Back to the Future director vows never to let an 'outrageous' remake go ahead

Robert Zemeckis says 'oh god no' to a reboot of the 1985 film in his lifetime

Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd in 1985's Back to the Future (Rex/Moviestore Collection)

The director of 1985 cult classic Back to the Future has revealed that he would never green light an "outrageous" remake in his lifetime.

Robert Zemeckis helmed and co-wrote the Oscar-winning time travel adventure starring Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd but has three words to say to film studios considering a reboot - "Oh god no".

The 63-year-old is so against a modern version of Back to the Future that he hopes his estate will be able to block attempts to make one after his death. The original trilogy is safe for now as Zemeckis holds the rights along with co-writer Bob Gale.

"[A remake] can't happen until both Bob and I are dead and then I'm sure they'll do it, unless there's a way our estates can stop it," he told The Telegraph.

"I mean to me that's outrageous. Especially since it's a good movie. It's like saying 'Let's remake Citizen Kane. Who are we going to get to play Kane?' What folly, what insanity is that? Why would anyone do that?"

You only have to glance at Hollywood's slate of recent and upcoming films to see how much the industry depends on remakes for low-risk and potentially huge profit - think Mad Max: Fury Road, Jurassic World and the all-female Ghostbusters for starters.

Gale has said before that Back to the Future would not be the same if Fox did not play Marty McFly and sadly the actor's Parkinson's disease has led him to all but retire.

"The idea of making another Back to the Future movie without Michael J Fox - that's like saying 'I'm going to cook you a steak dinner and I'm going to hold the beef'," he said at a Florida fan convention in 2008.

Zemeckis' next film The Walk, about the French tightrope artist who walked between the World Trade Center towers in the mid Seventies, is released later this year.