At the very end of a recent Chicago Q&A session about “Welcome to Marwen,” a very nice audience member said to star Steve Carell, “I loved you in ‘Foxcatcher,’ that was the first time we saw you could do a very serious role.
“My question is, when can we expect a sequel?”
(SPOILER ALERT: “Foxcatcher” is loosely based on the real-life tragedy in which the wealthy and deeply troubled heir and wrestling enthusiast John du Pont lost his grip on reality and eventually shot and killed the Olympic gold medal-winning wrestler David Schultz. Du Pont died in prison while serving 30 years for the murder.)
Carell doubled over, composed himself and said, “A sequel to ‘Foxcatcher’???”
Robert Zemeckis, director of “Marwen” as well as such classics as “Forrest Gump” and the “Back to the Future” trilogy, jumped in: “I’ll tell you what you’re NEVER going to see a sequel to — well, let’s put it this way, the closest you’re ever going to get to a ‘Back to the Future’ sequel is THIS movie.”
This opened the door for me to ask Zemeckis about the recent poll that found people wanted to see a reboot of “Back to the Future” more than any other film franchise.
Zemeckis firmly shook his head “No” and added, “We’re going to leave it alone. We’re going to leave it alone.”