9 Lead Actors Who Were Fired From Movies

1. Eric Stoltz - Back To The Future

Reason For Termination: Not Funny Enough

Even in a movie boiling over with iconic elements - from the DeLorean time machine to the vanishing Polaroid - none of it would have played without the right guy in the lead role of Marty "Calvin Klein" McFly. Thanks to his wry wit and goofy excitability, Michael J. Fox boosted the franchise into its current place as one of the most iconic of all time. But it was actually the up-and-coming Eric Stoltz (who would go on to star in teen movies like Some Kind of Wonderful) that first caught the eye of Robert Zemeckis.

In fact, they filmed a sizable portion of the movie before producer Steven Spielberg, upon seeing some raw footage from the shoots, decided that Stoltz simply wasn't funny enough to make the role of McFly pop. And the brief bits of original footage that have since been released back that up and then some.

Evidently, Stoltz was also a bit too intense on set, staying in character all day long and demanding everyone call him "Marty." He also reportedly left bruises on Thomas F. Wilson, who played Biff, because he insisted on using full force when it came time to shove him for in a scene.