Back to the Future is a perfect movie with the perfect title, though it was nearly called something truly terrible, until Steven Spielberg stepped in and saved the day.
Back to the Future is rightly considered one of the best movies of all time, as it’s a film where everything comes together, from story, direction, and cast, to special effects, soundtrack, and score.
But it could have been very different, as the movie shot for several weeks with Eric Stoltz playing Marty McFly. When the filmmakers eventually looked at that early footage, they decided he was too serious in the role, replaced the actor with Family Ties star Michael J. Fox, and the movie was back on track.
Steven Spielberg is said to have forced that change through, and as executive producer on the project, he also prevented a potentially disastrous name-change in a pretty ingenious way.
Why Back to the Future was nearly called Space Man From Pluto
Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale wrote Back to the Future, and as well as crafting the film’s watertight plot, they also came up with that memorable title. It’s a phrase that has entered the vernacular, but it’s worth noting that no one had put those words together in that order before, meaning it sounded strange at the time.
So while it looks like a stroke of genius now, it’s perhaps understandable that Sid Sheinberg – the head of Universal Pictures – wasn’t 100% sure about launching the film off the back of a weird new phrase. Though what’s unforgivable is the title he suggested as an alternative.
On October 17, 1984, Sheinberg sent a memo to Spielberg stating that while “the present draft is terrific,” the title very much wasn’t, making the film sound too much like a “genre picture.”
He then reveals his bizarre pitch: “I would suggest we consider the title Space Man From Pluto.”
That’s a reference to the phrase ‘Space Zombies From Pluto’ written on the front of Marty’s ‘Tales From Space’ comic, as well as the fact that 1950s Hill Valley briefly mistakes Marty for a spaceman when he first arrives.
Sheinberg also had suggestions for how the concept could be pushed further, with his memo instructing the writers to:
- Modify the dialogue on P.35 so that Sherman calls Marty a “space man from Pluto”
- Modify Marty’s dialogue on P.77 so that he identifies himself as a “space man from the Planet Pluto” (instead of Darth Vader From Vulcan).
- Change the title of the book written by George and referred to on P.130 from ‘A Match Made in Space’ to ‘Space Man from Pluto’
He concludes by writing: “I am sure there will be those who will argue that the movie will appear to the audience to be a cheap, old-fashioned sci-fi flick. Nonsense! I think it’s a kind of title that has ‘heat, originality, and projects fun.’ More importantly I think it avoids the feeling of a ‘genre’ time-travel movie.”
How Steven Spielberg saved the day
Spielberg, Zemeckis, and Gale were understandably baffled by the suggestion, with the trio steadfastly against the title change. The Bobs didn’t know what to do, but in a 2014 interview with Shortlist, Gale said that Spielberg told them, “Don’t worry, I know how to handle him.”
He then proceeded to write a return message that said: “Hi Sid, thanks for your most humorous memo, we all got a big laugh out of it, keep ‘em coming.”
With Sheinberg doubtless too embarrassed to respond, the issue ended there, and the rest is history, with Back to the Future making a fortune at the box office, and Sheinberg’s memo becoming part of movie folklore.
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