It seems like the elephant in the room was the original ending involving a black maid. Eric's agent at the time, Helen Sugland, is a black woman. In her article about Crispin for The Guardian, Hadley Freeman wrote...
Glover, horrified that audiences thought he was in the film, sued and the case was settled out of court. But in fact, Glover brings up the subject himself when discussing how he is writing what he describes as “a standard word book” about propaganda “in which I address the Back to the Future issue in great detail”.
This specific issue was Glover’s objection to the original film’s ending, which suggests that the reason the McFly parents are happy and in love is because they are now wealthy. When I interviewed Thompson about the film last year for a book I was writing about 80s films, she recalled how horrified Glover and Eric Stoltz – who was originally cast as Marty before being replaced by Michael J Fox – were by the inference that money equals happiness.
When I mention this to Glover, he bristles at the idea that Stoltz raised objections: “I never saw him say anything about it, I tend to think that may not be accurate.” But he quickly focuses on the source of his real ire: the film’s writer and producer, Bob Gale.
It’s worth mentioning that Eric was cast in Lionheart by two of the three casting directors for BTTF – Jane Feinberg and Mike Fenton. Hollywood Dreams, a season 4 episode of Frontline that aired on May 13 in 1986, depicted Mike Fenton having a phone call with one of the Lionheart producers. In his TV review, David T. Friendly (who cast Eric in a 2005 film titled The Honeymooners) had quoted Mike as saying:
"Look, some of his magic is internal, but I promise you he is Robert. The other thing is he is more than willing to change his hair color; he’ll do whatever has to be done."
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