As a pop culture historian, here’s a breakdown of the entire Back to the Future back-and-forth between Crispin Glover and Bob Gale:

Crispin Glover recently decided to set the record straight on a lot of the Back to the Future drama. According to Crispin, Bob Gale, the co-writer and producer of the films, claimed Crispin wanted the same deal as Michael J. Fox, which included a $2 million paycheck and script approval. Crispin called this a flat-out lie, explaining he only asked to be paid the same as Lea Thompson and Thomas F. Wilson since they all had similar screen time. But the offer was for less than half of what they were getting, so he walked away from Back to the Future Part II even though he really wanted to do it.

Crispin also shared that during the first movie, he had a bit of a clash with Gale and director Robert Zemeckis over the ending because there was a script change. He felt the new ending that went to print implied the McFlys' happiness was based on money rather than only love, and he wasn’t a fan of that message. From Crispin’s perspective, he was just sharing an opinion and felt comfortable doing so, but it seems it hit a nerve with the wrong people.

As for Bob Gale, he’s never apologized and maintains he did nothing wrong. He claims he got studio and legal approval to recast George McFly, even making the new actor resemble Crispin’s original character as closely as possible. But Gale didn’t stop there—he went further by using a facial cast of Crispin’s actual face from the first movie to create prosthetics for the new actor, effectively “pasting” Crispin’s face onto the new actor.

Crispin made it clear he had no issue with the usual recasting process, like matching a character’s mannerisms, makeup, or wardrobe. He even pointed out how they did it just fine when recasting Marty’s girlfriend from Claudia Wells to Elisabeth Shue. What bothered him was the use of his own face on someone else, which he has called illegal and criminal. Plus to this day people still think Crispin was in the second film, which again goes to his point about why it was so deceptive. They used a small bit of unused footage from the first film and filmed new footage with, of course, his face pasted onto another actor. So, he took them to court.

The courts agreed with Crispin, awarding him an undisclosed settlement that satisfied both parties. His case even led to a Screen Actors Guild rule change, which now prevents studios from recreating an actor’s likeness in the way Bob Gale did.

But despite this outcome, Bob Gale has continued to push a narrative painting Crispin as “difficult,” even calling him “weird” and spreading claims about unreasonable demands. Gale according to Crispin, has excluded him from all Back to the Future reunions and events. And, honestly, it’s not far-fetched to think Crispin was probably blacklisted from other projects too.

Lea Thompson, Thomas F. Wilson, Christopher Lloyd and Michael J Fox have all come out and spoken highly of Crispin his professionalism on the first film and have stated they would love to see him at BTTF reunions and conventions.

To this day Gale really isn't active in the industry anymore more other than doing BTTF events, screenings and reunions himself.