Every Halloween without fail, you’ll probably see someone channeling Marty McFly’s signature look from Back To The Future. And, as you can imagine the look itself went through a lot of iterations before reaching its final form. But, did you know Michael J. Fox was the person behind Marty’s iconic Nikes? But, it didn’t come without a big “dilemma” that happened behind the scenes before Marty could officially wear the shoes for the classic movie that just turned 40.
Michael J. Fox has shared a bunch of Back To The Future stories in his new book, Future Boy, from why he hated driving the DeLorean to one inconsistency about the movie’s time travel. In the memoir, he also dug into the origin of Marty’s Nikes. In his words:
I brought a dash of my own style to Marty McFly — his Nike shoes were mine. On the day of the Malibu fitting, the costume department realized that in their rush to gather everything needed for the lead actor switch and revised look, they had left Marty’s shoes back at the soundstage. I arrived at the meeting wearing my favorite Nikes, a pair of no-frills white Bruins with a red logo.
If you’re not aware, Fox was actually a recast on Back To The Future after Eric Stoltz was initially chosen for the role, and actually even played the role for almost two months. Future Boy has Fox recollecting what it was like to take the role after production had already began, and while simultaneously shooting his sitcom, Family Ties.
In the book, Fox recalled going to a fitting for Marty McFly when the original shoes for the character had been accidentally left at the soundstage. The actor said he suggested the Nikes already around his toes following the snafu, which he describes as his “go-to sneaks” at the time that were perfect for “skateboarding and duckwalking and kicking around – everything Marty needed to do”. He continued:
I was due to begin filming as the new Marty in two days, but Deborah Scott ran into another problem: She needed multiple pairs of sneakers in the wardrobe closet, backups in case any were soiled or ruined during production. Unfortunately, my Nike Bruins were not in stock anywhere. Deborah reached out to Executive Producer Frank Marshall, who called the only source he knew – the manager at the Nike store in Westwood. He confirmed that the shoes were impossible to find; in fact, the company no longer made that style.
It totally makes sense that production would need a few pairs of Marty’s shoes in order to land on the look, but that initially posed a problem considering his specific pair were out of print. Determined to go with Fox’s pick of sneakers, producer Frank Marshall made some calls to Nike to figure out if there was a workaround.
He ended up getting in touch with a woman named Pam McConnell, who was running a brand new product placement department at the headquarters in Portland, Oregon. Here’s what happened next:
Frank called Pam, explained the dilemma, and boldly asked if Nike could make the shoes for them. ‘We can’t pay you any money, Frank added, as if she needed further encouragement to hang up on him. What happened next is kind of insane. Pam did not laugh or slam the phone down. Instead, she calmly replied, ‘Don’t worry. How many do you need?’ Frank doubled the number Deborah asked for: ‘I need twenty pairs by next week.’ ‘Done.’
What a great story! There’s nothing like the power of movies (and marketing) to get Nikes to move some mountains to make Fox’s favorite shoes become Marty’s shoes. It was a good call from Nike too, considering Back To The Future would become one of the best 80s movies, and his sequel would include one of those famous movie futuristic inventions of Nikes with the power laces which the company made happen in 2015 (under a very limited run).
Michael J. Fox has a lot more stories about what it was like to play Marty McFly in Back To The Future in Future Boy, which is now on bookshelves!
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