{"id":326772,"date":"2026-03-13T00:02:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T00:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/326772\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T00:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T00:02:08","slug":"back-to-the-future-ii-actress-recalls-stunt-doubles-hoverboard-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/326772\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Back to the Future II’ actress recalls stunt double’s hoverboard crash"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Back to the Future<\/a> films, Marty McFly changed the course of history. And now, one of the featured actresses is debunking a rumor surrounding the 1989 sequel.\n<\/p>\n

Darlene Vogel, who played villainess Leslie \u201cSpike\u201d O\u2019Malley in Back to the Future II, recently recounted <\/a>the iconic scene in which Griff (Thomas F. Wilson) and his cohorts chase Marty (Michael J. Fox<\/a>) on hoverboards in the year 2015. The action sequence culminates with the bad guys crashing, hurtling 20 feet in the air \u2014 and into the landmark Hill Valley clocktower. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Jason Scott Lee, Ricky D. Logan, Thomas F. Wilson, and Darlene Vogel.<\/p>\n

Ralph Nelson\/Universal Pictures\/Courtesy Everett<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one thing that I am surprised that a lot of [fans] don\u2019t know about, which I see on Facebook, is that, like, my stunt double got hurt in the crash,\u201d Vogel said on The Patrick LabyorSheaux podcast<\/a>. \u201cAnd they think it was me. And they thought I died or whatever.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Vogel\u2019s stunt double, Cheryl Wheeler, survived the mishap, but she was seriously injured, breaking several bones in her face and right arm and suffering a concussion. Her two-year recovery required four reconstructive surgeries.\n<\/p>\n

The way the stunt was choreographed, Griff, Spike, and their friends Whitey and Data were supposed to crash through the building\u2019s candy-glass paned window and land safely on padding, Wheeler recalled in 2015<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

But at the last moment, the four stunt doubles started drifting to the left, and as Wheeler was on the far left, she collided with a column.\n<\/p>\n

Stunt double Cheryl Wheeler can be seen falling in the scene.<\/p>\n

Universal Pictures<\/p>\n

Worse yet, all four actors were on the same tether, so when they were simultaneously released, the stuntwoman was dropped 20 feet onto the concrete below.\n<\/p>\n

That take ended up in the final cut of Back to the Future II.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you watch the movie, if you really pause it for that second,\u201d said Vogel, \u201cshe crashed into the pole and drops down.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

All these years later, not only do fans mistakenly think it was Vogel who was injured, apparently so did Michael J. Fox.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI bumped into Michael in New York, like, right after COVID,\u201d she recalled. \u201cAnd I saw him and [his wife] Tracy coming out of a restaurant. I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh my god, I have to say hello.\u2019 I haven\u2019t seen Michael since the premiere, you know?\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our\u00a0EW Dispatch newsletter<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

Fox didn\u2019t immediately recognize Vogel, but once she reminded him of their connection, \u201che was like, \u2018Oh my god, hi! And he said to me, he goes, \u2018Didn\u2019t you get hurt?\u2019 And I said, \u2018No. That was my that was my stunt double, Cheryl.\u2019\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Watch Darlene Vogel’s full interview on The Patrick LabyorSheaux podcast in the video above.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the Back to the Future films, Marty McFly changed the course of history. And now, one of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[156,409,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-326772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}