5 Movie Characters Who Improved After Recasting (And 5 Who Didn't)

This is one of the more interesting stories of major Hollywood recasting. In 1985, Crispin Glover played Michael J. Fox’s dorky dad George McFly in Back to the Future. The movie was a huge success and a sequel was quickly in the works.

According to Glover, the studio's best offer for him to return for the next movie was $125,000. This was purportedly less than other returning actors were receiving. Glover asked for one million dollars, but was turned down. With production nearing, not only was George McFly recast with Jeffrey Weissman, but Weissman was fitted with facial prosthetics to make him look like Crispin Glover!

This led to a lawsuit that caused changes in clauses for the Screen Actors Guild collective-bargaining agreements. Glover was awarded $760,000 on the claim that his right to publicity had been infringed.

The studio moved forward with the franchise and with Weissman as George McFly. The part was reduced in the second and third films, due in part to the difficulties with Glover while filming the first movie. Weissman even admitted that George McFly's part in the second film was written to "torture Crispin". Perhaps if the studio had been more transparent, fans would have been more accepting. Rather, it felt as though a bootleg McFly was being pulled over their collective eyes.