Summary

• Famous musicians like Huey Lewis and Eddie Van Halen made uncredited cameos in the Back to the Future series, enhancing the movies.
• ZZ Top made a spur-of-the-moment cameo in Part III, adding to the movie's charm with their unique style fitting the Wild West setting.
• Flea and Michael Jackson impersonator E'Casanova also made notable appearances in the films, adding a fun twist for dedicated fans to enjoy.

Back to the Future is a trilogy of films that were ahead of their time in many ways, and one of those ways was how they chose to include cameos in the films. The first Back to the Future movie came out in 1985, and introduced the world to the unique friendship that existed between Marty McFly, and Doctor Emmet Brown, or Doc Brown for short. In each of the three movies, the dynamic duo sets off in the time-traveling DeLorean to have an adventure in the past, or occasionally the future, and put things right.

The series, directed by Robert Zemeckis, was playful and fun, with a strong musical soundtrack for each entry. Due to the connection with music and exploring multiple settings throughout time, the series also made use of cameos by celebrities and musicians to enhance the overall storytelling and engage with the audience in subtle ways that were not directly linked to the story, but had a greater impact on their own contemporary interests. This small detail enhanced the rewatchability of the movies, and created fun Easter eggs for the audience to uncover.

8 Huey Lewis - Back To The Future

Early in the first movie, Marty McFly auditions for his school's Battle of the Bands competition, as they perform a hard rock cover of the song "Power of Love" by Huey Lewis and the News. However, the person judging the auditions rudely cuts them off and sends them away. In response, Marty McFly was originally meant to respond with "What do you want, Huey Lewis?" in an earlier draft of the script. Despite the line being cut, the scene plays out in a fun and engaging way.

However, the real genius here comes from the fact that the man who cut off Marty and his band, The Pinheads, was none other than Huey Lewis himself in an uncredited cameo role. Huey Lewis and the News were the band who wrote and performed "Back in Time," and "Power of Love" for the film. This ironic and fun twist was a perfect example of cleverly including meaningful cameos that will be caught and appreciated by fans of the film and the band, but otherwise, remain undetected.

7 ZZ Top - Back To The Future Part III

ZZ Top was a popular band that was at the peak of their popularity in the 1980s and 1990s. Director Zemeckis had hired the band to create a song for Back to the Future Part III. Fortunately, the guys were big fans of movies and jumped at the chance to do it, and they even got to visit the set where the film was being filmed. Part III was focused on Marty and Doc Brown traveling further back than they ever had to 1885, and getting into trouble towards the end of the Wild West era.

While visiting the set, the guys were enthralled by the filming, and noticed there was a similarity between the style of the characters being filmed, and their signature appearance with top hats and long beards. They approached Zemeckis, and were added to the scene to perform and feature in the finished project (via UCR). The spur of the moment nature of this cameo, and the serendipitous circumstance of ZZ Top's look matching up with the actors make it one of the best cameos in the series.

6 Flea - Back To The Future Part II & III

However, not every cameo involved the individual performing music in the films. One of the most prominent cameo actors to appear in the series is Michael Peter Balzary. Balzary, better known by his stage name, Flea, is also the bassist for the incredibly popular band, Red Hot Chilli Peppers. In Back to the Future Part II and Part III, Flea plays a character called Douglas J. Needles. In Part II, Needles challenges Marty to a drag race, which sets up the events for the future that he and Doc Brown tried to prevent.

Needles is a competitive and angry young man who has a band called The Tobascos, which is a reference to Flea's actual band. The cameo is cleverly used, and Flea is actually a significant part of the story in the present and the future, where he goes on to become Marty's boss after Marty has an accident in the drag race. He also appears again in Part III during the present day.

5 Eddie Van Halen - Back To The Future

Sticking with the music and rock theme for cameos so far, the next cameo is one of the most difficult to spot, and that is because they don't actually physically appear in the movie. Eddie Van Halen, the leading man in the band Van Halen, left his mark on the film in an unpaid cameo, as a favor to producer Quincy Jones (via Fandom). In a scene where Marty visits his young father to convince him to take his mother to the dance, Marty is dressed up in a bodysuit that looks alien to young George McFly.

Marty convinces George that he must take Lorraine, or else face mysterious consequences from the alien visitor. He then inserts a tape into the portable cassette player he brought with him, labeled Edward Van Halen. When Marty hits play, the loud screeching electric guitar noise that terrifies and convinces George of an oncoming alien attack, is actually Van Halen hitting random notes on the guitar. This cameo may be subtle, but it links in with many of the other music-based cameos across the franchise.

4 E'Casanova - Back To The Future Part II

When Marty travels to the future in Back to the Future Part II, he meets his future son, who looks exactly like him, and is mistaken for Marty Jr. by Biff's son, Griff. Just before this encounter, Marty explores the futuristic city, with many familiar places that have now been transformed into technological marvels. When he goes to visit the local diner, he is surprised to be served by a virtual man on a TV screen, who looks remarkably like the pop icon, Michael Jackson.

While this wasn't actually Michael Jackson playing the part, it was the world's greatest tribute artist who also performed Jackson's music, E'Casanova. E'Casanova has a striking resemblance to the legendary King of Pop, and makes a great cameo in the diner scene. E'Casanova was dressed in some prosthetics for the scene, but this was only done to make the character resemble Max Headroom, rather than trying to improve on his already incredibly similar likeness to Michale Jackson.

3 Dub Taylor, Pat Buttram & Harry Carey Jr. - Back To The Future Part III

For fans of classic Western movies, the names Dub Taylor, Pat Buttram, and Harry Carey Jr. will likely ring a bell. In the 1940s, when Westerns were becoming increasingly popular as a genre of film, these men were some of the most familiar faces to appear in the genre. Many movies in the genre featured recurring stars, who would play the same or similar roles from movie to movie.

In Back to the Future Part III, the perfect opportunity for these legends of film and Westerns to appear in the Old West setting of the movie. With Marty and Doc Brown trapped in a rough and tumble town with a saloon and all the other trimmings most commonly seen in a classic Western film, Taylor, Buttram and Carey Jr. appeared in the local bar. The men can be seen playing cards, and looking up briefly when they see Marty entering in his odd clothing, and trying to order a glass of milk.

2 Mary Ellen Trainor - Back To The Future Part II

Mary Ellen Trainor was a famous character actor who appeared in some of the most popular films and franchises of the 1980s and 1990s. In Back to the Future Part II, she has a brief cameo as a police officer who arrests Needles after he races through the streets and causes an accident with a truck. However, the reason that this minor cameo is special is because of Trainor's long-standing relationship with the director, Robert Zemeckis, who was her husband of more than 20 years, and some of the other roles Trainor had in 1989.

In that single year, Trainor appeared in several huge franchise films, all of which were sequel movies. In 1989, Trainor also appeared in Ghostbusters II, and Lethal Weapon 2, alongside her cameo in BTTF Part II. The roles weren't particularly big, but most cameos are minor. The strength of it lies in its brevity, and the moment acting as a nod to dedicated fans who know and see more than the average viewer.

1 Ronald Reagan - Rejected

One cameo that Zemeckis was hoping to get in the movies never fully materialized. When the first movie was released in 1985, Ronald Reagan was a big fan, having enjoyed a scene in the first movie where Doc Brown questions the reality of a future in which a popular actor like Ronald Reagan is elected president. He also used the final line from the film, spoken by Doc Brown in his 1986 State of the Union address, "Where we're going, we don't need roads."

Due to his history of having been an actor, and his clear admiration for the film, Zemeckis hoped to cast Reagan in Back to the Future Part III for a brief cameo as the Mayor of Hill Valley in 1885. The scene would have had Reagan starting the clock, and thus tying him into the continuity of the trilogy in a meaningful, but brief role. Apparently, Reagan did consider the request by Zemeckis, but he eventually decided to turn down the role, and thus, what could have been Back to the Future's best cameo was never realized.

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  Back to the Future

  PG

  Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown. In 1955, he meets his parents when they were his age, and must step in to make sure they wind up together before he gets back to 1985.

  Director

  Robert Zemeckis

  Release Date

  July 3, 1985

  Cast

  Claudia Wells , Christopher Lloyd , James Tolkan , Thomas F. Wilson , Michael J. Fox , Wendie Jo Sperber , Crispin Glover , Marc McClure , Lea Thompson

  Runtime

  116 minutes

• 

  Back to the Future Part II

  PG

  Taking up where the first movie left off, Back to the Future Part II sees Marty McFly and Doc Brown travel to the year 2015, where their efforts to fix the future end up causing even bigger problems as Biff Tannen wreaks havoc across the timeline with the help of a stolen sports almanac. Martin J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd return in Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale's second installment of their iconic trilogy.

  Director

  Robert Zemeckis

  Release Date

  November 22, 1989

  Cast

  Lea Thompson , Elisabeth Shue , Christopher Lloyd , Michael J. Fox , Thomas F. Wilson

  Runtime

  108 minutes

• 

  Back to the Future Part III

  pg-13

  The final entry in Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale's timeless trilogy, Back to the Future Part III wraps up Marty McFly and Doc Brown's adventures through time when Marty travels to 1885's Wild West to save his mentor, meeting Biff Tannen's ancestor "Mad Dog" and almost changing the course of history once again along the way.

  Director

  Robert Zemeckis

  Release Date

  May 25, 1990

  Cast

  Michael J. Fox , Christopher Lloyd , Mary Steenburgen

  Runtime

  118minutes