4 days ago
Global search launched for missing guitar from Back to the Future
It inspired Coldplay's Chris Martin and US star John Mayer to become musicians and now a worldwide search has been launched for the electric guitar played by Michael J Fox in eighties movie classic Back to The Future after it went missing forty years ago.
Gibson guitars has launched a hunt for the Cherry Red Gibson Es-345, on which Fox's character Marty McFly plays Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Goode on stage during the Enchantment Under the Sea scene in the beloved 1985 film, which also starred Lea Thompson and Christopher Lloyd.
According to Nashville-based Gibson, during the making of the 1989 sequel to the film, the production team went to look for the guitar, and it was nowhere to be found.
The search was launched as production begins on Lost To The Future, a new documentary film celebrating the movie's fortieth anniversary.
Directed by Robert Zemeckis and released in July 1985, Back to the Future won an Academy Award and three additional nominations and launched a franchise that would go on to earn almost $1 billion globally.
Gibson say that the discovery of what happened to the film's Gibson ES-345 would add "a critical chapter to the film's cinematic history".
"Guitar has always been a big part of my life," says Michael J. Fox. "When we talked about the Enchantment Under The Sea scene in Back to the Future, I sat down with the cinematographer and choreographer and said I want to riff through all of my favourite guitarists, like doing Jimi Hendrix behind the head, Pete Townshend doing a windmill, and the Eddie (Van Halen) hammer thing, it was so cool that they were open to that, and we laid it all out there.
"I'm really happy with the scene because it was an expression of my love for guitar and all the great players. I didn't realise the influence the scene had on people.
"John Mayer said, 'I play guitar because of you,' and Chris Martin said the same thing, and I am glad they took it further than I did; they went to the trouble of being really good players. I just love the guitar, and I love the movie."
Bob Gale, co-creator, screenwriter and producer of Back To The Future, added, "Years ago, I was astonished to learn this beloved cinematic artefact had apparently disappeared into the space-time continuum.
"Since we don't have a functioning time machine, this effort is probably our best chance to solve a decades-long mystery."
Lost To The Future will feature new interviews with cast members Fox, Lea Thompson, Christopher Lloyd, and Harry Waters Jr., musician Huey Lewis, who sang the film's theme song, The Power of Love, as well as musicians who have been inspired by the film over the decades.
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