Christopher Lloyd Promotes "Real" 'Back To The Future II' Hoverboard

By Russ FischerMarch 4, 2014 10:24 am EST

Is the hoverboard now real? Well, no.

A company called HUVr claims to have made one, however. Its website says "Our team consists of materials science, electricity & magnetism experts who've solved an important part of one of science's mysteries: the key to antigravity." And, let's face it, when someone comes up with the key to antigravity the first thing they'll do with it will probably not be to create a working version of the hoverboard from Back to the Future II.

So what is this company really doing? Spending a lot of cash, for one, as they've put together an expensive "commercial" that claims to be for a working hoverboard. They recruited Christopher Lloyd, Tony Hawk, and others to pitch it. Watch below.

Update: Looks like this was probably the product of Funny or Die. A cached version of one crew member's resume lists a November 2013 shoot for a FoD piece featuring this concept and talent.

So what is this thing? There's no convincing me that it is real at this point. In the "ad," you can see areas on the shirts of each participant where a harness and/or wires seem to have been erased. And, realistically, could any tech like this have been developed in such quiet?

But this crew has spent a lot of money and recruited quite a few people for something that doesn't seem to have any point. On the website linked above there is a countdown clock to a December launch date, and so there could be a reveal happening later in the year. Could this be part of the Back to the Future musical? Possibly. Could it be related to the oft-speculated Back to the Future 4? Let's hope not. But with the resources thrown at this thing there has to be some point beyond trolling people who would love their own hoverboard.

Here's another video — a "how it works" piece, featuring Billy Zane. Why Billy Zane? Your guess is as good as ours, but he did have small roles in the first two Back to the Future films as Match, part of Biff's gang.

Update: Here's a screenshot of part of the cached online resume that pegs this as a Funny or Die piece. Thanks to Jon C. for the heads-up on this. fod-hoverboard-resume Gizmodo also points to the reel of one of the actors playing an "MIT scientist."