Back to the Future II Caused a Lawsuit That Changed Hollywood Forever

Robert Zemeckis’ Back to the Future was a massive hit back in 1985, the year’s highest-grossing film in fact – and for many reasons. Chief among those reasons was the spot-on casting from the two leads—Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd—to the line-up of supporting cast members. This line-up included Crispin Glover, whose goofy and shy take on George McFly is arguably the film’s most endearing portrayal outside Fox’s Marty McFly.

So, when the inevitable sequel discussions started happening, most of the cast members of Back to the Future were set to reprise their roles. There were two exceptions: Glover and Claudia Wells, who played Marty’s girlfriend, Jennifer Parker. The reasons for this pair of departures differed greatly.

On the latter front, Wells chose not to return because her mother had been diagnosed with cancer, and she chose to stay by her mother’s side. As for Glover, he too was asked to return and even expressed interest in doing so, but he and the producers could not reach an agreement regarding his salary. Given the fact, that George McFly is such an ancillary part of the sequel, especially when compared to his primary role in the original film, Glover was offered $125,000, which was less than half of what his fellow Back to the Future castmates were being offered to return.

As time has gone on, Glover has either revised or elaborated upon his reasoning, depending on one’s point of view. In 2013, while by interviewed on the Opie and Anthony show, he stated that he didn’t return because he disagreed with the film’s message. In his opinion, Back to the Future Part II rewarded its protagonists with financial gain instead of love from peers and family.

When the camera started rolling, Zemeckis had three choices. One, write George McFly out of the narrative entirely. Two, recast Glover. And three, get creative. He chose option three, which ended up making a bit of cinema history, even if not exactly for a pleasant reason.

Back to the Future II – One of the Original Face-Swap Controversies

Zemeckis did recast the part, bringing in Jeffrey Weissman, but he gave the actor a false chin, nose, and cheekbones so he would more closely resemble Glover. He also put George in the background of most of his shots (e.g. he’s hovering upside down in the background at one point in the film). Things got more legally sticky, however, when it came to the molds crafted during the first film’s production.

In the original movie, George McFly is seen at multiple stages of his life. For instance, when he is elderly. To accomplish this, a mold was created utilizing Glover’s face. This same mold was used to help make Weissman look more like Glover, a fact which, quite understandably, displeased the Alice in Wonderland and Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter star.

Glover filed a lawsuit against producers Bob Gale and Neil Canton, citing the fact that they did not own his likeness, nor did they have his permission to utilize his likeness. The case was settled out of court but had ramifications that have continued to this day.

Primarily, the Screen Actors Guild’s collective bargaining agreements (macro-scale negotiation for all actors who are part of the Guild) now have clauses that forbid producers and actors from utilizing such methods to replicate a performer’s physical appearance. This clause has only grown more important over time. Why? Digital effects-based techniques and the advent of Artificial Intelligence. If an actor signed a contract for one movie and was paid for one movie, that one movie is the only movie in which they should be featured. Period. Any attempt to sidestep that is now combatted on an official level, and it’s all thanks to Glover saying no to Back to the Future Part II, and the regrettable decisions that followed that role reprisal rejection.

Most of Back to the Future Part II‘s predictions did not come true. People aren’t zipping around on hoverboards, the Jaws franchise stopped at four films, and Elon Musk has yet to introduce flying cars. And, just as it was hard to predict what the future (AKA 2015) would look like, it was hard to see just how important the attempt to replicate Glover’s physicality and personality would become.

The Back to the Future Movies are streaming on Peacock.