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No repeats* no predictionsDirector Zemeckis not dwelling on the past — or 'Future’By Jun EmersonOrange Count* Register_Robert Zemeckis is determinrd not 10 repeal the past c* predict d* future — in his life or in his work.The director of the Back to the Future movies. Romancing the Stone and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.* Zemeckis presently appear' to have one of the brighten futures in Hollywood.But things didn’t always look so rosy. People forget, but when Back to the Future* came out in 1985. it had a reputation as a movie in trouble. The lead acicr. Eric Siohz. had been replaced by Michael J. Fo« in imd-production. cauung five weeks* worth of footage to be scrapped and re-shotZemeckis himself was coming off a series of flops, having co-wnttcn Steven Spielberg’s disastrous -I94|- with former University:of Southern California classmate Bob Gale and also having directed “I Wanna Hold Your Hand* and “Used Cars.* His only hit was I984’s Romancing the Stone. whKh was written by someone else But the success of that film was enough so cause Universal Pictures to take a second Icok at Zemeckis’ and Gale's 1981 screenplay for Back lo the Futurc.”In Los Anueles last weekend, taking a r*»ef break from shooting B»k to the Future Pan 111* (due for the summer of 19901 on the eve of the nationwide launch of Back to the Future Part II * ZemeckisROBERT ZEMECKIS. ’Future’directorremembered the fate-shaping release of the original film four years ago.We didn't even know anyone was gonna go sec it.” he slid. The success of the rust movie took us incredibly by surprise. I mean, we never had a sequ:I in mind *By the umc ”B*:k to the Future* came out on vidcocasscitc. the words To Be Continued had been tacked on to the end of the picture, and a sequel was virtually assured. But Zemeckis was then already committed to direst “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” — which, like “Back fci the Future. went on to gross more than $550 millionworldwide.We all kind of knew we were doing a sequel, and I was going to do ‘Roger Rabbit.' so wc were just kind of kicking ideas around — broad ideas. Zemeckis recalled After Roger’ it was like. 'Oh-oh. wail a minute. We’ve gotta go do this now!'” As he talked md sipped coffee, Zemeckis (who by all reports has a seemingly inexhaustible source of energy) grew more and more ... well, am mated Back to the Future Part II originally was slated for release in the sequel-laden summer of 1989. when it would have entered the movie marketplace along with such de/a vu viewing experiences as Lethal Weapon 2.” ’'Ohostbusters II. Star Trek V. A Nightmare on Elm Street S.* Karate Kid III* art Friday the 13th Pan VIII.~l think, luckily, it worked out nice that we're coming out now. said Zemeckis with the asuaancc of a man who believes that the future eventually works ou« for the besL “Wc just didn't have the script ready. And then it stancd to cipund into this trilogy. So Bob Gale and I just said. 'Let it flow.' Every time we just tried to make n one movie, it didn'i feel like we were doing justice to the character. The second movie is so saga-like, it just couldn’t be finished in one movie In Back to the Future Pan 11 (shot txKk-iohtck With Pan III lor practical, logistical and ccooomk with most of the ongrnalcast, crew and even e»uas reassembled on the original, refurbished sets). Marty McPly (Michael J. Fo») and Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) head into the vex 2015. return so a mghimxishly altered 1985 and then go h*k into the 1955 of the first movie to restore 1985 to the way they'd fixed it Iasi tune (In Pan III they u*e an even footer tnp. back to 1885 and if* Old West)The idea was to slrcich the farm in every respect. said Zemeckis. Wc hate to use the word ’sequel’ even though it is a sequel. The feeling 1 had when I lt;aw ’Godfather II’ and. I guess, the ’Star Wars' trilogy was kind of like gomg back to hang out with these characters again art go cm another adsemure with them and sec all the old. familiar faces. Of the few sequels I like, that’s what I like about them.So we kept that in mind And then wc said. ‘Hey. wail a minute We've got a time machine! We can actually not only take the same characters, we have the perfect device so actually go back into the first movie.’ Wc could never do this with anything else, except a dream or something corny like dial. So we went with it Having threads going through both movies — siory threads, chancier ihreads - was interesting io me. Being able lo go back into the first movie — that was interesting. And seeing how well we could actually write ourselves out of the first movie
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