"Back To The Future" Tells Us To Get Out Of Our Own Way

I was watching “Back The Future” again.

And I thought about how in God’s name did that pitch ever get past the executives at Universal. My guess, it’s because Steven Spielberg vouched for it. But moreso, if you think about it, the concept is SO fantastic, how didn’t it get made earlier.

Around the first time this script landed at Universal both director Robert Zemeckis and Spielberg made flops. Spielberg made “1941” which bombed hard (no pun intended). Zemeckis made two bombs “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” and “Used Cars.” Written by the same guys who wrote “Back To The Future” Bob Gale (the other guy). Both of these movie were really good movies…critically acclaimed. Box office duds. And money always trumps quality. So “Back To The Future” was shelved, since Zemeckis and Spielberg couldn’t take another failure. Zemeckis went on to do “Romancing The Stone” which was a massive hit. To which they dusted off “Back The The Future” again. Which at this time was floating out somewhere. BECAUSE Spielberg was the only guy who believed in the project originally, Zemeckis dragged the project back to Universal, to which history OR rather multiple histories were made.

Again, this is how fragile movies are. And so many things can go wrong to make the movie. Is that fine tuned to what can go right. Robert Downey Jr. said recently in a podcast hosted by Sam Jones. It is absolutely insane how movies are even made. Given the total bullshit that is involved in making it. There are so many opinions that are given, so many creative decisions, budgetary reasons. Just a cacophony of noise. And through that you’re suppose to have a movie somewhere in there. This is the maze to which most people will never navigate through. A singular vision made much more complicated than necessary. Which is where a VERY strong idea can push through the rest of the bullshit. Why?

Simple. No matter what you do to a strong core, there is still the FUNDAMENTAL idea no one can fuck with. In “Back To The Future” the core was meeting up with your parents when they were teens. Would you even like them? Be their friend? A discovery of where you come from. In a way, this path could work both ways. Some say my nephew has similar traits than me. Dealing with him, I get along enough, but I see some minor things in him. He is essentially me at 16 years of age. This is at the core of BTTF. Bonus is that this is a universal idea. Movie did great overseas too. In every market, the movie spoke volumes to a simple idea. And nothing Sid Sheinberg (head of Universal at the time), Ned Tanen or anyone else could fuck it up. Even though they tried (Sid wanted the title change to “Spaceman from Pluto”).

Sometimes a movie with a strong core can withstand even self-sabotage. If “Star Wars” behind the scenes stories are to be believed, George Lucas was his worst enemy. His lack of directing legitimate actors were met with insubordination and practically a mutiny to the detriment of his health. He was sidelined for a few weeks due to exhaustion. But he couldn’t gut the core of the “Star Wars” no matter what he tried. The story of a boy becoming a man and save a princess. BOY did he try to fuck it up. He got TWO chances to fuck it up (some would argue six attempts with the re-releases and new VFX added and all that shit). Let me repeat, he spent DECADES revisting something that was already fine. Still couldn’t kill the core of the original 70’s to early 80’s installments. It took him until the next batch, prequels to them to FINALLY kill it dead in the grave. BECAUSE, and I’m guilty of this too, he OVER-THOUGHT it. That, above stupid executives and story editors, fucks your movie up more than anything. Over-thinking the Star Wars universe destroyed what made the originals so good. To have to live up to the hype of the past. He introduced SO many characters, it was like the 40^th Anniversary of “Saturday Night Live.” I know I should know them but…who cares?

Then, as if this wasn’t the final nail in his think-tank idea vault, he went and fucked up Indiana Jones franchise. “…Crystal Skull” was bad. Spielberg made no illusions that this was entirely Lucas’s idea. Lawrence Kasdan had written an earlier script that wasn’t about crystal skulls but apparently rumor was that it was beyond amazing. Nope, Lucas shat out that garbage, and Spielberg did his best to at least make it feel like a Indy Jones movie. Even though it seemed more like an Allan Quartarmaine knock off.

Lucas finally did the smartest thing possible. He sold the rights of “Star Wars” to Disney. Got out of the way. I feel, in essence, finally admitting his lack of filmmaking skills. Then J.J. Abrams took the reigns. A fantastic choice. A guy who by all rights is the predecessor to Spielberg and did a bang-up job on “Star Trek.” Then Lucas offered some story ideas. Did this guy NOT remember Indy and some crystal skull thing. It’s not easy telling the guy who re-invented Hollywood movies that he is no longer relevant. My point being, have a strong core, and NO ONE will be able to fuck it up. Not even you.