Melora Hardin’s star power was quite literally too big for the Back to the Future franchise, according to Michael J. Fox. The actor recently reflected on the decision to replace Hardin, the original actress slated to play Marty McFly’s girlfriend, Jennifer Parker, revealing that The Office alum’s taller stature led to her getting the axe from the sci-fi flick.
“My goal as a child was self-Âpreservation. Bullies often ridiculed my height, an easy target. I suffered the indignity of short jokes and prejudice against my smallness,” Fox, who stands at 5’4″ recalled in his new memoir, Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum. While Fox’s height proved advantageous when he “was a teenage actor playing a younger kid,” it began to complicate productions as he grew older, especially as he “went up for romantic leads opposite taller actresses.”
Back to the Future was no exception to this trend. Fox’s height ultimately cost 5’5″ Hardin, who was originally cast while Eric Stoltz was playing the role of Marty, her role in the trilogy’s first installment. “I regret that this prejudice inadvertently affected another cast member in Back to the Future – Melora Hardin, the talented actress who had played Marty’s girlfriend, Jennifer, opposite the perfectly tall Eric Stoltz,” Fox remembered. Claudia Wells took over, who is 5’4″.
Back to the Future co-creator Bob Zemeckis, per Fox, initially “thought perhaps the audience could look past” the pair’s disparate heights. After asking several folks on the set of the flick, Zemeckis found that Fox and Hardin’s “several” inch difference likely wouldn’t translate on screen. “When he quickly surveyed the female members of the crew, they assured him that the tall, pretty girl in high school rarely picks the cute short guy,” Fox wrote.
Hardin Says Getting The Boot From Back To The Future Helped Her Thrive On The Office
Steve Carell as Michael Scott, Melora Hardin as Jan Levinson, and Tim Meadows as Christian in The Office Episode The ClientImage via NBC
Four decades later, Hardin ultimately credits her firing with her later success as beloved villain Jan Levinson on The Office. “I’m sure it would have all gone in a different way, I wouldn’t have done The Office,” she spilled during an appearance on the The Joe Vulpis Podcast back in March. In the moment, however, the then-teen star struggled with the major rejection.
“At the time, at 17 years old, that was crushing for me, and very, very upsetting,” she told the host, noting that her two-film contract was “a big deal.” “I went and did some promotional pictures and stuff. And then into filming, they fired Eric and brought in Michael J. Fox,” Hardin remembered, of her dismissal, one she said went down a bit differently. “When they did that, it was apparently the two female executives at the time that thought that it was emasculating for their lead character male to be in scenes with a woman that was taller than him,” she added.
Back to the Future is currently available to stream on Netflix.
Release Date
July 3, 1985
Runtime
116 minutes
Director
Robert Zemeckis
Michael J. Fox
Marty McFly
Christopher Lloyd
Emmett Brown