252

When they asked me if I was interested in making Back to the Future 4 on April 1st I thought it was a practical joke. “No, we’re really serious” Robert Zemeckis said. “We’re in a rush though, so we have to start filming right now. Come on, you can read the script in the car!”

From what little I read, the script seemed solid enough. The premise was my character using dinosaurs from the past to fight off an alien invasion in the future.

Everyone was already there when I got to the set. Christopher Lloyd, who I hadn’t seen for nearly ten years, came up to me and said “You’re a good man, Mikey” and patted me on the back.

“Ok, get in the car, Fox!” shouted the director. “Action!”

So there I was sitting in the De lorean, not knowing what I was supposed to be doing.

“Just fiddle with the buttons” Zemeckis yelled.

And then it happened: the ultimate April fools prank. They’d put me in a real time machine.

I write this letter to you, whoever you are, from the prehistoric past, in the hope that you find it and tell my wife and kids where I am. If they are able to come and get me, that would be great, but I understand that it won’t be as easy as that and there might be complications. Tell them that although it’s very lonely for me here, I’m making the most of it.

I’ve found a woman encased in a block of ice. If it thaws in my lifetime I will make her my best friend.

Michael J. Fox, A Cave.