Michael J. Fox is returning to the time travel genre with the upcoming Netflix film, See You Yesterday. The film tackles time travel in a more serious way than the Back to the Future trilogy. The story behind Fox’s cameo is an inspiring one.
From Entertainment Weekly:
Based on Bristol’s short film project for NYU’s graduate thesis program, See You Yesterday follows two black science-savvy teens in Brooklyn who discover time travel for a high school science competition. Things take a turn when police fatally shoot C.J.’s unarmed older brother in the streets for a crime he didn’t commit, prompting her and Sebastian to use their time machines to try to save him.
The story, co-written by Bristol and Fredrica Bailey, balances the trauma of this serious subject matter with far lighter moments, like C.J. (played by Eden Duncan-Smith) and Sebastian (Dante Crichlow) casually running an underground Genius Bar out of their garage. Another fun moment is the presence of Fox.
“We had another really great cameo that we wanted to go for. Unfortunately, he was unavailable by the time we needed to book somebody,” Bristol teases. “I was all set about who was gonna be it and we can’t get him. And I thought of another actor in the movie, and someone said, ‘Why don’t we just go with Michael J. Fox?’ I was like, ‘Alright cool! Let’s go with that.’”
Bristol and his team proceeded to write a letter to Fox, “explaining what the movie’s about, how his role can really impact people and teachers around the country to really look at young black kids in the schools,” to not “overlook them” and “see the potential in your students.”
“I believe the role would be able to facilitate that kind of thought into any educational environment,” the filmmaker added, “and [Fox] appreciated the letter and he said, ‘Yes, no problem. I’m able to do this.’”
Learn more here. See You Yesterday debuts on Netflix May 17.
