Mark Mothersbaugh is an American musician who came to prominence in the late 1970s. Having an extensive music career in the band Devo, Mothersbaugh missed out on an important role in the Back to the Future franchise.
When Steven Spielberg approached the singer alongside director Robert Zemeckis, the musician was hoping that he’d get to prove the score for the movie. When the offer for Mothersbaugh to portray the role of Doc Brown was made, the musician turned down the script!
Mark Mothersbaugh Was Almost Cast As Doc Brown In Back to the Future Films!
Mothersbaugh found fame with the band Devo since he was one of the main leaders of that band. With the singer promoting his documentary Devo at the Sundance Film Festival, Mothersbaugh had some interesting things to say about his career.
As reported by The Wrap, Mothersbaugh revealed that after a show, Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis (the director of the film) approached the singer to talk about the then-upcoming film Back to the Future.
“I just remember for, like, two weeks, I kept thinking, ‘They’re going to hire me to score their film,’ [Spielberg and Zemeckis said] ‘We want you to be a crazy mad scientist in a film we’re doing.'”
Mothersbaugh recalled how Steven Spielberg and Zemeckis wanted him to portray the role of Doc Brown in the movie.
“We love what you do on stage. We love the way your band looks. We want you to be a crazy mad scientist in a film we’re doing.” Mothersbaugh asked, “What do you mean?” while the duo replied, “There’s a part in the film with a guy who runs around in a lab coat and has a car that can go through time. We want you to play that part.”
Mothersbaugh replied “No” to the deal while the director and Spielberg kept trying to budge him into accepting the deal. In a different report, screenwriter Bob Gale talked about how the script for Back to the Future was rejected 40 times before finally getting accepted.
Back to the Future Was Rejected 40 Times Before Getting Selected!
Being an iconic movie, it’s hard to believe that many studios did not have faith in the script! Screenwriter Bob Gale stated in an interview (via entertainment.ie) that the script was rejected a total of 40 times before getting selected with a little push from Steven Spielberg.
“The script was rejected over 40 times by every major studio and by some more than once. We’d go back when they changed management. It was always one of two things. It was ‘Well, this is time travel, and those movies don’t make any money.’ We got that a lot. We also got, ‘There’s a lot of sweetness to this. It’s too nice, we want something raunchier like ‘Porky’s.’ Why don’t you take it to Disney?’
He further continued,
“The head of Universal at the time, Sid Sheinberg, liked the script, but he asked for a couple of things to be changed. First, he was known as “Professor Brown,” not “Doc Brown.” He said that kids wouldn’t like someone named “Professor,” so let’s change it to “Doc Brown.”
Well, the iconic franchise received high ratings and rave reviews from around the world. The franchise received love from around the world and even made it big at the global box office with earnings in the millions. Back to the Future I and II are available to rent on Apple TV+ in the U.S.
