Lea Thompson believes the first ‘Back to the Future’ film is ‘a perfect screenplay’

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

(CNN) — It’s been 40 years since Marty McFly hopped into that juiced up DeLorean. One of the stars of “Back to the Future” remembers it fondly.

Lea Thompson reflected on the film in which she played Lorraine, the mother of Marty, played by Michael J. Fox, in a recent interview with People.

Thompson was asked which of the three movies in the franchise was her favorite.

“For me, it’s ‘Back to the Future: 1’ because it’s just a perfect screenplay. And as a director, I can appreciate the conciseness of it.”

“And the truth is that ‘Back to the Future: 2’ and 3 were supposed to be kind of like one movie, and then they spread it out into two,” she said. “So, it wasn’t constructed in the same way as ‘Back to the Future’ was. So I just think it’s a perfect screenplay.”

According to Thompson, now 64, “when we made ‘Back to the Future,’ we didn’t even think we were going to make a sequel.”

“There was no sequel deal. There was no concept of that,” Thompson said. “I mean, that’s how long ago it was.”

The science fiction film was directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. Steven Spielberg served as Executive Producer.

Thompson said she also enjoys how love for the film, which first debuted in movie theaters July 3, 1985, has spanned different generations.

“It’s really a joy when we look out in the audience when we’re doing one of those talkbacks and half the people weren’t even born when the movie came out,” she said. “I mean, that’s exceptionally cool.”

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.