![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SEC_278901223-69bd.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe Office star Melora Hardin \u2018burst into tears\u2019 when being dropped from Back to the Future (Pictures: Getty)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tThe Office star Melora Hardin \u2018burst into tears\u2019 when being dropped from Back to the Future (Pictures: Getty)<\/p>\n
Melora Hardin has recalled being dumped from Back to the Future<\/a> after a last-minute casting change.<\/p>\n The American actress<\/a>, 58, is best known for playing Jan Leinson on The Office<\/a>, and starring in other series\u2019 including Monk, Transparent and The Bold Type.<\/p>\n Beginning her career aged just six, early roles came in Thunder, The Love Boat and Little House on the Prairie, with Hardin since going on to appear in over 70 movies and TV shows.<\/p>\n However, before all this, her career was set to reach new heights when she was cast as Jennifer Parker in Robert Zemeckis\u2019 sci-fi film Back to the Future <\/a>in the 1980s. She\u2019d also signed a two-picture deal to appear in any sequel.<\/p>\n At the time, the lead role of Marty McFly<\/a> was set to be played by Eric Stoltz<\/a>, who was then best known for featuring in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Surf II and The Wild Life.<\/p>\n The two young actors had already shot several weeks of the film together. But after clashing with the director over their approaches to the film \u2013 Zemeckis saw it as a sci-fi comedy<\/a>, while Stoltz saw it as a tragedy \u2013 the lead star was fired.<\/p>\n \t\t \t\t That decisions also had serious implications for Hardin. After Family Ties actor Michael J. Fox stepped in the starring role, the actress was then deemed too tall to appear alongside him as she was eight inches taller.<\/p>\n Like her co-star, she then also lost the job, being replaced with Claudia Wells.<\/p>\n Now, 40 years on, Hardin has spoken about the impact of being booted from that set.<\/p>\n \u2018Back to the Future was a huge disappointment. I was 17, you know. I burst into tears,\u2019 she recently recalled in an interview with Entertainment Weekly<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2018It was very sad. There were quite a few of those that I remember, you know, things that never really got made.<\/p>\n \u2018But that I remember being very tough.\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t \t\t Earlier this year, she detailed how it was \u2018apparently the two female executives at the time that thought that it was emasculating for their lead male character to be in scenes with a woman that was taller than him\u2019.<\/p>\n But, she added: \u2018If I had done it, I\u2019m sure it would have all gone in a different way. I wouldn\u2019t have done The Office.\u2019<\/p>\n In her recent chat with EW, Hardin also explained that \u2018to be where I am, you have to have failed more than you\u2019ve succeeded\u2019.<\/p>\n \u2018I think people don\u2019t realise that when they look at it from the outside \u2013 you have to really be somebody who\u2019s comfortable with failure, and with putting yourself on the line all the time. That failure doesn\u2019t mean anything about you. You just have to fail better and keep failing better\u2026to be able to really weather<\/a> this career choice.\u2019<\/p>\n Since losing out on her Back to the Future role, Hardin has appeared in films including 27 Dresses, 17 Again and Hannah Montana: The Movie, as well as shows like Gilmore Girls and Scandal.<\/p>\n In a recent chat with the same publication, Fox also discussed being rushed in to replace Stoltz.<\/p>\n \u2018I didn\u2019t have time to think about it,\u2019 he said. \u2018I don\u2019t think the public was aware of it until we were doing it. I was rushed on it, six weeks in, and I had no kind of time to talk about it,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n He also wrote about Hardin\u2019s recasting in his memoir, Future Boy.<\/p>\n \u2018My goal as a child was self-preservation. Bullies often ridiculed my height, an easy target. I suffered the indignity of short jokes and prejudice against my smallness,\u2019 he began.<\/p>\n \t\t \u2018My height worked in my favour 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.\u2019<\/p>\n Noting that Hollywood was \u2018heighest\u2019, he continued: \u2018I regret that this prejudice inadvertently affected another cast member in Back to the Future \u2013 Melora Hardin, the talented actress who had played Marty\u2019s girlfriend, Jennifer, opposite the perfectly tall Eric Stoltz.\u2019<\/p>\n Fox said that Zemeckis initially thought the audience could get over the height different but \u2018when 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\u2019.<\/p>\n \u2018No one asked for my opinion<\/a>, but I would have risen to Melora\u2019s defence,\u2019 Fox added, also writing he didn\u2019t feel any need to be taller than his co-stars. \u2018The only thing I was interested in elevating was the quality of my work,\u2019 he explained.<\/p>\n After being cast as Marty\u2019s love interest, Wells then faced being replaced herself in the Back to the Future sequels. Following the film\u2019s huge success at the box office, Elisabeth Shue played Jennifer in 1989\u2019s Back to the Future Part II and Back to the Future Part III in 1990.<\/p>\n Although Stoltz has largely avoided discussing being dropped from Back to the Future, he did tell Moviehole in a 2007 interview: \u2018I rarely look back, if at all, but in retrospect, I think just getting through that difficult period helped me realise how freeing it really was.<\/p>\n \t\t \t\t \t\t \u2018I went back to acting school, I moved to Europe, I did some plays in New York<\/a>, and I actually invested in myself in a way that was much healthier for me. I would\u2019ve been unable to walk down the street!<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s a whole different life. I was lucky in that way.\u2019<\/p>\n The casting drama didn\u2019t lead to a huge falling out between he and Fox either, with the latter writing in his memoir that \u2018what transpired had not made us enemies or fated rivals\u2019.<\/p>\n \u2018We were just two dedicated actors who had poured equal amounts of energy into the same role. The rest had nothing to do with us.\u2019<\/p>\n Got a story?<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk<\/a> entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff<\/a> page \u2013 we\u2019d love to hear from you.<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow Arrow![\"THE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SEI_278897842-a919.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe actress is best known for playing Jan Levinson in the American sitcom (Picture: NBCUniversal via Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"Kino.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SEI_278901065-e002.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe 1985 film starred Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox (Picture: Film Publicity Archive\/ United Archives via Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"Melora](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SEI_278897580-cb55.jpg\")
\n\t\tMelora had been set to play Marty McFly\u2019s love interest Jennifer Parker (Picture: Ralph Dominguez\/ MediaPunch via Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"Claudia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/PRI_156568195-95da.jpg\")
\n\t\tHowever she was replaced by Claudia Wells (Picture: La Pictures12)<\/p>\n![\"Eric](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SEI_254118842-1406.jpg\")
\n\t\tEric Stoltz was initially meant to star in the film before being fired (Picture: Universal)<\/p>\n![\"MONK](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SEI_278897583-7b08.jpg\")
\n\t\tMelora went on to star in the series Monk (Picture: Michael Yarish\/ USA Network\/ NBCU Photo Bank\/ NBCUniversal via Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SEI_167562690-8dbd.jpg\")
\n\t\tShe also appeared in The Bold Type (Picture: BBC\/ Freeform\/ Universal Television\/ Disney Enterprises, Inc\/ Johnathan Wenk)<\/p>\n![\"HOLLYWOOD,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SEI_246868617-208a.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe actress said being fired from the film changed the course of her career (Picture: Savion Washington\/ WireImage)<\/p>\n
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