In his new memoir, “Future Boy,” the actor opened up about the difficulties of balancing the filming of the third season of his hit sitcom, “Family Ties,” with 1985’s “Back to the Future.”<\/p>\n
“Time definitely went rogue in the late winter and early spring of 1985, and took me with it,” he wrote. “During three long months, I was Alex, I was Marty, and I was Mike. That\u2019s two too many. In order to complete my work, at least one of them had to go, and Mike was the odd man out.<\/p>\n
“I was Alex P. Keaton during the day, and Marty McFly at night. The 24-hour workdays left little time to be me, Mike Fox.”<\/p>\n
MICHAEL J. FOX MADE ‘BACK TO THE FUTURE’ CO-STAR FEEL LIKE SHE ‘HAD A HIGH SCHOOL BOYFRIEND’<\/a><\/p>\n Michael J. Fox explained in his memoir, “Future Boy,” that working on “Family Ties” and “Back to the Future” at the same time was challenging. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n Fox detailed what a typical week filming both projects was like. One example involved waking up at 7 a.m. and receiving a script for “Family Ties<\/a>” and going through an entire day of rehearsal, which ended at 6 p.m.<\/p>\n Immediately following the rehearsal, Fox was on his way to Universal to continue filming well into the night, writing he didn’t finish until 3 a.m. Despite the long night of shooting, Fox was up the next morning at 7 a.m. once again.<\/p>\n “During three long months, I was Alex, I was Marty, and I was Mike. That\u2019s two too many. In order to complete my work, at least one of them had to go, and Mike was the odd man out.”<\/p>\n \u2014 Michael J. Fox<\/p>\n “By 3:00 a.m., I\u2019m passed out in the backseat of the station wagon,” he wrote. “My teamster driver practically carries me into my apartment and deposits me in my bed, my alarm set for four hours of sleep.”<\/p>\n Fox shot to stardom playing Alex Keaton, the conservative son of two liberal parents, on “Family Ties,” which he starred in from 1982 to 1989. The show also starred Justine Bateman, Tina Yothers, Meredith Baxter and Michael Gross.<\/p>\n “Family Ties” also starred Tina Yothers, Justine Bateman, Meredith Baxter and Michael Gross. (Herb Ball\/NBCU Photo Bank\/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)<\/p>\n He then achieved an even higher level of fame when “Back to the Future” and its subsequent sequels were released.<\/p>\n While it was difficult for him to juggle both roles at once, Fox wrote, “it was business as usual” for the rest of the “Family Ties” cast.<\/p>\n He wrote, “I recently asked Justine Bateman<\/a> about our work together during that period. \u2018The remarkable thing is,\u2019 she reflects, ‘I didn\u2019t notice anything. I knew you were doing the movie, and I just remember being confused about when any sleep was occurring. You do the math \u2014 I don\u2019t know, he\u2019s putting a full day there at night and then coming here. I don\u2019t get where the sleep fits in. I felt like, well, if anybody can do that kind of thing, it\u2019s Mike.'”<\/p>\n Unbeknownst to Fox, there were many people looking out for him during the filming of “Back to the Future.”\u00a0<\/p>\n LIKE WHAT YOU\u2019RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS<\/a><\/p>\n When speaking with the film’s assistant director, David McGiffert, for the book, he learned that the A.D. “had to put my foot down with Bob” after he found out that director Bob Zemeckis had a dangerous stunt in mind for Fox.<\/p>\n Michael J. Fox filmed “Back to the Future” at the same time as “Family Times.” (Universal\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n “He wanted you to be on the skateboard in front of the car, which would be pushing you,” McGiffert said in the book. “He had a certain angle in mind that only worked if you were the one doing the bit, so he said, \u2018Yeah, I want Michael to do it.\u2019 I shook my head. \u2018Bob, he can\u2019t do that. You can’t have your lead actor in that position. I know it\u2019s an off chance, but if he falls under the car, it\u2019s over in a heartbeat.\u2019”\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite his arguments against it, McGiffert said Zemeckis continued to insist Fox be the one to complete the stunt. It wasn’t until McGiffert threatened “to put a note on the slate that says \u2018First AD protests'” that Zemeckis changed his mind and allowed a stunt double to film it instead.<\/p>\n The dangerous stunts didn’t stop there. Fox previously opened up about a stunt that went wrong on the set of “Back to the Future III<\/a>” in his first book, “Lucky Man: A Memoir.” The stunt involved Fox being dragged through the streets by horses before Christopher Lloyd’s character arrives to save him.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/michael-j-fox-three-way-split.jpg\")
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