Michael J. Fox fondly remembers a time when young stars were actually “talented”
Michael J. Fox thinks "'80s famous" folks were "tougher" than the stars of today
Aux News Michael J. Fox
Older generations’ skepticism of the younger folks coming up is such a time-honored tradition that it’s barely worth commenting on, except for when the older generation is being really funny about it. Like Michael J. Fox’s assessment of whether it was “hard” to be famous in the ’80s compared to now. “Well, you had to be talented,” he told People. “That helped.” Got ’em!
Compared to Gen Z, those who were “’80s famous” were “different” from other stars, and “tougher,” as Fox told the outlet. “We didn’t have social media, we didn’t have any of that crap. We were just famous. Left to our own resources. And it was an amazing time.” The actor added that “We used to bust our ass, our acting muscles and watch other actors and sit around with other actors and talk about acting and talk about it. And now you’ve got people who just go like, who’s your sweater? What’s your sweater you’re wearing? And what’s that dance step? And you’re the most famous person in the world.”
As much as Fox may resemble the old man yelling at a cloud, he’s not entirely wrong—being able to do some moderate dance moves and not much else was leveraged into entire careers by the likes of TikTok stars Addison Rae and Charli D’Amelio. But the young “’80s famous” crowd was obviously not exempt from this kind of speculation about their seriousness, either. Just look at Fox’s contemporaries like Judd Nelson, Andrew McCarthy, Emilio Estevez, and Rob Lowe: all had their careers nearly derailed or even destroyed getting stuck with the label “The Brat Pack,” which presented them as unprofessional partiers.
And, truthfully, Fox doesn’t exempt himself from youthful folly (even if he does apparently consider himself more talented and a harder worker than the Hollywood youth of today). In a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight, Fox was shown a video of his younger self waxing poetic about focusing on “his career and trying to set up the base for my life that everyone does when they’re in their early 20s, trying to figure out who I am and where I’m gonna go and how I can achieve my goals.” 40 years later, Fox’s response to himself is simply that “22-year-olds are obnoxious.” And that’s a pronouncement that transcends generations!
114 Comments
Ah, boomerism/Xism came for him too.
Very sad. Michael, Timothy Chalomet is more talented than you in every possible way.
And I loved you.
I don’t think he’s talking about Timothee Chalamet. I think he means more YouTubers and TikTokers and other such “influencers” who are “famous” because they do a dance or model a piece of clothing.
Yeah, people looking for a reason to be angry will take it to mean that, for example, a young ACTOR in 1984 had to be more talented than a young ACTOR in 2024 to be famous — which is not what he said. Sure, there have always been the “famous for being famous” (but not actually having any talent for anything) people — think Zha Zha Gabor — but it doesn’t take much of a stretch to say that there seem to be A LOT more of them these days.
It’s Zsa Zsa. Put some respect on her name.
I suppose it’s also somewhat unfair to consider Zsa Zsa (sorry for the previous mis-spelling) to be as useless as someone like Kim Kardashian or Paris Hilton because at least Zsa Zsa was an actress before she turned into a “famous because she’s famous” personality — which she coasted on for A LONG TIME…
Now post an article now about how AV Club hates people with Parkinson’s and achieve the singularity.
“And I loved you.”
Like, past tense? This made you no longer love this guy?
Because he’s clearly ragging on social media stars, not Timothy Chalamet, and it feels like his tongue is pretty firmly in cheek either way.
But that would require reading an article for context. Mark Tierney doesn’t have time for that, he needs to jump straight to defending the children in the hopes they won’t also call him a boomer.
It’s not remotely sad and it will come for you too.
Gen X reference – it wants you, too
I don’t even know anymore . . .
That movie absolutely traumatized me in my unsupervised youth.
Yeah same. The diner guy’s head in the meat slicer definitely stuck with me.
No. It doesn’t come for everyone.The same way that “the older you get the more conservative you get” isn’t an immutable law of nature.People TEND to get more conservative and more grumpy as they get older. But not everyone does.
Just see how you do Buttsoup.
In what universe is Timmy more talented than Michael J. Fox? Based on what exactly?
Your boomer ass just faked outrage without actually reading the article.
Really? Chalomet over Michael J Fox. That’s wild.
while i maintain a heat-style ‘i don’t like any celebrity so much that i am not willing to walk away from them in 30 seconds if i feel like they’re saying something stupid’ rule…this is a bit much.
As soon as it became a stan, Adam J didn’t hesitate, he popped the Adam Driver as well. Drop of a hat, this guy will rock and roll.
So Boomers and Gen X are all lumped together now for you sniveling whiny Gen Zzzz’s who need a trigger warning for everything? G_d, I’m old.
I loved the 80’s as much as anyone, but not everyone who was famous was super talented. Princess Diana was the most famous woman in the world then.
Rules of fame and talent don’t apply to royalty, you peasant!
Ok, but that’s apples to oranges. Michael J. Fox wasn’t famous for fucking a queen.
It sounded like he was speaking about young stars from the 80’s in general, not just himself.
Wait, what queen did Diana fuck?
Charles!
Dame Edna
Next target of his wrath: the kids on his lawn.
Why are you trying to get the internet to go after Michael J Fox? Does that seem like the right target to you?
This is getting heavy.
WHOA!!!
There’s that word again!
It’s also so much of a nothing story — “MJF says people who get famous on social media for seemingly no reason wouldn’t have been famous in the 80s because there was no social media”… Well, he not wrong.
so much of a nothing story —
The A.V. Club
this is getting too easy
“We were just famous. Left to our own resources.”He was a latchkey celebrity.
“Well, he not wrong.”Which the article literally says: “As much as Fox may resemble the old man yelling at a cloud, he’s not entirely wrong”
I’m curious as to how you read this as trying to get the internet to go after him.
Taffy machines don’t stretch this much.
There were plenty of vapid one-hit wonders and temporary sensations that time forgot because they were ultimately forgettable.Like… yeah, it’s easier to be famous today thanks to social media expanding the available platforms by which one could achieve fame, but “you had to be talented” is definitely pushing it a bit for the 80s.
Or ever, really. “People like stupid shit” is a timeless truth.
The A.V. Club
Yeah, you got a catch phrase, you could be hugely famous in the 80s.You maybe needed talent for it to last, but not for the 15 minutes of TikTokish fame he seems to be talking about.
What chu talkin bout, MyTVNeverLies.
Up your nose with a rubber hose, Elrond.
Well, that was the 70s, but ok.
Off my case, lembas face!!!
It just baffles me that one was ever somehow considered hilarious.
It was the 70s. Lots of drugs.
Man, I hated that. It would also unfailingly make my oldest brother crack up every single time, laughing and looking around at whoever was in the room with such joy, as if he’d never heard it “What chu talkin’ ‘bout [Willis or whomever]?” before. Which made me hate it even more.
“…And having a catch phrase is half the battle!”
Pop, pop!
PORK CHOP SANDWICHES!!!
Weren’t Michael J Fox and Kirk Cameron famous at around the same time? Although credit to Cameron, he’s tenacious as a tick.
credit to Cameron, he’s tenacious as a tickHe sucks harder than ticks do. I’m not sure what sort of blood-borne diseases he carries, but I’d gamble on them being even worse than Lyme disease or Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
Aw, are you triggered by the truth? I wonder how old you are, to be in such denial about fame between then and now?
yes, but the majority of stars back then were still more talented. We can point to one offs in a lot of things. but the exceptions do not disprove his point.
Beating out Eric Stoltz really went to his head.
Wait, what’d he do to . . . OH! You said “beating OUT”! My bad. I thought we had a story here!
The ease with which social media can make people famous definitely has some substantial pitfalls, but it’s also a lot more democratic and has far fewer barriers to entry than existed at a time when Harvey Weinstein’s social circle had a near monopoly on access to the wider public.
It’s come with some downsides, sure, but it’s complicated, and “people aren’t as talented now” is definitely the easiest, old maniest take.
Yeah, he’s acting like the entertainment industry wasn’t powered for over a century by sexual coercion. I’ll take a viral TikTok over that.
“he’s acting like the entertainment industry wasn’t powered for over a century by sexual coercion”WHO exactly is acting that way? You’re projecting. Nothing else.
“Kids these days got it ease in the industry, do they know how many dicks I had to suck to land Family Ties?”
Comparing social media stars to actors is some real apples-to-oranges shit, and a rare miss from the guy. But – comparing child actors across the eras – I really doubt it was tougher in the 80s when they didn’t have to be “on” 24/7 and handle social medial bullshit as well.
Yeah, I don’t want to pile too hard on the guy because he seems like a decent dude, and if you asked any 62-year-old to give an off-the-cuff response on the kids these days, I doubt many of the answers you get would be brimming with insight.
Still, there is no way that millions of strangers being able to express their irrational love and hatred for you, directly to you, at all hours of the day and night can possibly be making things EASIER for famous kids and teens.
I’d argue that maybe it *was* more democratic, but now that the algorithms are obviously pushing what the platform wants you to see, as opposed to what it thinks you would like based on your usage habits, it is on track to become just as undemocratic as the TV and Film industries.
He is referring to the competitive world of the 1880’s British Dancehall scene.
I know I’m a monster for saying this, but I never cared for Family Ties or Back to the Future. And Michael J Fox played himself in every role.
I’m sure the mindless TikTockers will be pleased with your white knighting. I just hope Michael J. Fox gets over your ruthless assessment of his acting skills. The most creatively inept seem to really resent successful people…
Same. I do not like graphic horror and gore, but also can’t stand sappy family shows.
I don’t exactly agree with Hitchcock that all actors are cattle and should be treated as such, but ‘acting’ isn’t the ‘job’ a lot of people seem to think it is. Film acting anyway. Appear on a stage and maintain a character for two whole hours without even a hint that you’re aware of that fourth wall and I might be impressed.
Oh cool, a label you can literally slap on any prominent actor.
There are actually great actors. Michael J Fox isn’t one of them
Having read some of his (presumably ghostwritten) memoir, I can confirm that as a youth he was really obnoxious.
Every prominent actor wasn’t in Family Ties and/or Back To The Future.
Ok, a bunch of ‘em were.
Nah. There are tons of good actors. Your comment really says more about the quality of movies/tv that you watch than anything about the state of acting.
In his prime, Johnny Depp could legitimately chameleon into any kind of role and become a wholly new person. Then he made Pirates of the Caribbean, and around the same time his entire personal life dissolved and he decided “you know what, I’m done. It’s time to phone it in.”
Makes you wonder what Alex P. Keaton would think of Trump.
He’d be an insufferable centrist Republican who would claim he dislikes Trump and the extreme right but still vote for him over the demo-rats
I think he’d have become a Libertarian on the no taxes side rather than the pro-gun or pro-weed sides. He cast “protest” votes in 2016 and 2020 for Gary Johnson because he wouldn’t be sullied voting Democrat and he wasn’t stupid enough to vote for a raping con artist who promised to bring jobs to America while his most famous phrase was “You’re fired.”
Disagree. Learning later in life that Mallory is in fact a member of the Bluth family would cause Alex to rethink all his feelings about late stage capitalism.
Hot take, his best movie was The Frighteners.
Seems like he touched a nerve with Generation Idiocracy…
“We used to bust our ass, our acting muscle”As entertaining as Fox’s movies and shows were, did he ever play – anything that required actual acting muscles? He was the perfect “handsome charming funny guy” but that’s literally all he ever was.
and that’s literally enough to get you a career in Hollywoo.
Casualties of War. I haven’t seen that movie in decades, but I remember it being hard to watch. There was nothing funny about MJF in it.(There wasn’t supposed to be.)
I was about to say the same. I’ve seen Casulaties of War a bunch of times. It’s one of the best of the later Vietnam movies, and Fox holds his own with Sean Penn and Thuy Thu Le and a pretty good supporting cast. I mean, nobody’s going to mistake Fox for Robert DeNiro, but he did what he could with the material he was given.
Also, The Hard Way.
It was also a DePalma movie where it didn’t seem like he was constantly aping other directors.I’m betting the scene with the Vietnamese woman on the bridge was probably stolen from somewhere, but I don’t know where.
Though not a great movie, I’d throw Light Of Day on there too. But disclaimer, my own mom had died the year before so I’m incapable of being impartial.
Still the most satisfying end of a Don Harvey character ever. But otherwise very hard to watch.
Is he saying his acting muscles are in his ass?
I never would have thought he’d turn into a curmudgeon before I did, but there it is.
He should thank his lucky stars that ‘High School, USA’ didn’t go to series, or he’d be ‘who’s that guy?’ for the rest of his career.
I loved him in Midnight Madness and Class of 1984, but lost interest after. Did Michael J Fox do anything after that?
Class of 1984 was such a gross movie when I was a kid. Super disturbing to a little girl. Though Tim Van Patten plays the piano beautifully.
See, back in the eighties, we had to buy our OWN cocaine!
100% spot-on.
I think he’s right, actors in the 80s did talk more about acting than current-day, famous NON-actors do.
“Elvis is in everybody out there.Everybody’s got Elvis in them!
Everybody except one person that is…
Yeah, one person!
The evil opposite of Elvis.
The Anti-Elvis
Anti-Elvis got no Elvis in ‘em,
Lemme tell ya.
Michael J. Fox has no Elvis in him.”
RIP, Mojo.
Gimme a big ugly G, boys!
At the very least, J Fox is no hypocrite when he says he used to bust his ass. He worked full time on Family Ties while simultaneously shooting Back to the Future, going from set to set and barely sleeping between them, and still delivering an iconic performance as Marty McFly. After which he simultaneously shot Back to the Future parts II and III, so I don’t begrudge him at all when he says he was hard working, as he clearly very much was.
He would film Family Ties during the day, hop in a van and take a nap while he was driven to the set of Back To The Future at night, back in the van, repeat.So I give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to work ethic.
Work ethic or he was young and too scared about his future to say “hey this schedule is killing me”
for sure, man
Lol, no he doesn’t.
This seems like kind of a dumb complaint. I mean sure back in the 80’s you didn’t have social media and more people who were famous were legit actors and such. But at the same time you could still get famous by going on Star Search or The Gong Show of To Tell the Truth or some other bullshit. And it’s not like talented young actors have completely disappeared.
Just saw Dune 2 again and I think we’re in safe hands. Timmy C and Zendaya are excellent actors.
I will never not be bored and annoyed when people, famous or not, go on their “back in my day” rants.
I only know of Addsion Rae because of her ugly dolls that were clogging up discount stores.
fox did family ties during the day and back to the future at night and slept in the van driving between sets. uphill in the snow both ways
I’d say there are plenty more talented young actors working today than there ever were in the 80’s. Probably plenty of untalented ones too but so were plenty in the 80’s.
Barely anyone knowing (or caring) who Fawn Hall was while every person on the planet knowing who the Kardashians are (whether they want to or not) would tend to validate his comments.
22 years old’s are obnoxious. Boy Howdy. +1 Mike.