With Still, Michael J. Fox wanted to get real about sharing his journey with Parkinson's disease
CBC
When Michael J. Fox was approached by an Academy Award-winning producer to make a movie of his slow, smothering embrace by Parkinson's disease, the retired movie and TV star demanded only one condition.
That there be "no conditions," said Fox.
Producer Davis Guggenheim, who already had an Oscar for An Inconvenient Truth was willing to give Fox a producer's sign-off to get at the core of the story of a brilliant career decimated by a chronic disease. But Fox didn't want it.
"He said, 'Well, here's the way I work, you get three objections to three major plot points,' and I said, 'No, that's not my pressure, that's your pressure! I'll show up and you roll cameras!' "
The result, a documentary called STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie, was released on Apple TV+ earlier this month after having its Canadian premiere at Hot Docs. Fox sat down for an interview with CBC's Harry Forestell to reflect on making the film and sharing his journey with Parkinson's disease in such a public way.
"Nothing I did in this movie, nothing I do in my life, is for effect. I'm too old, I'm too tired, I can't do it," Fox said. "But if it's real then it's the easiest thing to do."
The comic actor, who first rose to fame on the sitcom Family Ties, then broke out into superstardom as Marty McFly in the Back to the Future movies, has been battling Parkinson's for more than 30 years.
Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disease that affects the nervous system. According to Parkinson Canada, more than 100,000 Canadians live with the disease.
Parkinson's is a progressive condition and there are no known cures, although various treatment options can help to alleviate symptoms.
Forestell, who also has Parkinson's, noted that the film touched on a tendency of younger Parkinson's patients to hide their condition for as long as possible, and Fox explained why he kept his 1991 diagnosis a secret for seven years.
"I needed to learn a lot of stuff, and if I just threw myself out to the masses before I knew what the hell I was talking about, they were going to form that narrative for me," he said.
"They were going to tell my story for me before I knew what my story was."
Fox says he initially used drinking as a coping mechanism while hiding his diagnosis.
"When I got diagnosed it turned nasty. It wasn't about fun anymore, it was about exiting from the situation," he said.
