Spruce Goose, created by Howard Hughes to be the largest and quietest flying boat in the world; and the DeLorean car, a revolutionary sports car created by American businessman John DeLorean".  DeLorean owners will surely disagree of the one-sided slant the documentary seemingly presents on the vehicle.

IF ONLY IT WERE TRUE:  According to The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, Steven Spielberg will produce and possibly direct this romantic comedy with supernatural and spiritual elements.

INTERSTATE 60:  Finally, this project seems to be moving foreward.  Announced well over a year ago, the film is to be written, produced and directed by Bob Gale, and starring Christopher Lloyd.  The film's been in active development for quite some time, but now it appears that casting is finally being done as James Marsden, Kurt Russell and Harvey Keitel have been added to the cast.  This will reunite Gale with Lloyd for the first time since 1995's Mr. Payback, and with Russell for the first time since 1980's Used Cars.  The plot of this offbeat road movie is about a young man's search for answers along an imaginary highway left off every map that connects him with numerous off-the-wall characters in some very unusual towns.

MAN ON THE MOON:  According to the official site, Universal has moved the release date of this film up a few days.  Instead of Christmas Day, we can now see Christopher Lloyd reprise "Reverend Jim" three days earlier on December 22, 1999.

— Stephen Clark