Michael J. Fox and Gibson launch search for lost Back to the Future guitar
The red Gibson guitar that Fox played in the iconic movie has been missing since 1985
In the 1985 time travel movie Back to the Future, there's a scene where Marty McFly, played by Michael J. Fox, has one last chance to save his parents's marriage (and his own life). In it, he steps in for an injured guitarist and helps the band play covers of the Penguins' Earth Angel and Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Goode, with a cherry red Gibson ES-345 in hand.
Shortly after filming, that guitar was stolen from the set and has been missing ever since. Today, Gibson and Fox launched a campaign to get the guitar back.
"It's somewhere lost in the space-time continuum or it's in a Teamster's garage," says Fox in the campaign video. Christopher Lloyd, who played Dr. Emmett Brown, continues with: "This guitar has been lost to the future."
Other stars from the film — including Lea Thompson and Henry Waters Jr., plus musician Huey Lewis, who contributed to the movie's soundtrack — are all part of the campaign.
The movie's co-creator Bob Gale calls the guitar an "important piece of cinema history, cinema memorabilia." The dance scene is cemented in film history, and Marty's furiously energetic playing inspired many rock stars, including Coldplay's Chris Martin, to pick up a guitar for the first time.
Anyone with any information is encouraged to submit tips online at losttothefuture.com or call or text the tipline.
There's a countdown on the site, marking four months and 18 days to Back to the Future Day on Oct. 21, which was the day Marty McFly embarked on his time travel journey in the original movie.
