‘Back to the Future’ Is 40! Lea Thompson Reveals if 1, 2, or 3 Is Her Favorite

For many artists, choosing a favorite piece is somewhat like picking a favorite child. For many actors, their favorite roles often come down to what they put into them or what they got out of them.

Some actors have the extraordinary — and rare — luck of being part of a movie that allows them to experience the best of both worlds. For Lea Thompson, “Back to the Future” is that film.

Lea Thompson Thinks the Original Has a ‘Perfect Screenplay’

Forty years ago, the first “Back to the Future” film premiered. When the “Dancing With the Stars” alum was asked by People which film in the trilogy is her favorite, the actress hesitated before answering.

“For me, it’s ‘Back to the Future 1’ because it’s just a perfect screenplay,” she admitted.

She knew they had something special when she read the script, and she referred to the experience of making the film as “magic.” After taking the director’s chair for “Jane Doe: The Harder They Fall” and various TV series, she discovered even more that she liked about it.

“As a director, I can appreciate the conciseness of it,” she said. “And the truth is that ‘Back to the Future 2’ and ‘3’ were supposed to be kind of like one movie, and then they spread it out into two. So, it wasn’t constructed in the same way as ‘Back to the Future’ was. So I just think it’s a perfect screenplay.”

Thompson Claims There’s a Specific Reason for Co-Star’s Favorite Film

If the first film is her favorite, it makes sense that she would also have a least favorite. For Thompson, that would be “Back to the Future 3.”

“I didn’t have a very good part in the third one, so that would naturally be out for me. But I know that Christopher Lloyd likes that one best,” she said. The reason it’s Lloyd’s favorite? “Chris says it was, I think the only time he ever kissed a girl in a movie,” Thompson added.

Where does their co-star, Michael J. Fox, stand on the issue? Like Thompson, he’s admitted that he’s partial to the first one.

“Probably the first one, just because it was such an overwhelming experience,” he told Hollywood Outbreak. “Doing the show [‘Family Ties’] and the movie at the same time. To step in with these amazing people, this cast, Bob [Zemeckis], and everybody.”

“I was five or six years a kid removed from Canada, thinking I was going to work on the fish docks or join the army like my dad,” he continued. “And all of a sudden, I’m on a set with Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis, and the amazing actors doing this amazing story. It was just one of those things where you wanted to pinch yourself, but you didn’t want to wake up.”