eric stoltz was originally cast for back to the future.
who was originally cast for back to the future?
eric stoltz
hardin started her acting career as the young star of the television series "thunder" (1977–1978), and has appeared in over 70 movies and television programs since, including episode 39 of "the love boat" in 1978, two 1981 "little house on the prairie" episodes (as belinda stevens in "the reincarnation of nellie", parts 1 and 2) as well as playing michele pierson in the 1983 television movie "little house: look back to yesterday". she starred as baby in the short-lived 1988 television series "dirty dancing" (based on the 1987 film of the same name) and two 1992 episodes of "quantum leap" (as abigail in "trilogy", parts 2 and 3). she co-starred in the 1990 dance movie "lambada" as sandy. she appeared in "absolute power" (1997) as christy sullivan and played ross's dirty-talking love interest in the season 1 "friends" episode "the one with the stoned guy". she was also originally cast in "back to the future" as jennifer parker, but was re-cast after eric stoltz (the original marty mcfly) was let go. upon michael j. fox being cast, hardin was deemed too tall to star alongside and she was later replaced by claudia wells.
melora hardin
blatty retained jason miller, who had played father karras in "the exorcist", for "the ninth configuration". ed flanders (once considered for the role of karras in "the exorcist") was also cast; michael moriarty was set to play captain billy cutshaw but dropped out of the production (he was replaced by scott wilson, who was originally cast in a different role). for the central role of colonel kane, blatty cast stacy keach (another contender for the part of father karras in "the exorcist"). blatty had originally cast nicol williamson in the role of kane, before deciding that the british actor was wrong for the part: "i was deluding myself. i so desperately admired [williamson] and wanted him in my picture that i persuaded myself that he could be an american marine corps colonel. i realised during rehearsals. he was magnificent, but there was no way he could be an american colonel. he came to budapest and we rehearsed for two weeks. and we were coming up to the weekend before our first shoot on the following monday, and then i remembered one of the people i'd strongly considered was stacy keach. and we found out that night that he was available and he was with us on tuesday." stacy keach recalls the situation differently: "ironically, i was the lucky benefactor of a nicol tantrum in the late '70s. william peter blatty had cast him as killer kane in "the ninth configuration" (also known as "twinkle, twinkle, killer kane"), and the film was being shot in budapest, hungary. nicol was staying at the budapest hilton, and was allegedly trying to make an international phone call when, presumably, something the operator did or said infuriated him, causing him to rip the phone out of the wall and toss it through the plate-glass window of his suite. nicol was fired, and i was hired to play the role. it was a great part, and i often reflected on how nicol would have played certain moments during the filming. i have no doubts that he would have been brilliant, as he always was. we became friends for a time, and i loved his company."
the ninth configuration