Crispin Glover

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Crispin Glover: Madman or Genius? You Decide

Actor Crispin Glover arrives at the premiere of MGM & United Artisits' "Hot Tub Time Machine" After Party on March 17, 2010 in Hollywood, California. (Getty Images)more pics »Crispin Glover has come to be known as a Hollywood oddball for his eccentric behavior, choices in roles, and pet projects. The actor is probably best known for his role as Marty McFly in Back to the Future, but it's his more obscure material that he truly loves.

Crispin Glover in Back to the Future (From Back to the Future)
In 1987 Crispin's preference for the odd and the indie took center stage as he visited with David Letterman during a now-infamous appearance on the NBC late night talk show. While Crispin was on the show to promote River's Edge, Letterman didn't know that he'd be appearing dressed as his character from an upcoming comedy called Rubin and Ed. Crispin appeared in the same platform shoes, tight-fitting pants and wig he wears in the movie, and even speaks at the same verge-of-freaking-out voice he used in the movie.

Most people who saw it at the time thought that Crispin was either on drugs or messing with Letterman and the audience in the style of Andy Kaufman. After revealing a previously hidden and very muscled bicep, he challenged Letterman to an arm wrestling contest and then nearly kicked him in the face with a karate kick. That's when Letterman walked off the set and the show cut to commercial.

These days Crispin still goes in for odd roles. While he recently played a supporting role as the Knave of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland, he's put much more effort into spreading the word about a series of movies being called the "It" trilogy.

So far only two of the movies have been made. The first is called What Is It?, and it employs a cast made up almost entirely of actors with Down's Syndrome. While the plot is apparently difficult to explain, it sounds to very visually and emotionally driven, created at least in part to challenge the audience with the odd, grotesque and absurd. The next film is called It Is Fine!
EVERYTHING IS FINE, and it deals with a disabled murderer confined to a wheelchair.

Crispin has toured nationally with the two films as well as Crispin Hellion Glover's
Big Slide Show. While these have been important touchstones recently, it should be noted that he did take time out of his dark artistry to play a hilarious one-armed bellboy in Hot Tub Time Machine.

Crispin Glover has said that he thinks people often mistake his artistic tastes for madness, and takes umbrage at those who would describe him as "psychotic."

"In the past, I've never tried to discount or stop what people are saying because on some levels I find it interesting. But if I look on the Internet or in news chat groups, I tend to read, 'Oh, that guy's crazy, that guy's nuts. He's insane or psychotic.' At a certain point, it does get a bit like, 'I'm not. Really.' Look, I one-hundred percent admit and in fact implore people to understand that, yes, I am very interested in countercultural things. But there's a difference between having artistic interests and being psychotic. That's more than a fine line of differentiation, and I do see that a bit too much."

On the other hand, he's just fine with being called eccentric.

"Eccentric doesn't bother me. 'Eccentric' being a poetic interpretation of a mathematical term meaning something that doesn't follow the lines - that's okay."