The Office star Melora Hardin recently opened up about the lingering impact of being dropped from the iconic film Back to the Future after spending weeks filming as Marty McFly’s girlfriend.

“It was a huge letdown. I was just 17 at the time, and I remember bursting into tears,” Hardin, now 58, shared in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, published on December 22. “It was very sad. That experience, along with others where projects never materialized, was quite tough to handle.”

Hardin was initially cast as Jennifer Parker opposite Eric Stoltz, who was the original Marty McFly in the 1985 sci-fi classic. However, when Stoltz was replaced by Michael J. Fox, Hardin also lost her role. The decision came down to her being a few inches taller than Fox, which some executives felt was problematic.

“Apparently, two female executives at the time believed that having a leading male character appear alongside a taller woman was emasculating,” Hardin explained to Entertainment Weekly earlier this year. Despite the disappointment, she noted that things turned out for the better. “If I had been in the film, my career path would have been different. I likely wouldn’t have ended up on The Office,” she reflected.

In related news, Michael J. Fox has revealed details about his private meeting with Eric Stoltz, initially cast as Marty McFly, in his new book, Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum. As the film marks its 40th anniversary, Fox, now 64, delves into the pivotal moments that shaped the beloved movie.

While speaking to EW on Monday, Hardin doubled down on her positive outlook, explaining that it was essential to have “failed more than you’ve succeeded” in order to get where she is in the industry. “I think people don’t realize that when they look at it from the outside — you have to really be somebody who’s comfortable with failure, and with putting yourself on the line all the time,” she said. “That failure doesn’t mean anything about you. You just have to fail better, and keep failing better … to be able to really weather this career choice.”

As for the role of Jennifer, Claudia Wells was ultimately cast in the role before Elisabeth Shue took over the part for the subsequent sequels. Fox, meanwhile, starred in all three of blockbusters.

In his 2025 memoir, Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum, Fox revealed that he was the original choice for Marty but NBC blocked him from taking the role, wanting him to instead concentrate on his sitcom. But when Back to the Future director Robert Zemeckis and cowriter Bob Gale weren’t convinced that Stoltz was right for the part due to his more dramatic acting approach, they swung back to Fox.

“Unfortunately, the dailies were disappointing,” Fox wrote of Stoltz’s early version of Back to the Future. “Eric was an immensely talented actor, but the creative team felt that he just wasn’t the right fit for Marty McFly.”

Stoltz, for his part, has kept largely silent on the casting drama over the years, but did subtly address the situation during a 2007 interview with Moviehole.

“I rarely look back, if at all, but in retrospect, I think just getting through that difficult period helped me realize how freeing it really was,” he said. “I went back to acting school, I moved to Europe, I did some plays in New York and I actually invested in myself in a way that was much healthier for me. I would’ve been unable to walk down the street! It’s a whole different life. I was lucky in that way.”

“Great Scott!” Back to the Future debuted in theaters in July 1985 — and has been a major pop culture staple ever since. Michael J. Fox stars as teenager Marty McFly, who travels back in time from 1985 to 1955 with eccentric scientist Dr. Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) and meets his parents as high school […]

Fox revealed in his memoir that he has reached out to Stoltz about his book and the pair met up at his home, where they “immediately fell into an easy dialogue about our careers, families and yes, our own trips through the space-time continuum.” They have since “maintained a friendly correspondence,” bonding over being actors and dads, talking about politics and movies they’ve seen.

“What transpired on Back to the Future had not made us enemies or fated rivals; we were just two dedicated actors who had poured equal amounts of energy into the same role,” Fox shared in his memoir. “The rest had nothing to do with us.”