Why Back To The Future's Biff Actor Has A 'Complicated' Relationship With The Movie (And How 'Butthead' Is Involved)

Thomas F. Wilson is one of those actors where even if you’re not familiar with him by name, you’ve almost certainly seen something from his extensive body of work. His biggest credits, of course, remain the Back to the Future movies, where he played Biff Tannen and other members of the Tannen family. It’s been over 40 years since we first saw Biff bullying Marty McFly and his father George, but these days, Wilson has a “complicated” relationship with BTTF, particularly when it comes to Biff’s favorite insult, “butthead.”

During Thomas F. Wilson’s recent appearance on Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum, which included him recalling how original Marty actor Eric Stoltz treated him “very badly,” he acknowledged that he’s “incredibly blessed and fortunate” to have worked on Back to the Future, even with “all its attendant problems.” The actor explained:

Back to the Future was just Thomas F. Wilson’s second movie, following a bit part in the Korean-American Ninja Turf, which also came out in 1985. Obviously it was unknown at the time how big BTTF would be, but that’s quite the movie to achieve your breakthrough, and he initially didn’t even want to play Biff. But for a portion of his life, Wilson was dissatisfied with how it impacted his career. He told Michael Rosenbaum how he used to have a snide remark about how he wished Eric Stoltz would have stayed on as Marty, because then maybe the “movie would have been less good” and he “could have had a career.”

Wilson’s in a better place with Back to the Future now, but he then shared with Rosenbaum about where he stood with the movie in 2010, when it was celebrating its 25th anniversary:

Marty and Biff’s other targets might not have taken kindly to being called “butthead,” but I’m not surprised that Back to the Future fans would want Thomas F. Wilson to lob that insult at them. However, it got to the point where he was comfortable doing that anymore, continuing:

Wilson concluded this portion of the podcast by making it clear that he doesn’t mind meeting Back to the Future fans, he would just rather interact with them as a fellow person rather than have them look at him as some kind of goal to fulfill. In his words:

So for those of you who run into Thomas F. Wilson while out and about, table the request to have him call you “butthead” and just talk to him like you would with any other person. It’ll result in a more enjoyable experience for the both of you, and it doesn’t sound like Wilson has any problems with Back to the Future being mentioned. You could also bring up one of his other projects, like his multiple roles on SpongeBob SquarePants or, as one of my favorites, when he played Hank Heywood on Legends of Tomorrow.

Unfortunately, none of the Back to the Future movies are currently available to stream. However, if you have a Paramount+ subscription, you can hear Thomas F. Wilson voicing Cecil Star in the SpongeBob spinoff The Patrick Star Show.