THE DOCTOR IS IN
Back to the Future’s Lloyd in town
Christopher Lloyd’s first and only experience in Calgary was back in the early 1970s. He was a theatre actor taking a train from Montreal to Vancouver, where he would catch a bus to Oregon and begin work on his first film. That would be Milos Forman’s 1975 classic One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, where he played mental patient Max Taber opposite Jack Nicholson. The train stopped in Calgary for a few hours. He remembers eating Chinese food.
So the actor says he is excited about his return Friday, when he will be a part of a Back to the Future reunion opposite co-stars Lea Thompson and Tom Wilson at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo.
“I’m going to find that Chinese restaurant,” Lloyd says with a laugh.
The actor, who has starred in more than 80 films, took some time to chat with Postmedia about his career.
Q: Back to the Future celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2015, and you seem to have spent the last couple years talking about the film at fan conventions. What’s it like to keep revisiting that film and character?
A: It’s so phenomenal that it’s still so popular and has been so popular for so long. I remember a time when a good film that had a good opening and good box office would have a run and eventually the run would wear away. Maybe you would hear about it again or not, but Back to the Future just seems to keep going. Somehow, it’s been put together in a way that it doesn’t age. It seems as alive and plausible and exciting today as it did in 1985.
Q: What were your first impressions of your character Doc Brown?
A: I declined it. The offer came in and I declined it because I had the opportunity to go back to New York and do a play there. Then I was prompted to take a look at the script again and go back to L.A. and meet Bob Zemeckis, the director. I couldn’t quite understand the plot and Doc. I didn’t see where the reality was. But I did get there. My meeting with Bob Zemeckis opened my eyes to the possibility of the character and the film.
Q: You have done so many films; are there any that you are particularly fond of, even if they didn’t reach the iconic status of a Back to the Future or a Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
A: There’s one I did some time ago called Things to do in Denver When You’re Dead. It was a wonderful, quirky piece that I really loved. (The 1985 comedy) Clue. It’s amazing, people come up to the table at comic cons and talk about a film I did that I had totally forgotten about and they loved it. You just never know what clicks with some people.
Q: When Back to Future became a huge hit, you seemed to keep a low profile. I don’t remember seeing you on talk shows or even doing print interviews.
A: I don’t know. I’m not that talkative. When you get on a talk show, especially if it’s a big one, you’re expected to talk and bring something to the table. I didn’t feel, and I still don’t, very adequate in that area. Also, I had the notion in my mind that I didn’t want my persona confused between a talk show and my private life and the characters that I do. I wanted to keep that separate.
Q : According to Internet Movie Database, you have nine movies coming out in 2018 and 2019. What do you look for in a role these days?
A: I try not to repeat myself. After Taxi (the sitcom that ran from 1978 to 1983 in which he played perpetually spaced-out cabbie Jim (Iggy) Ignatowski), I was getting a lot of roles as homeless people. I’m just excited when a script comes and there’s something I really connect with. I’ll work whether it’s a big-budgeted studio film or a little independent film somewhere. I like to do what I do. I don’t like to wait around for the ideal project. Just do what comes along. As they say, work begets work.
Christopher Lloyd will be at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo from Friday to Sunday. An Evening with the Cast of Back to the Future, also featuring Lea Thompson and Tom Wilson, will be Friday at 7 p.m. at the Stampede Corral.