Overview
- In Future Boy, Fox writes that Melora Hardin was replaced as Jennifer Parker after he took over the lead from Eric Stoltz.
- Fox says Robert Zemeckis polled female crew members, who advised that audiences would question a taller girlfriend for a shorter lead.
- He expresses regret that casting prejudices tied to his height inadvertently affected Hardin’s job.
- Hardin had already been shooting opposite Stoltz, who was dismissed about six weeks into production for a performance that felt too serious to the director.
- Claudia Wells ultimately played Jennifer in the 1985 film, with Elisabeth Shue taking over in Parts II and III, and Hardin has since called her firing crushing at 17 yet formative for her later career.