Despite how iconic the DeLorean is in Back to the Future, Michael J. Fox reveals that he despised driving it. Fox played Marty McFly in the Back to the Future movies and filmed many scenes inside the DeLorean, the vehicle that he and Doctor Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) used to travel through time.

With 2025 marking the 40-year anniversary of the first movie’s debut in 1985, Fox wrote Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum. The book, which was released on October 14, is a first-person account of Fox’s time making the classic movie at the age of 23 years old.

In Future Boy, Fox candidly writes about his experience filming scenes inside the DeLorean. Given the car’s status in popular culture, he knows most audiences think such a scene would be “cool” to film. Fox dispels this by emphasizing that the now out-of-production vehicle was “a s*** car” that only looked good because of the work that the special effects crew did.

He also reveals that the flux capacitator and other science-fiction elements embedded into the car were “rough-edged, metallic and sharp.” This meant that whenever he sat in the driver’s seat, his body got cut and bruised. Check out Fox’s explanation below:

I get to drive the DeLorean. I know what you’re thinking… cool! I thought so too, at first, but soon I grew to hate driving the DeLorean. First of all, let’s face it – it’s a s*** car. Slow to accelerate, with cheap appointments – and that’s before our special effects crew added their two cents (or several million dollars, all in).

Those jerry-rigged accoutrements – the flux capacitor and various time clocks and flourishes – tend to be rather rough-edged, metallic and sharp. After that first night in the driver’s seat and for the remainder of the movie, my hands are crisscrossed with lacerations, my knuckles bruised, and my elbows contused from slamming into the space-edged console. As they say in show business, pain is temporary, film is forever.

Fox’s anecdote provides a significant addition to the ever-growing mythology of Back to the Future‘s behind-the-scenes history. This reveal partly pulls back the curtain on the “movie magic” that went into the film, including the extensive work done by the special effects team. While the final result is beloved and continues to endure, it was painful at times for Fox.

The actor is known for his good sense of humor, which is on display in this part of Future Boy when he says, “pain is temporary, film is forever.” Even though it is meant to be humorous, there is truth to it being “forever”, especially when considering how ingrained Marty McFly and the DeLorean are in the history of cinema and in popular culture.

Along with the physical toll that these scenes took on Fox, his words also highlight that if it wasn’t for Back to the Future‘s DeLorean, the car would not have such a favorable legacy. It was already out of production before the first movie came to theaters in 1985, and it was used in the film for its futuristic aesthetic, not because of the car’s actual qualities.

The 40-year anniversary for Back to the Future is momentous under any circumstances, but it feels even more special with Fox providing new and honest behind-the-scenes stories like this via Future Boy.