While the Back to the Future romantic lead changed hands for Parts II and III, one other actress almost portrayed Jennifer Parker.
In his recent memoir Future Boy, Michael J. Fox explained that when he replaced leading man Eric Stoltz as time-traveling teen Marty McFly, co-star Melora Hardin was suddenly too tall to play the character’s girlfriend in the 1985 first installment.
“My 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,” he wrote, according to Entertainment Weekly, noting that his height “worked in my favor 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.”
Fox continued, “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.
“Melora, several inches taller than me, was replaced in the movie after I took over as Marty,” he added. “Initially, Bob Zemeckis thought perhaps the audience could look past our height difference, but 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.”
“No one asked for my opinion, but I would have risen to Melora’s defense,” added Fox.
After Claudia Wells stepped in to play Jennifer in Robert Zemeckis’ 1985 time-travel comedy, Elisabeth Shue took over the role in Back to the Future Part II (1989) and Part III (1990).