At a Parkinson’s Disease Charity event over the weekend, Michael J. Fox re-enacted his iconic scene from Back to the Future in which Marty McFly travels back in time to help his parents bone and ends up stealing rock n roll from black people. At A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson’s event at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, the 50-year-old busted out an identical Gibson ES-345 with retrofitted Bigsby vibrato (both introduced after 1955, incidentally) to guitar-synch along to the Chuck Berry classic. According to the DailyMail, he actually learned the song back in 2008 when he played it at the same event with The Who, but HuffPo says he was just pretending to play this time.

Meanwhile, the event just so happened to take place on the 56th anniversary of the Enchantment Under the Sea dance. Other attendees to the event included Ricky Gervais, Rachel Ray, and Julianna Margulies, and it was considered a great success as not even a single person shouted requests for “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin On.”

I’m sorry.

UPDATE: Now with video

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This is from a project called Back to the Future, by Buenos Aires photography Irene Werner, in which she had people recreate childhood photographs.  It’s pretty awesome. |Pondly via PaulScheer|

MORNING LINKS

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What the hell is Michelle Rodriguez wearing?  You can’t just throw a slip dress on over a wrestling singlet, dude, trust me on this one.

25 ideas for Human Centipede 2. |HolyTaco|

Someone’s idea for a commercial: cats with thumbs. Give him a raise. |TheDailyWhat|

The Fonz joining Kevin James’ MMA comedy, Mixed Martial Farts. |ScreenJunkies|

Anne Hathaway hates James Franco now. Aw, sad dicknose : 3==> (  |TheSuperficial|

Reader email: My girlfriend has a snake in her butt. |BarstoolSports|

A flipbook of Shannon Marie stripping down to her hand bra. |GorillaMask|

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8 movie stars as animated characters. |NextMovie|

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As we’ve been hearing for the last two weeks, this year marks the 25th anniversary of Back to the Future.  It’s been so long that in the second film, when they visit a future full of self-tightening sneakers, flying cars, and hoverboards, that was their idea of 2015.  This latest video from Landline TV, “Back to the Lame Future”, imagines what it’d be like if the 1985 Doc Brown were to be suddenly thrust into the real 2010, and how disappointed he’d be.  “It seems like everything in the future is smaller, cooler, and more expensive.”  It is insanely lame that we still don’t have flying cars or hoverboards, or that we can get the internet on an airplane, but I can’t toast bread any faster than my great grandpa.  COME ON!  GET WITH THE INSTANT TOASTERS ALREADY!  I’M A BUSY MAN!  I will say this though, if 2010 Marty had shown 1985 Doc Brown the breadth and availability of pornography in 2010, his head would’ve exploded.  In 1985, guys were still jacking it to the Swimsuit Issue like a retarded orangutan sleeping in the dirt.

Sidenote: I really like the phrase “thrust into the future.”  Like if I just hip thrust fast enough, I can take us both into the future, where pleasure roams the Earth.  Call me, ladies.

(The Fading Photograph with original McFly Eric Stoltz — thanks for the tip, Videogum)

Yesterday, Back to the Future was in the news when for the first time, some of the footage of original Marty McFly Eric Stoltz was released.  Stoltz had been the original lead before Zemeckis had him replaced five weeks into shooting because he sucked so bad creative differences.  Another part of the story you probably didn’t know is that when they hired Michael J. Fox, they had to fire the actress who played McFly’s girlfriend — Melora Hardin, aka Jan from The Office — because she was too tall.  Hardin talks about it in in this interview (thanks for the tip, Joel):

We heard a rumor that you were originally cast to play Jennifer Parker on Back to the Future. Is that true?
Yeah, I was. It was a real small part in the first one and then a bigger role in the second one that Elisabeth Shue ended up playing. When I got it, it was a two picture deal, so it was going to be both films and Eric Stoltz was originally cast to play McFly, so I was going to play his girlfriend. And then they let Eric Stoltz go and I was too tall for Michael J. Fox. They called me in very regretfully and said that it wasn’t going to work out, which was sad. I was like 17 and, of course, shed some tears over that.

Now that it has become such an iconic movie, do you ever wonder what would it have been like to have been in it?
Sure. I guess it had the potential to kind of change everything for me, but I don’t know. It didn’t really do anything for the girl who played the small part and then was recast.

Especially since she’s “the girl who played the small part.”
(Laughs.) Exactly. So, I don’t know. I don’t think it would have been bad for me, that’s for sure. But who knows how good it would have been.

Hardin’s part went on to be played by Claudia Wells (5’4″ – only an inch and a half shorter than Hardin, according to IMDB), who was in turn replaced by Elisabeth Shue in the two sequels, when Wells had to quit after her mother was diagnosed with cancer.  But it was clear that God had had a plan for Hardin when she went on to star 2010′s Knucklehead, about a retarded MMA-fighting church orphan. (more Back to the Future comparison pics below)

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Here’s something you probably didn’t know unless you’re a huge nerd (my term for people that know something I didn’t):  Marty McFly in Back to the Future was originally played by Eric Stoltz.  Stoltz is a fine actor in his own right (I’ll always remember his manic drug dealer, Lance, in Pulp Fiction) but Zemeckis didn’t think he was right for McFly and had him replaced with Michael J. Fox– five weeks into production.

Details of the shocking Hollywood switch and never-before-seen footage of Stoltz as McFly are part of the extras package for the “Back to the Future 25th Anniversary Trilogy” to be released on Blu-Ray on Oct. 26. [and which will receive a limited engagement theatrical run courtesy of AMC]
Zemeckis says the casting change was “this horrific decision; it was heartbreaking for everybody.”
Executive producer Steven Spielberg said that Zemeckis consulted him before pursuing the casting change.

“(Zemeckis) showed me the first five weeks of shooting that he had put together,” Spielberg said. ” And he said, ‘I just don’t think we’re getting the laughs I was hoping we would get.’ ”

Spielberg said he realized his director “was absolutely correct.” [THR]

To understand just how ballsy this is, imagine telling your boss you screwed up and wasted five weeks of work.  It’s impressive for everyone involved that they cared that much.  And it makes it all the more insane that someone watched Paul Walker in the dailies for The Fast and the Furious and thought, “Eh, f*ck it.  This movie’s about cars, right?”