Editor Ruby is here to discuss “Back to the Future,” Crispin Glover, and the logistics of image rights.

If you haven’t heard, Trivia Mafia is currently hosting “Back to the Future” themed trivia all around the Twin Cities metro. This sent us down a rabbit hole about Crispin Glover, who plays George McFly and is one of the most striking parts of the first film. Glover, however, doesn’t appear in the second or third parts of the saga. You may be saying to yourself, but wait, George McFly is in a lot of “Back to the Future Part II,” as Marty retraces his steps in the ‘50s.

Well, Crispin Glover is a pretty singular guy. He objected to the ending of the first film, which he considered too materialistic. He didn’t like that the McFlys’ happiness at the end of “Back to the Future” was represented by an upgrade in their car, house, and general economic circumstance. Reportedly, director Robert Zemeckis found these questions irritating and pushed his own vision through. For whatever reason, Glover insisted on being paid $1 million to come back for the second film, which Zemeckis rejected.

Instead of bringing Glover back, Zemeckis hired actor Jeffrey Weissman and used prosthetics to make him look like Glover. The film cuts between footage of Glover from the first film and Weissman in makeup seamlessly, creating the illusion that the same actor is giving both performances. Weissman actually went to Glover out of his discomfort with the situation – producer Steven Spielberg referred to him as “Crispin” on set.

Glover wasn’t the first person to be recreated in this way. Often it happens when an actor has died, which is why it’s known as a “Fake Shemp” – Shemp Howard died suddenly in 1955 and the “Three Stooges” movie he’d started had to be finished without him.

Glover sued the production for his image rights, in a case that eventually settled out of court for a reported $760,000. While Glover has claimed this case set the precedent that Screen Actors Guild uses in its rules on illicit use of footage, The Hollywood Reporter said SAG-AFTRA wouldn’t confirm that, so who knows? There’s actually an earlier Supreme Court case, Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co., in which Hugo Zacchini, aka The Human Cannonball, won against a TV station which filmed and broadcast his entire act without crediting him.

Image rights law has continued to evolve: No Doubt settled a lawsuit with Activision in 2011 over unauthorized manipulation of their images in the game “Band Hero,” on the grounds that they hadn’t agreed to a Gwen Stefani avatar performing “Honky Tonk Woman,” which she wasn’t comfortable with. The band argued that the motion-captured recreations were too “realistic” to qualify as transformative under fair use laws, which, knowing the game is 15 years old, you can judge for yourself (warning for strobing light effects in that video). But No Doubt prevailed! Which is probably for the best.

We could talk about deepfakes, but instead, I’d rather talk about what Crispin Glover is up to these days. Unless you’re really into avant garde cinema, beyond George McFly, you’d probably think of him as the bad guy in “Charlie’s Angels” or the titular Willard in “Willard,” but he spends a lot of his time making and then personally showing, one theater at a time, very strange indie films he funds himself. If you enjoy an old website, check out his, which highlights films like “What Is It” and its sequel “It Is Fine. Everything is Fine!!” These movies have a complicated relationship to disability in particular – the screenwriter, Steven C. Stewart, stars in a semi-autobiographical story about a man with cerebral palsy working through his sexuality, and most of the actors have Down syndrome. Without seeing it I can’t really comment on how that comes across, but given that the films are only available on a single 35mm print, and are only shown by Glover himself, it’s unlikely that I’ll turn in a review any time soon. (This review is worth checking out!) There was supposed to be a third film in the series, “It is Mine,” but as far as I can tell it remains unproduced.

Some fast Crispin facts: Crispin Glover’s middle name is Hellion. He lives in a historically significant chateau in the Czech Republic which requires a lot of his time to upkeep. One time he almost kicked David Letterman in the face, causing Letterman to walk off set, for reasons Glover will not disclose to this day. He recorded a version of Michael Jackson’s “Ben,” which was made for the original “Willard,” for his remake, and sings to a rat in the music video. He has written at least 15 books, which he constructs out of texts in the public domain, removing and adding text and images to make a new story. He recorded an album called “The Big Problem ≠ The Solution. The Solution = Let It Be” which, along with original songs and readings from his books, includes a falsetto cover of Charles Manson’s “I’ll Never Say Never to Always” (yes, the Charles Manson you’re thinking of). He appears in the film “Hot Tub Time Machine” as Phil.

Whether or not Crispin Glover would want you to (unclear! He and Zemeckis made up enough for him to be in “Beowulf,” but he still seems to have hard feelings about the particular franchise), make sure to come to “Back to the Future” trivia all this month!