How Back To The Future's Thomas F Wilson Overcame His Biggest Bully: Himself

This may come as a shock to some of you, but Thomas F Wilson is a really lovely guy.

It honestly shouldn't be that surprising a factoid. After all, nobody believes that Mark Hamill can truly move objects with his mind, nor that Bruce Willis could single-handedly mow down a skyscraper's worth of terrorists. But, since the release of Back To The Future more than 30 years ago, Wilson has struggled — arguably more so than many of his actor brethren and their most prominent roles — to separate his own personhood from that of Biff Tannen, the resident, and iconic, bully of Hill Valley.

To put it simply, people see Tom Wilson, but they don't always see Tom Wilson. The legacy that Biff, and his relations Griff and Buford 'Mad Dog' Tannen, has wrought upon the affable Wilson is one that he's wrestled with, for better or worse, over the years. Casting agents used to call him in for auditions not to hear him read, but just to talk about Back To The Future. People on the street would get verbally abusive when they confused the man for his best-known onscreen counterpart.

The Tannen family, and his role in personifying them, became such a persistent shroud of sorts that, last year, Wilson released a series of paintings he dubbed his Pop Fugue collection as a therapeutic means of addressing the impact Biff, his ancestor and descendant have had on him as a person. He discussed the works in a fascinating, thoughtful eight-minute video he posted to YouTube — Wilson maintains a robust online presence — called I Am Pop Art, noting that Biff, and even the Back To The Future trilogy itself, is not something about which he's often spoken.

Sure, he's sung about it (he wrote and released Biff's Question Song several years ago as a comedic means of addressing many of the questions he hears from Back To The Future fans over and over) and, as the Pop Fugue series demonstrates, has even painted his way through it, to an extent — but not often spoken about it.

All of which makes his inclusion on the bill for Sydney and Perth's Supanova Comic-Con — not to mention the other conventions he's been doing at home in the States this year — an incredibly exciting prospect, not just for the audience, but for Wilson himself.

"Guys would want to put me in a headlock, or push me around a bit, or get into a little tussle with 'that tough guy from Back To The Future, because he’s not that tough after all'. Well, I’m not that tough after all."

"This is the grand experiment, 2017 — and I will say that it’s going quite positively," Wilson enthuses when The Music touches base with him at home in Los Angeles. "I've done a couple [conventions] here in the States.

"Early on, when Back To The Future was first released, I think the audience was very different than it is now. First of all, Back To The Future was released at a very specific intersection of the culture, because it was the first big movie as cable television was coming out, as VHSes and buying the movie was coming out; Back To The Future was, I think, the first big movie that you could watch over, and over, and over, and over — so, really, you had people watching it 400 times. So, like an album — you know, like an early Beatles album that you would just run until the grooves were worn out, you could watch this, and it created an impression within the audience of me, that I was that guy; that I was a terrible person who was mean to Michael J Fox in that movie.

"And so the interchanges I would have — of course, most of them were positive, and most people understand the movie, but there were plenty where the guys would want to put me in a headlock, or push me around a bit, or get into a little tussle with 'that tough guy from Back To The Future, because he’s not that tough after all'. Well, I’m not that tough after all, because I’m an actor; because it’s pretend!

"And I think that social media, the greater intimacy, maybe — I mean, part of it is false intimacy, but part of it’s real intimacy; you can go and see things about an actor, that’s kind of why I do the YouTube thing, to present, ‘this is me as a person’, that the audience, now, the pop cultural audience, is a more sophisticated audience and a more multi-faceted audience. When they’re coming to me, they’re understanding it within a context, which is very satisfying to me. When they say, ‘Yes, you’re mean,’ and all that stuff, you know, a great majority understand that I’m an actor and have followed me on Twitter or on Instagram, whatever, or they’ve seen a video on YouTube, and they understand more of the context of this pop-iconhood that I’m a part of than previously."

But even his reticence to previously discuss Biff and Back To The Future could be easily misconstrued as a distaste for the character himself, or the films that made him famous — his Question Song misread as malicious rather than mirthful — but this, too, couldn't be farther from the truth. In fact, Wilson is genuinely appreciative of his fans expressing their appreciation to him, especially since he's been in their shoes in his own life.

"I mean, scratch the surface of a ‘legend’ like me and I’m just coming home to take out the trash and have dinner with my wife, you know?"

"It’s been very gratifying," he says. "A surprising part of it — a thing that I wasn’t expecting was, a girl comes up and she wants to talk to me about the movie, and she bursts into tears. This happens not infrequently; she’s bursting into tears because she’s trying to impart to me what it means to her. You know, she says, ‘You’re my childhood; I watched the movie so many times, my parents were having a rough time and we went out and we saw this movie, and, 'I watched it at my house, and when times were rough I would take it out and watch the DVD,’ and the people, they want to tell you that story because, bottom line, it’s appreciation.

"It’s the feeling that we all have for the thing that meant something to us; if we met Paul McCartney, of course the man has heard it a million times, of course we should leave him alone, but we have to say, ‘I listened to that album so many times, and it was so wonderful,’ and of course we’re expecting him to say, ‘I hear you, thank you very much for saying that,’ because it does mean something to people.

"And one has to be a human being; that’s why they’ve come out, to meet the human being that’s involved with a pop icon. You know: ‘meet this legend now’ — the ‘legend’... I mean, scratch the surface of a ‘legend’ like me and I’m just coming home to take out the trash and have dinner with my wife, you know? I’m not much of a legend when I’m just walking around in my sneakers here. But, yes, the movie meant a lot to people, and I appreciate that very much, and I appreciate their wanting to tell me that."

"I had the Question Song, and then the questions would just be different questions, so then ... I didn’t mean for it to become sort of famous, but I gave out this postcard that had other questions answered," he explains. "And, you know, it’s a joke, and it’s me saying, ‘You know, fella, I’ve heard these quite a bit, so if we get over those questions, maybe we can have an actual discussion as people, you know? Because I’m just a guy, I’m Tom, and we’d probably get along well!’

"So I’ve done that, but the fact is, as I say, look, I love many things in the pop culture, and I have questions about them. So I understand it, but I think it’s just me trying to have fun with it, trying to make a joke out of it and have a laugh. I think some people watch the YouTube video and said, ‘Oh, you hate the movies, and you hate all the questions that people ask,’ and I said, ‘Did you listen to the rest of the video where people are laughing and applauding and having fun with it? That’s the idea!’ [But] I understand the questions; I’ve had them myself — I’ve been the annoying young guy asking the questions. I met Jimmy Stewart and I had questions for him, so I understand."

It's not just Back To The Future where Wilson made an impact on the pop culture pantheon, however; although that's the role he's most widely associated with, he's done a mountain of voiceover work for several video games and TV series — he currently stars as Banana on Nickelodeon's irreverent Pig Goat Banana Cricket, now in its second season — and had more than a few consequent onscreen appearances too, including a six-episode stint as Coach Ben Fredricks in the beloved, but short-lived, cult-favourite series Freaks & Geeks.

"I’ve been on plenty of shows where you say, ‘Boy, why isn’t anyone watching it?’ but I’ve never been on a show where The New York Times is doing a large story saying, ‘Please everyone watch this show!"

For Wilson, that project has never been anything but a positive experience, even though it only truly found its niche after it had been cancelled.

"I’m thrilled with the recognition that I get from Freaks & Geeks, because it’s always wonderful," he reflects. "And I’ll tell you, I get far more recognition from Freaks & Geeks than I would have even imagined! People have the DVD set — ‘Will you sign the DVD set?’ — or a photo from the show or something like that. And this is a program that, when it was on television, no one watched it! It became a hit show only through the DVD set. My kids watch the show on DVD and love the show, and they’ll take it out and watch Freaks & Geeks, so that was a great experience.

"Judd Apatow and Paul Fieg, who created and produced the show, I knew them from stand-up comedy — I met Judd probably when he was 18 years old, newly to California and performing stand-up — so it’s wonderful, we had a wonderful time and they’ve gone on to great success, which is terrific; they’re great and they’re very talented.

"I’ve been on good shows that failed; I’ve been on plenty of shows where you say, ‘Boy, why isn’t anyone watching it?’ but I’ve never been on a show where The New York Times is doing a large story saying, ‘Please everyone watch this show — it’s too good to be cancelled! It’s good!’ But, alas, some shows just don’t get an audience and that’s the way it was. But it’s a testament to the show that almost everyone involved with it is doing just magnificently well. It just means that sometimes lightning strikes; sometimes it’s a great number of very talented people doing something that’s very worthwhile."

"My goodness, it’s a pig, it’s a goat, it’s a banana and it’s a cricket who are all friends, and it’s maybe one of the most imaginative pieces I’ve ever been a part of."

They say lightning doesn't strike twice — much less three times — but even the Back To The Future movies would quite literally prove that adage wrong, and so it is that Wilson has found himself in another inimitable outing with his work on Pig Goat Banana Cricket, the brainchild of cartoonists and alt-comics creators Johnny Ryan and Dave Cooper, work he describes as "a dream come true".

"Haven’t all of us dreamt of playing a psychotic banana on a cartoon?" he laughs. "All of my dreams have come true. Johnny Ryan and Dave Cooper are comic-book artists of a crazy bent, incredibly imaginative and unusual guys, who do very interesting and sometimes weird things. So Nickelodeon contacted them in order to try something new — ‘Let’s see what they might do if they made a show.’ So, my goodness, it’s a pig, it’s a goat, it’s a banana and it’s a cricket who are all friends, and it’s maybe one of the most imaginative pieces I’ve ever been a part of.

"Parts of it are so crazy, that at the recordings you’re not even sure what’s going on, but it comes together and it’s just been a lot of fun to improvise in such a way, to be there with other actors and just working in the manner of a cartoon, where the creators, the writers, are very open to improvisation and the creativity of the actors involved. It’s a wonderful, collaborative experience. So, Pig Goat Banana Cricket — not the biggest, most popular show I’ve ever been a part of, but a really very interesting and exciting and fun experience. I’m having a ball."

As mentioned earlier, Wilson is no stranger to the world of animation — in fact, Biff even helped him get his start, when Wilson lent his voice to the 1991-2 Back To The Future animated series — and has since gone on to take to the recording booth for several cartoon series, including Gargoyles, Superman, Duckman, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, Batman: Brave & The Bold, The Spectacular Spider-Man and many, many more. Despite the fact that his first animated project was Tannen-related, he says that his considerable cartoon oeuvre was less a conscious move to escape Back To The Future than simply how things have panned out for the accomplished actor — and he seemingly wouldn't have it any other way.

"I must say, some of the most creative things being done right now are being done in animation," he beams. "Because, as I say, just the nature of having all of the actors in one room, having the script in front of them on a music stand and recording the show before it’s animated, so we know the story, we know the jokes, but it hasn’t been animated yet, so we’re not in a straitjacket; we don’t have to match anything.

"To have the creators say, ‘Now, on this take, guys, just go crazy — I mean, just go crazy and be imaginative and off-the-wall, and we’ll see, and it may be terrible or it may be something that we actually end up using,’ to be in a room full of actors improvising in such a way is actually a very satisfying experience, and that experience harkens back to the first times you’re on a stage, when you’re just, you know, you say, ‘Boy, this is exciting; it’s fun — who knows what’s going to happen?’ You don’t! So I really have a lot of fun doing it."

And it's that sense of performance from which Wilson can't separate himself, even now. He still loves getting on the stage, and his extensive convention commitments, if nothing else, serve as an opportunity to deliver a little something more for his audiences than the easier route of simply walking out, slumping down in a chair and fielding questions from the crowd.

"I really want everyone to go out of there thinking, ‘Boy, well that was terrific! That was a really good time! We met the bad guy from Back To The Future and he ended up to be quite a nice bloke.’"

"For right now, once I agreed to go out and do Supanova, do a number of shows like this, I must admit, I was surprised by the reaction and the demand," he says. "So, for the summer, and into the fall, I’m just doing a number of these sorts of conventions. And, I must say, I actually approach it in a presentational way. They have a Q&A that we do — a 'panel', they call it — and you come out, and you hold the microphone, and the people in the audience ask questions, and you give answers. And that’s fine; there’s nothing wrong with that. But I feel, with my experience, I’m less comfortable as that ‘movie star opining about the cinema from a chair in front of the audience’ as I am doing something presentational.

"So, I come out, and I’m on my feet, and it’s not stand-up per se, but I will sing a song, a funny song, about Back To The Future, and I will tell a few funny stories about the filming of it, and make it a more personable… I guess it’s not a show, but it’s on its way. It’s far more presentational than, ‘Oh, great icon of the cinema who comes to share his tidbits of wisdom from the comfortable chair with his microphone,’ do you know what I mean? Not to belittle that — that works — but those times, when I end up to be the guy in the chair with the microphone, and say, ‘Now, his approach to that scene…’ I feel, ehh, you know, it’s not my thing. I’d rather stand up and tell a funny story.

"I want everyone to have fun. I really want everyone to go out of there thinking, ‘Boy, well that was terrific! That was a really good time! We met the bad guy from Back To The Future and he ended up to be quite a nice bloke,’ you know?"

Wilson, now 58, is a lot more philosophical about being 'haunted', if that's the word, by Biff Tannen. His complicated relationship with the character is entirely understandable — as he tells it, especially during the times when his auditions were less about him than they were about Biff, "Yes, there were some worries sometimes, where you're thinking, 'I'm not sure this is going to work out,'" — but he's reached a stage where he seems largely at peace with it, almost ready to openly enjoy it, after all his "hard work, perseverance, the same determination that brought me to the first Back To The Future ... brought me all the way here".

"When it was becoming almost an insurmountable personal identification to other people, what it did was forced me deep into myself to identify myself to myself."

"Biff’s a role that I played, so to me, of course it’s very important, but it’s an acting role," he tells. "Personally, for Tom, playing a big bully in a big movie that everyone has seen has allowed me to enter into, sometimes, people approaching me about bullying, about a friend of theirs who’s been bullied; about a child in a school who’s being bullied, and them not knowing that I was actually bullied a lot when I was young, so I understand also what it’s like to be the victim. So to enter into those stories, and to be able to tell people that, you know, as Tom, ‘I understand what you’re going through,’ and approach it with humanity and kindness, that has been a great part of it to me, a great blessing to me … helping young people with the difficulties of that, or simply knowing it’s wrong.

"That’s just me as a person — ‘How did this affect you, Tom, as a person?’ In that way that I just described to you. And in the way that it did me a great favour, in that when it was becoming almost an insurmountable personal identification to other people, what it did was forced me deep into myself to identify myself to myself, knowing that, you know, I’m a kind person, I’m a good man, I’m good to my friends, and I’ve led a very, very varied and exciting career, far more varied and exciting than I ever could’ve imagined.

"And if that guy who comes up and doesn’t know anything about my other work, hey, it’s OK, I’m not bent out of shape about it — he watched the movies that he watched in his life! It’s fine. It doesn’t bend my nose any. If he says, ‘So, you haven’t been in anything else, huh, Tom?’ Ehh — not that he saw. No big deal."

Thomas F Wilson is appearing at Supanova Comic-Con Sydney (16-18 June) and Perth (23-25 June). Tickets are available now; see the event's website for more information.