Movie mayhem

Initially, Michael J. Fox had to turn down ‘Back to the Future’ because he was contractually tied to ‘Family Ties’.

But when Eric Stoltz, who had been cast as Marty McFly, dropped out of the movie, Michael decided to take the role and work both jobs at the same time.

The actor was so committed to starring in the 1985 movie, that he would work all day on the TV show, then spend most of the night filming scenes for ‘Back to the Future’ for months.

Michael said: “Was I prepared to do both the show and a movie at the same time? All of a sudden, I came back from Christmas break, and I went to work on ‘Family Ties’. I ended up getting about three hours sleep a night for the next three or four months because they had to get the movie out that summer."