‘The Office’ Star Melora Hardin Explains How She Burst Into Tears After Being Fired from ‘Back to the Future’ Role

Melora Hardin, best known for playing Jan Levinson on NBC’s “The Office,” has shared a heartbreaking moment from early in her career.

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, she revealed that she “burst into tears” after being fired from the hit 1985 film “Back to the Future.” Hardin had been cast as Jennifer Parker, Marty McFly’s girlfriend, but was let go during a major recasting of the movie.

Originally, Eric Stoltz played Marty McFly, but the studio replaced him with Michael J. Fox after six weeks of filming. Hardin explained that she was removed from the film because executives thought she was too tall to appear alongside Fox.

“It was apparently the two female executives at the time that thought that it was emasculating for their lead male character to be in scenes with a woman that was taller than him. If I had done it, I’m sure it would have all gone in a different way. I wouldn’t have done ‘The Office,’” she said.

Reflecting on her experience, Hardin emphasized the importance of learning from setbacks.

“To be where I am, you have to have failed more than you’ve succeeded. I think people don’t realize that when they look at it from the outside — you have to really be somebody who’s comfortable with failure, and with putting yourself on the line all the time. That failure doesn’t mean anything about you. You just have to fail better, and keep failing better … to be able to really weather this career choice,” she told EW.

Hardin’s firing was part of a larger, well-known shake-up on “Back to the Future.” When Stoltz was replaced, Claudia Wells took over the role of Jennifer Parker. The switch allowed Fox, who had been unavailable due to commitments on NBC’s “Family Ties,” to join the film.

Fox also opened up about the recasting in his new memoir, “Future Boy.” He wrote a letter to Stoltz asking to meet for the first time in 40 years. Fox recalled, “If your answer is ‘pi** off and leave me alone’… That works, too.”

Stoltz responded with humor and respect, leading to a friendly reunion where both actors reflected on their shared experiences in the film industry. Fox described their meeting: “We quickly acknowledged that neither of us had an issue with the other. What transpired on ‘Back to the Future’ had not made us enemies or fated rivals; we were just two dedicated actors who had poured equal amounts of energy into the same role.”

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