I’ve been a fan of Michael J. Fox ever since I started watching Family Ties and then of course when Back To The Future was released my young mind was blown away by all of the awesomeness! Fox had an incredible career through the 80s and 90s and starred in so many great projects and he was a superstar!
As a fan, when I learned that there was a documentary being made about his life, I was looking forward to watching it. That doc is coming out in the near future and it’s titled Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie. I recently had the opportunity to watch it at Sundance and it was fantastic!
In 1998 Fox publicly revealed that he had Parkinson’s disease, which was seven years after he was diagnosed with it in 1991. As you might imagine, this was a huge blow to him. I remember hearing the news and it was the first time I learned the details about what Parkinson’s disease actually was.
Fox made an effort to hide his disease from everyone, but it just got to the point where he couldn’t hide it anymore. This movie explores when Fox first learned there was an issue and what he was actually going through during those seven years. As you can imagine, it was an incredibly rough time for the actor.
But, the movie also explores Fox’s whole life and his wild and crazy journey to superstardom. What it was like for him growing up and how he ended up in Los Angeles to chase his dream of being an actor.
The synopsis reads: “At age 16, an undersized army brat landed a part as a 12-year-old on a Canadian television show. Confident he could make it in the U.S., he moved into a tiny apartment in the slums of Beverly Hills. Three years later, he was struggling to scrape by and ready to retreat. But then came his breakout roles — Alex P. Keaton on the sitcom Family Ties and Marty McFly in the Back to the Future trilogy — and a superstar was born. Michael J. Fox dominated the industry for most of the 1980s and ’90s, but a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease at age 29 threatened to derail his career.”
It’s such a great story and it’s told in an incredibly cool and engaging way! It uses footage from his projects, including behind-the-scenes footage, and mixes it together with footage shot for the doc. The whole story is told by Fox, though, in his own words.
It’s explained: “Fox’s improbable story sounds like the stuff of Hollywood, so what better way to tell it than through scenes from his own work, supplemented with stylish recreations? Owning his own narrative, the actor playfully recounts his journey with intimacy, candor, and humor. In the hands of Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth, 2006 Sundance Film Festival), Still reveals what happens when an eternal optimist confronts an incurable disease.”
The movie is an emotional and moving portrait of Fox’s life, but at the same time it is filled with humor that will make you laugh and it will fill you with nostalgia as it takes you back to the 80s and 90s.
I loved this movie and I’m pretty confident that anyone who watches it will walk away from it feeling happy and inspired. It will be coming to Apple TV+
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