BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II
You’ll believe a board can (Mc)fly…
GRIFF STRICKEN
Hill Valley, 2015: trying to save his future family from ruin, time traveller Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) stands up to Biff’s grandson Griff (Tom Wilson), then flees. “We wanted to keep the future a nice place,” says writer Bob Gale, who decided any badness would be down to people, “as opposed to the technology.”
A SPOT OF HOVER
Marty tells a girl: “I need to borrow your… ‘hoverboard’?!” The board design was “whittled down”, says VFX art director John Bell: “[The filmmakers] knew they’d have to make a lot and didn’t want to blow money reproducing intricate designs.” Mattel’s branding was a late change from Swatch.
UNDER THE WIRE(S)
Griff’s gang chase Marty, who grabs on to a (previously flying) Jeep. The hoverboard FX were achieved by suspending actors on wires, or shooting them from the waist up on skateboards. “Everything in the sequels was done optically,” says director Robert Zemeckis (except for some digital wire-removal).
RAGING ’BULL
Veering across a pond, Marty discovers that hoverboards don’t work on water… as Griff fires up his rocket-powered ‘Pitbull’ board. “The problem with doing movies in the future is you always underestimate it,” says Zemeckis. “You can’t be right. So what we did was figure out how to make it all into jokes.”
COURT OUT
Marty drops into the water, narrowly dodging the bat-swinging Griff, who crashes with his gang through the courthouse window. “[Hoverboards] have been around for years,” Zemeckis said in 1989. “Parents’ groups haven’t let toy manufacturers make them. We got our hands on some and put them in.”
GROUNDED
Marty hands back the ’board to the girl (“Keep it – I gotta Pitbull now!”). Zemeckis’ comment was, of course, fake news – but many took him at his word. Addressing the topic years later in comedy ditty ‘The Question Song’, Wilson sings: “‘Do hoverboards really fly?’ / It’s a movie! / Stop asking me the question!” ML