Michael J. Fox pays tribute to his Back to the Future costar Crispin Glover in his new memoir on the making of the film, Future Boy.
Fox reveals that upon rewatching the film to write the book, he gained a deeper appreciation for Glover's inspired performance, which prompted him to write the actor a letter.
"We didn't talk much during production," Fox wrote. "So I never had the chance to say that you are a brilliant actor, and I was thrilled to work with you."
Michael J. Foxis raising his glass to an unsung hero of theBack to the Futurefamily.
InFuture Boy, his recent memoir of the making of the 1985 sci-fi comedy classic, Fox reflects on getting his feet wet on his first big-budget Hollywood spectacle alongside seasoned pros like Christopher Lloyd. But most of the cast were up-and-comers like Fox, who'd just gotten his big break with the premiere ofFamily Tiesin 1982.
Cast in the role of Fox's character's father in the time hopper was a young actor namedCrispin Glover— a name neither Fox nor the world would soon forget.
"I knew Crispin Glover prior toBack to the Future," Fox writes. "I wouldn't, however, say I was prepared to act with him — there's no way to prepare for Crispin."
Universal Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection
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Fox elaborates, "With Chris Lloyd, I had an inkling of what he was up to. Neither he nor Crispin ever did the same thing the same way twice. But as a trained theater actor, Chris was much more locked into the script, so there was that constant to depend on. I never knew what Crispin was going to say or do. I'm not sure he knew, either."
Unpredictability and verve would soon become well known signatures of the singular, New York City-born actor. But on theBack to the Futureset, Fox remembered Glover's idiosyncracies simply throwing his costars and director.
"Nobody puts Crispin in a box," Fox writes. "As George McFly, Crispin had his own ideas as to how and where his character should move," a disposition that "often caused tension with [screenwriter] Bob Gale and [director] Bob Zemeckis."
Still, Fox describes Glover as "phenomenal in the role," even revealing that "in the process of preparing for this book, I wrote Crispin a letter. 'Your performance is richer and deeper every time I see it. In fact, I skip over my bits to watch yours. Granted, we didn't talk much during production, so I never had the chance to say that you are a brilliant actor, and I was thrilled to work with you.'"
Back to the Futureactually wasn't Fox and Glover's first time collaborating. Glover appeared as a guest star on an episode ofFamily Tiesthe year beforeBack to the Futureentered production. Fox recalls that as one of his conservative firebrand Alex P. Keaton's friends on a road trip in season 2's "Birthday Boy," Glover delivered several lines that won him "the biggest laughs" of the episode.
"The interesting thing about Crispin as an actor is that he had no awareness of the audience. He wasn't trying to milk the laughs. He was just naturally funny, and he crushed it on every take," Fox writes. "I feel the same about his work inBack to the Future."
MCA/Universal Pictures - Courtesy: Everett Collection
Unlike Fox, Glover did not return for the sequelsBack to the Future IIandBack to the Future III. George McFly was instead played byPale Riderstar Jeffrey Weissman.
In the years since its release, the originalBack to the Futurehas barely ebbed in popularity. It remains as beloved and widely seen as ever. But Glover hasn't been shy about the issues that have kept him from returning to the fold.
In a 2014 interview withIGN, Glover noted that he "didn't really get to analyze the screenplay until I was actively working on the film," by which time, "I saw things that were in the screenplay... that I have a particular amount of questions about." Specifically, Glover takes issue with the film's final scene, which sees the efforts of Fox's Marty McFly in the past result in a "financial reward" in the new, altered present.
"I saw that if there was a financial reward, where the son character cheers because he has a truck in the garage, I thought that the moral aspect ends up being that money equals happiness. I questioned that, and that was met with a lot of hostility and upset," Glover revealed. "I didn't end up being in the sequels. I mean, it's more complicated than that, but I'm certain that it had something to do with my questioning of these things."
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