Michael J. Fox Shares How His ‘Back to the Future’ Role Affected Melora Hardin’s Casting: “I Would Have Supported Her”
While the lead role of Jennifer Parker in the Back to the Future franchise changed hands between the second and third films, one actress was nearly cast in the role throughout the series.
In his recent memoir, Future Boy, Michael J. Fox reveals that when he replaced Eric Stoltz as the time-traveling protagonist, Marty McFly, Melora Hardin, who had initially played Jennifer in the first film, became too tall for the part.
“My goal as a child was self-preservation. Bullies often ridiculed my height, an easy target,” Fox recounts, as noted by Entertainment Weekly. He reflects on how his stature had both advantages and disadvantages throughout his career: “It worked in my favor when I was a teenage actor playing a younger kid, but it turned against me as an adult, when I went up for romantic leads opposite taller actresses.”
Fox expressed regret that this bias affected Hardin’s casting. “Melora Hardin, the talented actress who had played Marty’s girlfriend, Jennifer, opposite the perfectly tall Eric Stoltz, was replaced in the movie after I took over as Marty,” he explained. When director Bob Zemeckis initially considered keeping Hardin, crew members’ feedback highlighted the issue. “They assured him that the tall pretty girl in high school rarely picks the cute short guy,” Fox noted.
“I would have risen to Melora’s defense,” he added, emphasizing his support for her.
After Hardin’s departure, Claudia Wells took on the role of Jennifer in Robert Zemeckis’s 1985 time-travel comedy. Elisabeth Shue later portrayed the character in Back to the Future Part II (1989) and Part III (1990).
