Michael J. Fox has a new memoir out today, No Time Like The Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality, and according to a Los Angeles Times account of the book, it offers a “more sober and realistic vision” of his life than previous Fox memoirs. Included in that more sober and realistic vision is Fox coming to terms with the realization that his acting career is probably over. “There is a time for everything,” he says in the book, “and my time of putting in a 12-hour workday, and memorizing seven pages of dialogue, is best behind me.” Fox says he’s thinking of this as a “second retirement,” and though there’s still a chance things could change, he says, “if this is the end of my acting career, so be it.”
The reasoning for this is Fox’s declining health from Parkinson’s, with him saying in the book that he’s started to notice more instances of memory loss and confusion lately—like trying to find his car keys before remembering he can’t drive anymore or asking questions to people who aren’t really there. He also compares trying to physically move around to a “negotiation in my mind between Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi.” He also says he feels a connection to Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood, specifically in the way that he’s an actor struggling to do what used to come naturally to him. In Fox’s case, though, he says his inability to keep acting isn’t “worthy of self-excoriation,” explaining, “my work as an actor does not define me.”
If it’s all not sad enough already, Fox also writes that he’s been binge-watching a lot of old TV shows as a way to explore “another reality” or “visit a world that’s pre-me,” noting, “just like the performers in these old shows, someday I will survive myself in reruns.” It’s heartbreaking stuff, and it’s hard to say if Fox’s cross between realism and optimism makes it better or worse.
126 Comments
Irony and karma at its finest. Rush Limbaugh once said on the air that Michael J. Fox was exaggerating his Parkinson’s symptoms. Now Limbaugh is dying painfully from cancer.There is a god and she can be a fabulous bitch.
I remember Limbaugh saying that (and, while we’re there, a big hearty Eff-you to Rush), but I forget why he was making that claim…
Oh, it’s because he’s a heartless piece of shit. That’s why.
If memory serves, I think Fox may have been advocating for stem cell research or an adjacent cause at the time. And by the twisted logic of Republicans, stem cell research equals abortion fuel.
Stem cell research saved Trump. Guess we should have stopped it much sooner.
Most of them don’t actually believe a thing that comes out of their own mouths though. That’s why none of these “Gotchas” ever work. They just want us to meet them halfway on whatever or else they’ll call us names.
(something a lot of dems keep falling for).
Sometimes, irony can be bitterly ironic.
Oh yeah, I remember now.On a related note, motherf*ck Rush Limbaugh.
Yeah that’s what it was over, which is funny as Rush has never had kids and has had numerous wives, and probably went to the Dominican Republic for sex tourism, so there’s no way he hasn’t paid for at least one abortion in his time. Ditto (heh) Trump
Michael: Beloved, Determined, Strength, Role Model, Professional, and Adored.His life: Honest, Open, Raw, Real, Unselfish, Shared.This Chapter: Heartbreaking, Tear Jerker.Eternally: Grateful, Thankful, Appreciative, A Gift.
Because he’s a flaccid dick
A Farewell to Kings?
It’s been a while, but I believe that he was accusing Fox of not taking his medication so as to make his symptoms and condition look worse than what it normally would be.
Here’s all I have to say to Rush:Keep up the good work, Big C!
Not fast enough
You’re as bad as he is.
Stay mad, nerd.
I was subjected to him quite a bit growing up, and distinctly remember his dismissal of second-hand smoke, and his overall approval of big tobacco. Whoops
Fox is gonna out live him and that feels right.
I don’t write those words often, but with what I learned just now, it just seems right to use them today. Rush Limbaugh he’s a fat cunt.
I keep hoping and praying to god and the devil that limbaugh just hurries the fuck up and succumbs to his goddamned cancer. The sooner he no longer pollutes our world with his insufferable evil presence, the better off we will all be. That goes to his pal Trump as well (who I’m extremely pissed off at god and satan for failing to end / take him with Rona)
Sadly, he’s not dying fast enough – though it’s still glorious karma.
That lumbering sack of pure evil can’t die soon enough for me
My friend’s father has Parkinson’s, and I remember us being in college when that came out. It was his introduction to Rush. “I don’t know who Rush Limbaugh is, but I fucking hate him.”
The saddest thing is that, despite dying, Limbaugh is still dedicating his last few breaths on earth to the cause of making other people’s lives worse.
MJF has nothing to prove to anyone. He did his thing like a boss and that’s how he’ll be remembered.
There are a lot of celebs who seem like they’d be fun to hang out with, but Fox is one you’d want as an actual friend.
Michael: Beloved, Determined, Strength, Role Model, Professional, and Adored.His life: Honest, Open, Raw, Real, Unselfish, Shared.This Chapter: Heartbreaking, Tear Jerker.Eternally: Grateful, Thankful, Appreciative, A Gift.
Michael: Beloved, Determined, Strength, Role Model, Professional, and Adored.His life: Honest, Open, Raw, Real, Unselfish, Shared.This Chapter: Heartbreaking, Tear Jerker.Eternally: Grateful, Thankful, Appreciative, A Gift.
I have this incredible adoration for Michael J. Fox. When I was in my teens and early 20’s, I fell in love with his performance in you-know-which-movies, so much that I actually used to love his barely-passable comedies like Secret of My Success and For Love or Money (hell, I still love The Frighteners, but it’s actually good).I’m so heartbroken about how life turned out for him. And I’m so appreciative of his candidness and all the good he’s done for the people in similar situations.I hope his life remains as good as it can for as long as it can. I wish him all the best.
Just to throw some love Teen Wolf’s way too. Back in the old days, when you had to rent physical VHS cassettes, my sister and I would always pick Teen Wolf from the selection of a couple dozen movies that our local gas station/convenience store had. I can’t tell whether I love it ironically or sincerely, but does it really matter? He made that deeply silly premise for a movie work (to the extent that it could).
As great and iconic as the Back to the Future series is, it’s a bit of a… commitment. But with Teen Wolf, it’s a brisk 90 minutes that you can just jump in to watch at any point. And if you come in right before the championship game, you know you’re watching it they… win in the end.Also Coach Bobby Finstock is legit a top 10 movie coach of all time.
Coach Finstock is amazing
I think sincere is good, for a gas station movie affection. Isn’t it fascinating the way limiting options focuses and heightens emotion?
Even peak Blockbuster felt like that, if you didn’t show up early enough after work. It was your same location, and home popcorn or delivery pizza tasted better before every fast food had delivery options. I can recall a local Kentucky Fried Chicken being the only serious take-oot, with a crappy pizza joint a distant second place, and still a half hour round trip. It’s only hard to rationalize affection for the past because of comparatively infinite modern options, and I think rose-coloured glasses are an expression of fondness for simplicity. When you lust after an obvious thing, there are no arguments or misconceptions about indecision.
I wonder if next gen will feel affection for the simplicity of a dozen streaming sources and social networking sites, because everybody they knew accessed the same? Should I simplify that as the web over TV? Does infinite selection invite judgment? I had only two channels on a tower antenna, but everybody saw the same shows and felt a shared connection. At the birth of TV, animated streets cleared out and it permanently altered the way neighbours interacted, without occupied porch chairs and kids playing down the block. Personally, for a time, I felt abandoned because I didn’t have a TV. I still recall my first colour show, watching Hawaii Five-O on a portable Sony Trinitron, an excellent choice with an exotic location.
I experienced another dissolution leap when teens acquired cable, then a huge conspicuous consumption gap. I’m not sure how much cable competed directly against movie rentals, probably very location specific; for me VHS was for people who couldn’t afford cable. People flocked to the cities and, now, have twenty convenience stores to pick from, rarely walking anywhere if wheels are available. A lot of urban design doesn’t leave a choice, housing neighbourhoods layed out miles from commercial lot zoning because nobody wants to live beside a 24×7 noise and litter factory.
I grew up without a corner store and everything closed on Sundays, and when I complained about urban living, a friend once joked I’d never move out of the city because I’d purposely wait until Sunday or the middle of the night just to engage an instant gratification quest. I can see that, the lust evident, like living in a childhood fantasy made real. I can remember planning my entire teen weekends by Friday noon, because I needed remaining business hours to act on it; the beer store, grocer mix and snacks, and for a short time, VHS movies. Today, if the first squishy machine is broken, or you don’t like the clerk, you just try another location. There are no affections formed under those conditions, just an endless stream of strangeness in newfound, transient situations.
Is this bad? I don’t think so, not conditionally. People seem to find their level for all their needs, familiarity or friendships included. Enjoy Facebook while you can. It’s just economic stratification that’s segregating. Anybody know of a gated community where the bodega is on the inside? Or how about high-rise apartment towers that have a retail sandwich halfway up? Do they allow non-residents up there for a bottle of pop and a lottery ticket?
ObMJF: I really liked “The Frighteners.” I think the nice part about him is his sincere demeanour and well-spoken presentation. When he was young I thought, oh no, another brat who thinks he’s funny, but he grew on me quickly when I started to separate the person from the roles. Still an actor and all that celebrity entails, but well done if he leaves it all behind without regrets.
Spoiler: The Good Place v3 – My thoughts were invoked by recently binging season 3 on DVD–ironic viewing in this context–when I was shocked at the insight that the afterlife point system skewed towards evil because life became so complex it’s impossible to be good. I love the way fiction writers squeeze in these nuggets. Equally fascinating was how the outlaws initially suspected evil was cheating, but after some investigation, dropped their original thesis instead of dying on that hill.
Michael: Beloved, Determined, Strength, Role Model, Professional, and Adored.His life: Honest, Open, Raw, Real, Unselfish, Shared.This Chapter: Heartbreaking, Tear Jerker.Eternally: Grateful, Thankful, Appreciative, A Gift.
He holds a snarky charm that works so well in a variety of situations. Marty and Alex would have hated each other, but it’s recognizable in both characters.
Mike Flaherty did hate Alex. He said so.
Michael: Beloved, Determined, Strength, Role Model, Professional, and Adored.His life: Honest, Open, Raw, Real, Unselfish, Shared.This Chapter: Heartbreaking, Tear Jerker.Eternally: Grateful, Thankful, Appreciative, A Gift.
I’m sure he told this joke all the time, but I got to go to a few of his foundation’s benefit dinners years ago, and when it was a casino night kind of deal, and he mentioned that his poker tell was that if he was shaking, he was bluffing. Seemed like he always tried to make other people more comfortable with his circumstance, even though he didn’t owe them a goddam thing. And he still got up and jammed with the band.
There was an episode of Curb your Enthusiasm where Larry was trying to expose MJF as exaggerating his symptoms.
Thank you. As a crappy guitar player, I would feel most lost if I couldn’t pick it up and just noodle badly. It has been friend and teacher solace and surprise since I picked it up as a teenager. I hope that he is able to play even on the worst days.
He had a short-lived sitcom after he came out about his Parkinson’s and in one scene he and his TV wife are going to bed and they are kissing and she says, “Did you take your medicine?” He says, “No.” She says, “Oh, good, I don’t have to to all the work.”I thought it was a decent show, but even if I thought it was crap, I would have watched it for him.
Michael: Beloved, Determined, Strength, Role Model, Professional, and Adored.His life: Honest, Open, Raw, Real, Unselfish, Shared.This Chapter: Heartbreaking, Tear Jerker.Eternally: Grateful, Thankful, Appreciative, A Gift.
And he still got up and jammed with the band.“I guess that one was a little before your time…but your parents would have LOVED it.”
Have you seen Bright Lights, Big City?
Besides the many movies, I loved his characters on Family Ties and Spin City. An EXCELLENT movie that maybe many did not see is ‘Greedy’.
Secret Of My Success wasn’t a great movie, but it was charming — which was pretty much MJF’s thing. He’s a charming presence on screen. He needed the right role, though. Bright Lights, Big City wasn’t it. Casualties of War wasn’t it. The Hard Way? Life With Mikey? Doc Hollywoood? All of those just let him do his thing in service to the plot. He didn’t have to become someone else, and that was to their benefit. None of them were great film, but they were good movies.
Midnight Madness?That holds a special place in my heart. HBO used to play it a lot during my childhood.
I always preferred the background performances in Secret. Margaret Whitton and Richard Jordan stole the show for me.
Margaret Whitton stole everything she was ever in.
I’m with you on almost everything, but I gotta disagree about Bright Lights, Big City. I think it’s a helluva performance. I’ve heard people say he’s miscast, but I don’t get that — an addict could look and sound like anyone, and he sells the hell out of it for me. That monologue he gives to Swoozie Kurtz about his history with his wife? So damn good!
Then there’s Louis Canning on The Good Wife and The Good Fight. It’s the only time I ever saw him play an asshole and it did a good job of it. And he’s still kind of charming.
Don’t be heartbroken, I don’t think he is. While his path took a different route it is no less valid. While he hasn’t been in the limelight he has been diligently fighting to find a cure for Parkinson’s and has helped make A LOT of progress. It may not help him but it will hopefully help millions of men and women who go down the same path.As somebody who is showing some tell tell signs of the disease myself from an early onset position. I can say he is someone who has done a lot of good. A lot more than most actors do thats for sure.
I am of an age that I saw “Light of Day” in the theater. It was terrible. My sister loved him dearly. I am grateful for his honesty about his health struggles. His books are wonderful. It has been somewhat of a beacon for this child of the 80’s who struggles herself with chronic illness. He sets a great example by having such humor, grace and perseverance.
i think i’ve watched ‘doc hollywood’ more than 30 times. and i’d watch it again!
He was the 80’s for a good few year stretch
Aww 😢 I teared up reading this article. I love him like a friend I know. He’s part of my childhood. He’s comforting.
(hell, I still love The Frighteners, but it’s actually good)That movie is so underrated.
All the female characters wore those kickass Doc Martens; I remember watching with a bunch of friends and all the women in the room swooning over the practical footwear.
I just remember seeing him in ‘Family Ties’ and it was just such a charismatic performance for a character who should be insufferable. Some part of me knew then that I’d be a Michael J Fox fan for life.
Leaving aside BTTF trilogy (aka best trilogy of all time – fight me!), my top 5 MJF films would be…
The FrightenersThe American PresidentMars Attacks
Casualties of WarSecrets of My Success (I like it – sue me)Teen Wolf is okay, but silly for me.
My friend was working on “The Secret of My Success” at precisely the point that Fox’s career exploded (in the wake of “Back to the Future.”) He told me Fox was really troubled because a young girl kept writing him letters telling him she was in love with him, and he feared for her mental health. It was a bit too much, and he was asking people what he should do, how he should handle it. He wanted to get her help, but was afraid that more contact from him would only encourage her. Needless to say, that’s not how most big stars behave. He is obviously quite a person, and he’s handled his situation with great courage, optimism, and humor.
One that seems to be completely overlooked these days is Greedy, which is insane given the cast. Fox, Phil Hartman (amazing, as always), Kirk Douglas, Ed Begley Jr, Nancy Travis, prime Olivia D’Abo, Bob Balaban, Jere Burns, Colleen Camp, Khandi Alexander, even a child Kirsten Dunst…that’s a greatest hits of 80s actors. And the movie is freaking hilarious.
Michael: Beloved, Determined, Strength, Role Model, Professional, and Adored.His life: Honest, Open, Raw, Real, Unselfish, Shared.This Chapter: Heartbreaking, Tear Jerker.Eternally: Grateful, Thankful, Appreciative, A Gift.
The man’s been fighting it for damn near 30 years now. He’s put a lot of good in the world during that time. It’s sad to see it get to him like this, but he’s still been stronger about it than I think I could have been.
The fact that he’s been able to keep living a relatively full life for that long with Parkinson’s is frankly astonishing. It’s about the best run he could have hoped for under the circumstances, and he seems to have made the most of it without complaint.
Michael: Beloved, Determined, Strength, Role Model, Professional, and Adored.His life: Honest, Open, Raw, Real, Unselfish, Shared.This Chapter: Heartbreaking, Tear Jerker.Eternally: Grateful, Thankful, Appreciative, A Gift.
Aw, I wish him the best. I first watched BTTF mid-high school (around 2010), and it soon became my favorite movie of all time.
My God, practicing with the cameras off, trying out some details with your music consultant, then Huey Lewis tosses in a “perfect” throwaway, hanging around like an extra. I choked up. I wouldn’t be allowed in the same room with either of them. IMDB claims Huey Lewis was uncredited.
Ugh … that in that featurette, there’s an actor who can’t really move well anymore, and a musician who can’t hear anymore. Life can be cruel …
I’m sorry guys, that was just too darn loud.
Ugh, Parkinson’s is the worst. I hope he finds happiness doing whatever he’s doing. Seems like a good guy.
Well he’s Canadian, so he had a head start
No matter what happens, I will always cherish his appearance on Curb Your Enthusiasm, one of the best guest roles ever. He mocked Parkinsons and himself like a champion. Godspeed!
Any time he showed up unexpectedly, it was a huge treat. I didn’t even know he was still acting when he suddenly appeared in an amazing guest role on Designated Survivor.
Rescue Me lost a lot of steam after S2, but his late series guest turn was livewire. I honestly feel that he is a bit underrated as an actor …
He’s also great on The Good Wife/Fight, as an amoral attorney who milks his disease for all it’s worth in front of every jury and judge. MJF’s charisma is so great that you still can’t help loving the guy even as you hate him.
I love/hate Louis Canning! My favorite is where he starts going on about his disease to the judge as if the judge can’t understand what it’s like and he has to tell him. And then the judge wheels out from behind the bench in his wheelchair. They did a really good job of humanizing him with his wife so he’s not just this evil guy (which Fox was already doing, but it made it better.) I’ll miss seeing him on that show.
Michael: Beloved, Determined, Strength, Role Model, Professional, and Adored.His life: Honest, Open, Raw, Real, Unselfish, Shared.This Chapter: Heartbreaking, Tear Jerker.Eternally: Grateful, Thankful, Appreciative, A Gift.
He had done another great self-adjacent character in Scrubs, too.
I suspect it’s more sober and realistic because he’s at a very different point in his life. He was diagnosed before Back to the Future 2. That’s a long time to deal with a progressive illness. Wishing him the best.
Not that your point doesn’t stand, but he was diagnosed a couple years after Back to the Future 2.
Yeah, I think that poster is probably conflating MJF saying one of the first signs in hindsight that something was up with his body was him forgetting completely how to skateboard by the time it came to shoot BTTF2, just a completely inexplicable muscle memory loss at the time for him.
My mistake. I got a couple of facts crossed. I believe he was showing symptoms by that time – He has attributed not knowing how to skateboard when filming started on the onset of his illness, though it wasn’t diagnosed until 1991. But I can only find him saying that in one anecdote so it may not be fully accurate.
If memory serves, I think he said he found out around the time of Doc Hollywood.
Yes, he said he was still a partier while filming Doc Hollywood, and the morning after a particularly big one he noticed one of his pinky fingers kept jumping around. That was the start.
My understanding was, it was around the time Michael J. Fox was shooting Doc Hollywood (1991) that Parkinson’s symptoms began appearing.
We can walk on coals and have ninjas fight us, but for fuck’s sake don’t get Parkinson’s. Hang in there Guy Who Feels Like An Old Friend.
“My work as an actor does not define me.”SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTERIf that’s not sad enough already…NO I AM NOT SUBSCRIBING TO YOUR FUCKING NEWSLETTER!
The Frighteners remains an awesome movie almost entirely because of his performance.
Man, I can’t read anything about Michael J.Fox without wanting to slam my laptop against a wall. Why? Because it’s not fair that he has to deal with this devastating disease. It’s never fair when it happens to those you like.
2020, I swear to all that is sacred…DONT YOU DARE.
He’s left more than enough treasured moments for generations to enjoy. I hope he just lives his best life.
I’ll always cherish his later-day work on The Good Wife & Good Fight – so good.
God, his schtick where he explains his odd movements before every trial was so good. I love how the other lawyers just sit their and roll their eyes.
I also love how despite everything he’s put them through, he still manages to catch the sympathy of Alicia/Diane/etc. from time to time (and it invariably comes back to bite them).
I loved The Good Fight & s7 of Good Wife where Diane & Alicia just roll their eyes at his characters grandstanding & cut him off.
You’ve done enough MJF, we can get by.
He also compares trying to physically move around to a “negotiation in my mind between Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi.” Wow, way to “both-sides” things. Good thing he’s cancelling himself from show buiness.
He’s half a year away from turning 60. My my my, how time flies.
We love you forever Michael! You’ll always be part of our family.
He seems to have captured my own mentality, pessimistic optimism. The expectation that everything is always going to be a clusterfuck of disappointment, while harboring a small glimmer of hope that things will in fact, turn out alright.
It’s rather depressing to me that it takes so many people being inflicted with degenerative and ultimately fatal afflictions to come around to this way of thinking. The world would be a much better place if everyone went into every situation with their eyes wide open, with the realization that everything can, and likely will go horribly wrong with the slightest misstep.
What everyone else views as cynicism, i’ve always thought of as constantly facilitating the opportunity to be pleasantly surprised. When we expect everything to work out in our favor, we stop appreciating… well everything.
Aside from the Usual subjects – I really enjoyed Doc. Hollywood
Dang, I was hoping he’d take over after Daniel Craig.
I remember in 2016 when Prince died and people were incredibly torn up about it. Fox is probably gonna be that for me.
If the only thing he’d ever done was Bright Lights, Big City, that alone would have made his career worthwhile to me. Probably his best work in my opinion and a criminally overlooked performance and movie as a whole.
Then you add in all his classics, and man — he’s one of my favorite screen personas.
Every time he talks about his condition with that combination of pragmatism, positivity and humility I just get a lump in my throat. I remember after he announced he was leaving ‘Spin City’ because the disease had progressed so far, his comment was beautifully self-deprecating: “Out of work actor, news at 11.”
Crazy how you guys can be so….evil in wishing another human death without even thinking about what if his granddaughter or someone in his family stumbles upon these comments how that would make them feel! I know I understand you have a reason to hate the guy so much as to wish him dead due to his political beliefs and things he says that makes you this angry but it’s how he made a living. He was the bad guy. And although I don’t know a lot about him..more should I say anything about him I do know how it feels to stumble upon a comment section to read people laughing at the death of my grandpa because they didn’t like him because he was a famous lawyer/supreme court judge so he was the bad guy. But not to me…he raised me my entire life. He was the most kind individual and had the biggest heart and not a day goes by I don’t think about him. I wish people would be considerate of things like this rather then lower yourself to the level of the individual you wish death upon so badly!
he’s been binge-watching a lot of old TV shows as a way to explore
“another reality” or “visit a world that’s pre-me,” noting, “just like
the performers in these old shows, someday I will survive myself in
reruns.”
🙁
+1 for the Twilight Zone/Ida Lupino GIF.
Most people with Parkinson’s disease die within a decade of their diagnosis. The treatment, as such, only relieves some of the symptoms and does nothing to slow the progression. So, it is really remarkable that Michael J. Fox is still alive, and even not completely debilitated yet. When was he originally diagnosed, in the mid 90s? Although I wouldn’t call anyone with this disease “lucky”, he seems to a little more fortunate than the typical case.
Back to the Future is one of the most perfect movies ever made, and a huge part of that is due to Michael’s performance. His Marty feels real, grounded in wide-eyed confusion and smarmy charm amongst the time travel wackiness. He has always been great, from Family Ties to The Frighteners to his run on Spin City (how fantastic was that first cast). The kid gave it his all, and remained hopeful and giving through the whole ordeal. I’ll miss him as an actor and wish him the absolute best.
““just like the performers in these old shows, someday I will survive myself in reruns.””
godDAMN.
One thing I’ve always wondered – back in the 90’s, Hollywood legend James Cagney appeared on some daytime talk show (can’t remember which one) and said that he really liked MJF and that if they ever made a film about his life, he’d like to have Fox play him. I think MJF even mentioned this fact in a retrospective of Cagney’s work.I know I’m showing my age, but does this ring a bell with anyone else? This would have been after his diagnosis I think so that’s probably why it never happened, but just curious.
If it was Cagney, that remark needed to occur no later than 1986. If Wikipedia is accurate, that’s the year he died.
Oh ok – it easily could have been the early 80’s instead of the 90’s when I heard this statement from Cagney, it’s been a minute since then and my memory ain’t what it used to be. Still curious if anyone else remembers though.
Interview Magazine republished an interview he gave to Gregory Speck; it doesn’t mention the date the interview took place but it looks to be to be from early 80’s. Anyway, he had this to say about MJF playing him:GS: When are they going to do a film about your own life?JC: Well, Misha Baryshnikov has been wanting to play me in a movie, but I told him that, with that accent, he wouldn’t be too convincing. He’s a great dancer, no question about it. Actually Treat Williams wanted to portray me as well, but the part is going to Michael J. Fox, who is such a talented young man. We get along real well, and I hope the film can be started while I’m still around to help with it. Some producers were trying to get John Travolta to play me, but even Travolta, who’s quite a fine actor and dancer, said, “What? Are you nuts?” He was the one who suggested Mike Fox, in fact. I keep my fingers crossed in the hope that it will all work out, because Mike is just about the first one who hasn’t been afraid to take on the role. But if I had the gumption to play George M. Cohan, then why shouldn’t young Fox play Jimmy Cagney?Source: https://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/james-cagney-gregory-speck-interview
Thanks!
Yes, I remember just that Michael wanted to play him…
It was lovely to see him in Curb Your Enthusiasm (what seems like, but isn’t) recently.
My dad had Parkinson’s. I read Always Looking Up, and it really helped me to process, and understand what he was going through a little bit.(I mean, I’ll never truly understand…but it helped, is all I’m saying.)
he’s so great in the recent Curb episodes
He made my dad’s diagnosis of Parkinson’s so much less frightening. Bless this man.
I have never rewatched Family Ties… but of course I love BTF, and can easily enjoy The Secret of My Success, For Love or Money, The Frighteners and Doc Hollywood anytime it is on. Teen Wolf came out the same year as Back to the Future, and at the time I was working my first job at a movie theater… I sat through what feels like hundreds of full and partial showings of both. I feel like I have seem my fill of TW though. I absolutely despise him in The Good Wife and The Good Fight, as we are supposed to. I am sad to see him go, for the second time.
Michael J. Fox is one of those people whose mere existence makes me happy and yearn for simpler—nonexistent—times. Ever since seeing him in Back to The Future as a young boy, I associate him with fun and adventure. This is all to say that to see his health decline so precipitously has been a gut punch to the soul.My folks and I have been watching his turns in Family Ties and The Good Wife these past few months and Michael J. Fox is unsurprisingly delightful. He is such a gifted performer, a man who can make any line reading distinct and hilarious.A long time ago I once saw a news featurette about Michael J. Fox’s more recent life. In it, the man as we know him today is knocking out punching bags with his personal trainer. The fact that he still continues to throw punches even as Parkinson’s Disease continues pushing him around inspires me; seeing that footage made me unexpectedly emotional.Damn you, Parkinson’s Disease.Keep knocking out those punching backs, Michael. We’ve got your back.