'Back to the Future' star travels through time to Maryland Live casino

It was the middle of the summer in 1985 when Lea Thompson and her boyfriend went to the famous Cinerama Dome theater in Hollywood to see what was quickly becoming the movie of the season, then the year and ultimately the decade.

When Thompson was cast in the Steven Spielberg production of "Back to the Future" she knew it was a big deal, but it wasn't until that moment that the she realized just how huge the movie was.

"They took us through the backdoor and the theater was completely full and we had to stand," she remembered.

Standing in the darkened movie theater, Thompson, who was 24 at the time, watched as members of the audience reacted to what was on the screen.

"I could see how it played and I could tell that people were just so with it," she said. "You could tell that people had already seen it a couple of times."

Three decades after the film's release, it continues to have an impact.

Friday, Thompson will be at the Maryland Live casino in Hanover as part of promotion celebrating the film's 30th anniversary. She will be on hand to give away a custom-built replica of the film's DeLorean DMC-12 time machine.

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