Of all the futuristic ideas screenwriter Bob Gale came up with for Back to the Future Part II, there is one piece of modern technology he never imagined possible in 1989: the smartphone. “It’s the Swiss Army Knife of today,” he said. “The fact that everyone can have one device that’s a computer, that’s a camera, that’s a recording device, that’s a calculator, that’s a flashlight … we didn’t think of that.” In an interview with THR on the Universal Studios backlot, Gale talked about the future he and director Robert Zemeckis envisioned for their character Marty McFly, who will arrive on Oct.