Michael J. Fox reveals 4-years-old ‘tension’ with ‘Back to the Future’ co-star
Michael J. Fox is looking back on his Back to the Future days and revealing that not every moment behind the scenes was as smooth as the film’s time-traveling adventures.
The 64-year-old actor, who became a global sensation after starring as Marty McFly in the 1985 classic, opened up about the on-set dynamics in his new memoir, Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum.
Fox shared that while he had a great working relationship with co-star Christopher Lloyd, who played the eccentric inventor Doc Brown, things were sometimes tense with Crispin Glover, who portrayed Marty’s father, George McFly.
“As George McFly, Crispin had his own ideas as to how and where his character should move,” Fox wrote. He explained that Glover’s unconventional approach often led to “tension” with writer Bob Gale and director Bob Zemeckis.
“I loved working with him. His talent was unquestionable, although his methods sometimes created friction,” Fox added. “Still, I respected how he remained true to George (as he understood and embodied him).”
The Family Ties star also noted that he had known Glover before filming began but admitted that nothing could have prepared him for his co-star’s unique energy.
“I knew Crispin Glover prior to Back to the Future. I wouldn’t, however, say I was prepared to act with him — there’s no way to prepare for Crispin,” he wrote.
While Fox and Glover had their creative differences, they weren’t the only Back to the Future cast members to have a complicated start.
Lea Thompson, who played Marty’s mother Lorraine Baines-McFly in all three films, previously shared that she and Fox didn’t exactly “hit it off” right away.
Speaking on the Still Here Hollywood podcast, Thompson explained that her loyalty to Eric Stoltz, who was originally cast as Marty before being replaced by Fox, caused some early tension.
“Probably not because I was friends with Eric Stoltz who had just gotten fired,” she said. “I had already done a movie called The Wildlife with him. So he was a friend of mine.”
Thompson admitted that, at the time, there was “a really big division between movie stars and TV stars,” and she initially viewed Fox, then best known for Family Ties, as part of a different world.
“I remember being like he’s just a TV star and I’m a movie star. I was in Jaws 3D. It took me a while to warm up to him,” she added.
Despite those early challenges, Back to the Future went on to become one of the most beloved film trilogies of all time, proving that even a bit of behind-the-scenes tension couldn’t stop the cast from making movie history.
