Three Takes on Time Travel and Thoughts from Back to the Future’s Executive Producer

Today at 4:29 p.m., it’ll be like deja-vu all over again—at least for Marty McFly and fans of the Back to the Future trilogy. In part two of the popular “temporal displacement” franchise, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and Doc (Christopher Llloyd) along with Jennifer (Elisabeth Shue) whisk themselves back in time via their tricked-out, time-traveling DeLorean. Their destination? October 21, 2015, a time when kids skate around on hoverboards and the Chicago Cubs win the World Series. With the Chicago Cubs in the running to make it to the World Series and hoverboards sort of a reality, Back to the Future got a few things right. In honor of the movie and the unofficial Back to the Future Day, we present a short interview with one of the movie’s producers and an infographic and two videos on time travel.

Interview with Frank Marshall, Executive Producer of ‘Back to the Future’

WSF: What is your favorite memory about working on the film?
Marshall: The first preview in Long Beach. We had no idea if the movie would work, and the audience literally jumped out of their seats at the end, it was a fantastic night.

WSF: Many of the inventions that were predicted in the film have come true in some form or another (e.g., “hoverboards” and hands-free gaming) in real life. Are there any predictions in the film that you’d like to see come to fruition, or are surprised that they haven’t yet?
Marshall: Still want the Cubs to win the World Series.

WSF:  Is working on a film with a complicated time structure more difficult than a film with a traditional linear narrative?
Marshall: It is, all the departments had to really watch what year we were in, but I think we had a perfect script, which was very detailed, and that really helped keep us on track.

WSF: If you could travel either back in time or into the future, which would you choose and why?
Marshall: I’d like to go back to Paris in 1937, so I could see Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grappelli and their band, Quintette de Hot Club de France play at ‘La Grosse Pomme’ nightclub in Montmartre.

Time Travel Infographic

See how Marty McFly’s time travel adventures stack up against Bill and Ted’s and those of other cinematic time travelers in our infographic.

Is Time Travel Possible?

It’s been fodder for science-fiction for over a hundred years, but is time travel even possible? World Science Festival co-founder and Columbia University physicist Brian Greene explains what physics has to say about it.

Is Time Travel to the Past Possible?

Brian Greene on what physics says about traveling back in time.