Michael J. Fox & Christopher Lloyd Reunite Ahead of Back to the Future 41st Anniversary

Over four decades later and the stars of Back to the Future are still thick as thieves.

Ahead of the sci-fi classic's 41st anniversary this summer, core cast members Michael J. Fox (Marty McFly) and Christopher Lloyd (Doc Brown) reunited over dinner.

"Dining with my bestie at the beach," Fox wrote on Instagram. "Next year BTTF is 41. Great Scott. Chris will be 88. That’s some serious s--t."

Lloyd—who will, of course, gain the ability to travel backward and forward in time once he hits 88—replied in the comments with Marty's famous catchphrase: "Man, that’s heavy."

Back to the Future stars reunite ahead of film's 41st anniversary

As most fans are aware, Fox joined Back to the Future about six weeks into shooting after director and co-writer Robert Zemeckis realized the current Marty McFly, Eric Stoltz, was not gelling with the rest of the production.

"I feel genuinely fortunate to have inherited such a gifted company of actors," Fox confessed in his 2025 memoir, Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum. "The thrill of working with Christopher Lloyd is that he pulls the reactions out of you—you can’t help but respond. It’s like a forced exhale after a sucker punch to the gut."

Fox, who was actually the top choice to play the character, originally passed due to his commitments on the sitcom Family Ties. When Stoltz was let go and the opportunity came back around, Fox agreed to an exhausting deal that saw his daily work routine halved between television during the day and Back to the Future in the evening.

Even with all his industry clout following the success of Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E.T., executive producer Steven Spielberg had to practically beg Family Ties creator Gary David Goldberg to share one of his leads for what would become one of the greatest movies ever made.

As Spielberg put it in Back to the Future: The Ultimate Visual History, "I threw myself on the mercy of his court."

On some days, however, Fox wouldn't start filming scenes for BTTF until midnight.

"Fridays are definitely the most demanding days for cast and crew," he recalled in Future Boy. "Because of my late arrival, we are forced to shoot through the night. We wrap at sunrise. I don’t even remember being driven home..."