Michael J. Fox Reflects On His Hollywood Career And His ‘Major Breakthrough’ With Parkinson’s

Not many people can say that they literally grew up in front of our eyes, but the longtime actor and activist Michael J. Fox has done just that. Whether he was Marty McFly in the Back to the Future films, Alex P. Keaton on Family Ties or even a high basketball star werwolf in Teen Wolf, the Emmy winner was on top of the world throughout the 1980s.

That all began to change one morning in Florida in 1990 when Fox woke up and realized his pinky finger was moving uncontrollably, an early symptom of the brain disorder that would ultimately lead to his more than 30-year battle with Parkinson’s disease. Fox’s entire life story up to now can be experienced in the form of a new Apple Original Film titled STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie, now streaming on Apple TV+ and playing in select theaters.

So, how does Fox feel about being able to watch his life play out on a screen in front of him? “It’s so bizarre – it’s really strange,” Fox told me. “The thing I’m really grateful for is [STILL director] Davis Guggenheim. I don’t think I would’ve done it with anybody else, because I had other people ask me in the past and I wasn’t game on taking it on. He came to me and we sat on the porch on Martha’s Vineyard talking about ways to approach the material because I said I will give you this lump sum of my life and you got to carve it into something.”

Fox went on to tell me that this new documentary has a unique connection to his early stardom, with director Guggenheim being married to “wonderful person” Elisabeth Shue, who played Fox’s girlfriend Jennifer Parker in Back to the Future 2 and 3.

With the use of several creative re-enactments depicting Fox’s journey, from his early childhood in Canada to traveling with his father to Hollywood to take a chance on acting, STILL authentically tells the story of Fox’s many highs in life, but also his unfortunate setbacks, specifically him striving for years to hide his escalating Parkinson’s symptoms on-set and from anyone outside of his family.

Even though Fox decided in recent years to walk away from acting, he has delivered some of the most popular performances on television and film, including not too long ago on critically-acclaimed shows like Spin City and The Good Wife. Looking back today on all of the characters he has played and the many projects he has been a part of, I wondered which project Fox would say he still cherishes most.

Fox said, “I’d say it’s a dead heat between Family Ties and Back to the Future because Marty is a superhero. Marty is a lot of fun and bigger than life, and I love it. On the other hand, Alex P. Keaton, just to all of sudden find a home after three years of doing silly parts on silly shows, and within a couple years be really established as an actor on television and eat on a regular basis. That was a major thing.”

During his time on Family Ties, Fox met actress Tracy Pollan, whom he would marry in 1988. With this July marking their 35th wedding anniversary, I asked Fox what Pollan continues to mean to him as his wife, the mother of his four kids and the person who has supported him every step of the way in his Parkinson’s fight.

“She’s always great when I can’t figure something out, when I’m up against the wall with something,” Fox said. “She always has the right take on it. She recognizes that only I can have this disease, that it’s not her disease and that cuts both ways. There are other times when I can say I really need you to help me figure this out. I’m screwed – I can’t get out of bed and she’ll be there, too.”

In 2000, Fox founded The Michael J. Fox Foundation, which is dedicated to finding a cure for Parkinson’s disease and concentrates on funding research, as well as ensuring the development of improved therapies for people with Parkinson’s. Now 23 years into his foundation’s mission, I asked Fox with all of the latest scientific advancements happening, where do we as a society stand with Parkinson’s today.

Fox said, “I’m hugely optimistic with what the foundation is doing. We just had a major breakthrough with finding a biomarker, which is going to change the course of Parkinson’s research and move us ahead 10-20 years. What we’re doing with this biomarker is we’re finding a way to identify the disease before symptoms are evident. When I was 29, I had a twitching pinky finger. Seventy percent of the dopamine producing cells in my brain were already dead, so if we can catch it that much earlier and treat that patient that much earlier, then we eliminated progression and we eliminated symptoms. It’s not a cure but I’ll take it.”

As I began to conclude my conversation with Fox, a man whose star has shined so bright, has faced an unfathomable amount of adversity and yet has somehow continued to find the humor in life, I wondered what message Fox might have for others like him who are also living on with Parkinson’s disease.

“Be present for everyday. Be aware of everything that’s happening. Be aware of your body. Be aware of how you respond to things. Be aware of how the people around you are responding to things, and realize that this is your life. It’s almost not for you to decide what the quality of your life is. The quality of your life will make itself evident to you – but in the meantime, don’t miss a day by ignoring things that are happening.”