Crispin Glover
Crispin Glover | |
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| Born | Crispin Hellion Glover |
Crispin Hellion Glover (born April 20, 1964) is primarily known as a film actor, but is also a painter, filmmaker, author, musician, and collector and archivist of esoterica. Crispin Glover is known to portray eccentric people on screen such as George McFly in Back to the Future or Willard Stiles in Willard. In the early 2000s, Glover started his own production company, Volcanic Eruptions.
Film career
Born in New York City, Glover moved to Los Angeles at the age of four. As a child, he attended the Mirman School for the academically gifted. His father, Bruce Glover, was a character actor best remembered for playing the offbeat SPECTRE assassin Mr. Wint in the James Bond movie Diamonds Are Forever, and the hood Duffy in Chinatown. Glover appeared in several sitcoms as a teenager, including Happy Days and Family Ties. His first film role was in 1983's My Tutor. That led to roles in Teachers (1984) and Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984).
His breakout role was as George McFly in Robert Zemeckis's Back to the Future. Glover refused to participate in the film's two sequels, reportedly because he wanted more money and his salary demands were not met. Nevertheless, Zemeckis used previously filmed footage and body prosthetics on another actor, Jeffrey Weissman, to simulate Glover on screen. Glover then sued the producers (including Steven Spielberg) and won a landmark victory, setting a precedent for how actors' images may be used in films.[1] At the same time, the suit put something of a dark mark on Glover's reputation as an actor.
Back to the Future was an international box office smash following its release in 1985. Glover followed it with The Orkly Kid, in which he portrayed a young man whose obsession with Olivia Newton-John raises the ire of his small-town neighbours. From that point, Glover pursued a defiantly individualistic path. His characters were notable for the peculiar personality tics and unconventional thought processes. He played Andy Warhol in Oliver Stone's The Doors in (1991). He has continued to play exceedingly eccentric types, e.g. the title characters in Bartleby (2001) and Willard (2003). He has received some considerable mainstream attention recently as the "Thin Man" in the Charlie's Angels films.
In 1987, Glover appeared on Late Night with David Letterman to promote his new movie River's Edge and his album. Dressed as his character from the film Rubin and Ed, he wore a long wig and platform shoes. His bizarre appearance was exceeded only by his strange behavior, which was thought by some to have been influenced by drugs, while others presume it was an Andy Kaufman-style stunt. After a failed attempt to challenge Letterman to an arm-wrestling match, Glover delivered an impromptu karate kick just inches from Letterman's face. A noticeably irked Dave abruptly ended the segment and cut to commercial. Glover has later commented, on The Adam Carolla Show and Tom Green Live among others, that he neither denies nor admits any of the rumors surrounding the incident.
When Christopher Nolan rebooted the Batman franchise, Glover was an early fan-based choice for the Joker.
An October 16, 2006 article in The New Yorker magazine (The Anxieties of YouTube Fame, by Ben McGrath) depicts Glover as a predatory Hollywood actor who corrupts the YouTube starlet Little Loca (played by Stevie Ryan) into turning one of her signature videos into an advertisement for Glover's latest film project, "What Is It."
Music
In 1989, during a hiatus from films, Glover released an album called The Big Problem ≠ The Solution. The Solution = Let It Be through Restless Records, produced by Barnes & Barnes (of "Fish Heads" fame). The album features original songs like "Clowny Clown Clown" , warped covers of Lee Hazlewood's "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" and Charles Manson's "Never Say Never to Always" (sung in falsetto), and readings from his art books Rat Catching and Oak Mot (Glover modified old books by adding or deleting pictures, text, and drawings). Sample pages from these books are featured in the album's liner notes. The music itself is similar to outsider music, with seemingly absurd, dream-like lyrics.
The back cover of the album is a collage of figures relating to each track on the album, with a puzzle: "All words and lyrics point to THE BIG PROBLEM. The solution lay within the title; LET IT BE. Crispin Hellion Glover wants to know what you think these nine things all have in common." He included his home phone number with copies of the album, encouraging listeners to phone when they had "solved" his puzzle. Glover later commented that he was surprised how many people figured it out.
In 2003, he recorded a cover version of the Michael Jackson classic song "Ben" to coincide with the release of the film Willard. In the eccentric music video for the song, which is included on the Willard DVD, he sings to a rat named Ben. In the commentary for the film, he remarks that he has recorded a second album.
There have also been at least four songs written about him, titled "Crispin Glover," one by a New Jersey-based band Children In Adult Jails, rapper P.O.S., the band Scarling., as well as Wesley Willis. The Colorado band Warlock Pinchers also released a song entitled "Where the hell is Crispin Glover?". In addition, some members of the indie rock rock band Reggie and the Full Effect were at one time in a local Kansas City band known as, Onward Crispin Glover. Rapper P.O.S. has a song titled "Crispin Glover" as a bonus track on his EP "P.O.S. Is Ruining My Life."
What is It? film trilogy
What is It?
Glover made his directorial debut with 2005's What is It?, a strange and surreal art film similar in style to the work of Alejandro Jodorowsky and has been described as "The adventures of a young man whose principle interests are snails, salt, a pipe, and how to get home, and is tormented by a hubristic, racist inner psyche." The movie's budget was a mere $125,000 and took almost a decade to complete, originally intending it to be a short film with shooting beginning in Los Angeles. Most of the primary footage was shot in 12 days, stretched over a two-and-a-half year period. From the late-1990s into the early 2000s, he toured with prints of the film, showing parts of it before it was completed, along with various slides and read excerpts from his works. Production was mostly funded by the actor's roles in Willard and the Charlie's Angels films.
The film boasts an eclectic and unusual cast. Porn stars Kiva and Zoryna Dreams, as well as several other women, appear nude wearing animal heads. Most of the principal actors are young and have Down syndrome (though this condition is not addressed in the film). Fairuza Balk lends her voice to a real snail, and Glover's role in the film is officially described as "Dueling Demi-God Auteur and The young man's inner psyche.". It features swastikas, a Shirley Temple lookalike in a Nazi uniform, songs by cult-leader Charles Manson and deals with many types and symbols of racism and prejudice. He defended his choices of imagery in a 2005 interview: "It's really a film to help start these kinds of discussions. Why are these things taboo, and what does that mean for the culture itself? A culture will die a death of stupidity if it doesn't have different points of view."[2] Glover made clear when touring with the film that he had no plans to sell it to a major studio nor release for home viewing. He also revealed his plans on releasing it as part of a trilogy at some point in the future by including the titles of the next two films in the credits for What Is It?.
It is Fine. Everything is Fine!
The second film, It is Fine. Everything is Fine!, was written by Utah writer-actor Steven C. Stewart, who also appears in What Is It? and It is Fine. He died of complications from cerebral palsy in 2001, only one month after principal filming wrapped. Glover said in an online chat that "it's an autobiographical, psycho-sexual, fantastical retelling of [Stewart's] point-of-view of life." It is Fine. Everything is Fine! was shot entirely at David Brother's sound stage in Salt Lake City, Utah. Glover has stated that it is "probably the best film I'll ever work on in my entire career."[2] It premiered at the 2007 Sundance film festival at the Egyptian Theater on January 23rd. [1]
It is Mine
It is Mine, the final film of the trilogy, is an original screenplay written by Ryan Page, Mike Pallagi and Glover. Glover has stated that Stewart "wanted to show that handicapped people are human, sexual [and] horrible, and It Is Mine will be much more sexual than the other two."[3]
Filmography
References
- ^ "Glover Clarifies "Back to the Future" Squabble". Zap2it.com. 2003-03-13. Retrieved 2006-08-31.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b "Glover's 'What Is It?' aptly describes film". The Salt Lake Tribune. 2005. Retrieved 2006-08-31.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ "Not a jaunt down the Yellow Brick Road". The Daily Utah Chronicle. 2005-02-28. Retrieved 2006-08-31.
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External links
- Official site
- Crispin Glover at IMDb
- Crispin Glover's MySpace profile
- Oct 2006 retroCRUSH audio and text interview with Crispin Glover
- TV Tome bio and filmography
- Willard-era interview, film stills
- The Cult of Crispin
- Crispin Hellion Glover Resource Center
- Crispin Glover Encyclopedia
- Transcript of Glover's notorious first appearance on Late Night with David Letterman
- Recording of Glover's appearance on Late Night with David Letterman