Back to the Future icon Michael J Fox calls out modern "bully culture" – and why that makes trilogy relevant today

It's been 40 years since the first Back to the Future film arrived in cinemas – and the trilogy's iconic star Michael J Fox has revealed one of the reasons he thinks the films remain so relevant today: a modern climate of bullying.

"We live in a bully culture right now," he explained in a new interview with Empire to mark the anniversary. "We have bullies everywhere – you don’t need me to point the finger at who, but there are all these bullies."

He continued: "In this movie, Biff's a bully. Time's a bully."

Of course, Biff (played by Thomas F Wilson) was the major antagonist of all three Back to the Future movies – introduced as the epitome of the American high school bully who constantly puts people down ("Hello? Anybody home?") and belittles others.

Back in 2020, Fox compared US President Donald Trump to Biff in a Guardian interview, saying that "Biff is president!" while the trilogy's co-writer Bob Gale previously explained that Biff's casino ownership in Part II was directly inspired by Trump – so we don't need to look too hard to deduce who Fox's new comments are directed at.

In the new interview, Fox also mentioned how Parkinson’s has become a bully for him, referencing his long battle with the disease he was first diagnosed with in the 1990s.

Speaking about the continued resonance of the film, he added: "It’s all about how you stand up to [the bullies] and the resolve that you take into the fight with them. It’s about your resilience and your courage.

"I think there’s a lot to that right now. I think a lot of people are responding to the movie because it strikes chords they wouldn't otherwise recognise."

Back to the Future became almost instantly iconic upon its release and was followed by Part II and Part III in 1989 and 1990 respectively, with all three films helmed by Robert Zemeckis.

The original in particular has remained one of the most beloved '80s films ever since, even spawning a musical theatre adaptation that opened in 2020.

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