Christopher Lloyd

Time travel is a fantasy we all have. The 'Back to the Future' series really exploits that wish.

I didn't know where my career was going to go. Somehow, people sensed that I have certain talents and cast me in these bizarre, off-beat roles, which I have no regret about. I've enjoyed playing every one of them.

I turned down a film that was offered to me in the very early '80s, a Scorsese film. That probably wasn't a good career move.

In point of fact, I'm not sure there are too many comedies with laugh tracks anymore. Most of what you hear is live studio audience laughing as a show is filmed. If this prompts you to wonder who those actual human beings are who are laughing at some of this stuff, that is a mystification I share.

The film I had the most fun in was 'Back to the Future Part III.' It had horseback riding, and all that work, all that training, was quite an experience.

I was already committed to a play back in New York about Hans Christian Andersen, where Colleen Dewhurst was going to play my mother. I was excited about that, and I got this script called 'Back to the Future,' and I thumbed through it. Didn't pay a hell of a lot of attention.

I had told my agents that I didn't want to do television. I can't believe I had that gall, looking back on it. I would never condescend to do TV, and then 'Taxi' called up for a guest spot in the first season. And my common sense kind of took over, I guess.

There were a couple times with close-ups where I tended to overact. I would use more of my face than I needed to. I learned how to be more subtle.

Judge Doom is such an evil cartoon! It was just such fun to do. I liked the whole mystique of it: the long cape, the glasses, and all that stuff. You grow up with horror films as a kid, and it all seemed to be embodied in that one guy.

I loved doing Judge Doom in 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit.' I'm constantly running into people who saw that movie when they were kids, and it absolutely horrified them.

I've worked a lot with kids before. They can be very, very difficult, just because they're kids.

I did so many interviews and auditions for films, and it was just zilch. Nothing I did impressed anybody! I could just feel it. It was always, 'Okay, thank you, Mr. Lloyd.' Then, out of the blue, 'Cuckoo's Nest' came to cast. A casting director who sent me up for different things over the years sent me up for that, and it just clicked.