- - “The Office” Star Melora Hardin ‘Burst into Tears’ When She Was Let Go from “Back to the Future” for Being Taller Than Michael J. Fox

Victoria EdelDecember 23, 2025 at 7:56 PM

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Melora Hardin (left); Michael J. Fox in 'Back to the Future' (right)

Melora Hardin opened up about being cut from Back to the Future when Michael J. Fox joined the cast

She was eight inches taller than Fox, and director Robert Zemeckis was ultimately convinced audiences wouldn't buy her as a love interest

Hardin, who was just 17 at the time, said she 'burst into tears' when she got the news

Melora Hardin was heartbroken when she was cut from 1985’s Back to the Future after Michael J. Fox was cast.

Hardin, 58, opened up about her experience in a Dec. 22 interview with Entertainment Weekly. As Fox, 64, wrote about in his 2025 book Future Boy, which detailed how he filmed Back to the Future and his sitcom Family Ties at the same time, he was not the first person cast as Marty McFly in the film. Instead, that was Eric Stoltz.

Director Robert Zemeckis had originally wanted to cast Fox, but was told he couldn’t balance it with Family Ties. After a few weeks of filming, he decided Stoltz, now 64, was not working, and he was let go. Fox was called in and was able to do the movie after all.

But that became an issue for Hardin’s role. She had been cast as Marty's girlfriend Jennifer Parker, but she was taller than Fox by eight inches. They ultimately decided to recast her role, too.

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Michael J. Fox in 'Back to the Future'

"Back to the Future was a huge disappointment. I was 17, you know. I burst into tears," she told EW. "It was very sad. There were quite a few of those that I remember, you know, things that never really got made. But that I remember being very tough."

At the time, Hardin had been working since she was about 10 years old. She had led an NBC kids series and appeared on Little House on the Prairie. She had signed a two-picture deal for Back to the Future, which meant she would also appear in any sequel.

Fox also wrote about Hardin’s recasting in his book. “My height worked in my favor when I was a teenage actor playing a younger kid, but it turned against me as an adult, when I went up for romantic leads opposite taller actresses,” he wrote. Noting that Hollywood is “heightist,” he wrote, “I regret that this prejudice inadvertently affected another cast member in Back to the Future — Melora Hardin, the talented actress who had played Marty’s girlfriend, Jennifer, opposite the perfectly tall Eric Stoltz.”

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Melora Hardin (left) and Steve Carell in 'The Office'

Fox said that Zemeckis initially thought the audience could get past but height different but “when he quickly surveyed the female members of the crew, they assured him that the tall pretty girl in high school rarely picks the cute short guy.”

Fox added, “No one asked for my opinion, but I would have risen to Melora’s defense.” He also wrote that he didn’t feel any need to seem taller than his costars. “The only thing I was interested in elevating was the quality of my work.”

Claudia Wells took over as Jennifer Parker, but she was also recast for the sequels. Elisabeth Shue played the role for 1989's Back to the Future Part II and 1990's Back to the Future Part III.

Hardin told EW that she’s learned failure comes with being an actress. “To be where I am, you have to have failed more than you've succeeded,” she said. “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. 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."

Despite her Back to the Future disappointment, Hardin has continued to work steadily and in 2005 was cast in one of her most iconic role, as Jan Levinson on The Office.

on People

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