Published 16:36 IST, July 29th 2020
'Back to the Future's' original ending involved a 'secret formula' and a refrigerator
Taking to social media, Jon Cryer shared the original script of 'Back to the Future' that differed significantly from the final movie seen on screens.
This year will mark the 35th anniversary of Back to the Future. To celebrate this milestone, special Back to the Future Blu-ray and 4K box sets will be released this year. These special editions will also feature extra content like unseen audition tapes and set locations. Reacting to this news, Two and a Half Men’s Jon Cryer revealed that the original Back to the Future script was much different than what people got to see on the big screen.
Jon Cryer reveals how different the original script for Back to the Future was from what was shown on screen
It opened with Marty McFly playing the Close Encounters theme on his electric guitar while he pirated a VHS cassette of the movie.
— Jon Cryer (@MrJonCryer) July 28, 2020
After the makers of Back to the Future announced the release of their 35th-anniversary special edition, Jon Cryer took to social media to talk about the 'original script' of the film. In his post, Jon Cryer revealed that the script he read during the auditions for Back to the Future was completely different from the final product seen on screens. First, Cryer revealed that the movie opened with Marty McFly playing the theme of the close encounters on his electric guitar.
And the time machine wasn’t a Delorean that had to travel at 88 miles per hour and have 1.21 gigawatts of power but just... well... a time machine that needed nuclear fission and a secret ingredient that turned out to be...
— Jon Cryer (@MrJonCryer) July 28, 2020
In another post, Jon Cryer claimed that the time machine was not a Delorean that had to travel at 88 miles per hour. It was just an ordinary time machine powered by nuclear fission and a secret ingredient (which Cryer claimed was Coca-Cola). Then Jon Cryer talks about the film's alternate ending that was part of the original script.
The final sequence didn’t involve a clock tower or a lightning bolt, but instead finds Marty sneaking onto a atom bomb test site with his time machine to be near the nuclear fission that he needs for it to work.
— Jon Cryer (@MrJonCryer) July 28, 2020
In an eerie scene he finds...
The test site is complete with exquisitely detailed suburban houses and mannequins to simulate the effects of an atomic explosion on an American town.
— Jon Cryer (@MrJonCryer) July 28, 2020
He gets the time machine in place, the atom bomb is about to go off, he’s reaching for the Coca-Cola, the countdown is at 10, 9, 8... when he slips and drops the bottle!!
— Jon Cryer (@MrJonCryer) July 28, 2020
It shatters on the ground
He’s all out of Coke!
He panics (understandably) but then remembers: he’s in the 1950’s and any self respecting American suburban home has a bottle of Coke in...
— Jon Cryer (@MrJonCryer) July 28, 2020
Oh crap! He has to figure out how to survive an atomic explosion!
— Jon Cryer (@MrJonCryer) July 28, 2020
Again, he panics.
But then it dawns on him, there’s a lead-lined box nearby, otherwise known as...
A refrigerator.
— Jon Cryer (@MrJonCryer) July 28, 2020
He climbs in, closes the door behind him, the bomb goes off, the time machine activates, and he’s simultaneously shot #BackToTheFuture
According to Cryer, the original script of Back to the Future ended with Marty in an atom bomb test site. Right before the bomb goes off, Marty manages to find a bottle of Coca-Cola (which is required to power the time machine in this version). However, he is unable to escape with the time machine before the atom bombs are launched. But Marty quickly spots a lead-lined box nearby, aka a refrigerator. He gets in the refrigerator, closes the door, and is shot 'back to the future' as soon as the bomb goes off.
Fans immediately noticed that this ending sequence was very similar to the beginning of another adventure movie. In Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Indy has to get inside a refrigerator to survive an atom bomb explosion at a test site. Cryer even refers to this in his final post and he asks his fans if the sequence he recited sounds familiar to them.
Does this sequence sound familiar to anyone?
— Jon Cryer (@MrJonCryer) July 28, 2020
[Promo from @backtothefuturetrilogy Instagram]
Updated 16:36 IST, July 29th 2020