Michael J. Fox

Directed by Academy Award winning filmmaker, Davis Guggenheim (“Inconvenient Truth”) KPCW's Andrea Buchanan says “Still” is nothing short of astonishing.

Fox and his self-deprecating humor and his unmatched comedic timing is the star of the film. His diagnosis. His addiction.

After being diagnosed with the generative brain disorder, Fox says he used dopamine pills “like Halloween Smarties” while shooting film and TV projects to deal ...

“Some people would view the news of my disease as an ending,” Fox says in the documentary. The actor admits that he is in “intense pain” and is “injured multiple times while shooting the documentary,” according to USA Today. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research](https://www.michaeljfox.org/) to help fund [treatments for the disorder](https://fortune.com/2021/09/08/parkinsons-disease-lab-grown-mini-brains-treatments-drug-development/). After being diagnosed with the generative brain disorder, Fox says he used dopamine pills “like Halloween Smarties” while shooting film and TV projects to deal with his mental health and counter early symptoms of the disease, such as tremors, as reported in [USA Today](https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2023/01/22/michael-j-fox-parkinsons-still-documentary/11101412002/). “I didn’t know what was happening. In the premiere for his new documentary, Still: A Michael J.

In the new Michael J. Fox documentary at Sundance, Still, the Back to the Future star reflects on his struggle with alcoholism following his Parkinson's ...

“I was just lying on the floor twisting, with an audience outside waiting for me to do a scene.” Fox finally went public with his diagnosis in 1998. I wanted to be out of the world, I wanted to be in another place, doing other things. “I didn’t know what was happening, and I didn’t know what was coming. As an example of his tenuous control over the situation, Fox recalls a time he got in a violent altercation with a stranger at a store. As Fox explains in the documentary, he began to abuse his medication, as well as alcohol, as a way to disassociate from his body. That was particularly true when it came time to discuss that devastating moment in his life: When Fox was told, at the age of 29, that he had Parkinson’s disease, and would only be able to work for a few more years.

The Back to the Future star gets an uplifting doc about his life and career, ranging from his quick rise to fame to his debilitating Parkinson's disease.

But Fox has taken the reins of this unpredictable and earth-shattering detour in life, and he continues to laugh and smile, even though Parkinson's disease has severely limited the spectrum of his facial expressions. When the documentary isn't recounting the ups and downs of Fox's career, it has Davis Guggenheim questioning the actor from behind the camera and following him as he deals with the physical struggles of Parkinson's disease. If there's one complaint I have about this documentary, and it's not one that is often made in this genre, it's that I wish it had a more robust runtime to dig even more into Fox's life and career. It's all done in such a finely tuned, kinetic fashion that it gives the movie such an energetic momentum, with an assist from a soundtrack featuring a variety of oldies hits. Along with being instantly recognizable thanks to his starring role in the iconic "Back to the Future" franchise, the actor's charming turns in film and television span include his breakthrough role in the classic sitcom "Family Ties," the hairy sports star of "Teen Wolf," a meteoric rise in "The Secret of My Success," his fast-talking, schmoozing performance in "Spin City," and an underrated leading turn in While it's true that this documentary has all that, it's the way Guggenheim and editor Michael Harte have stitched it together is nothing short of brilliant.

His line reading was just perfect. Here's this guy, Alex P. Keaton, who keeps a framed photo of Richard Nixon in his bedroom, and we couldn't help but love him.

At the height of his powers, the foundation was made of paper. For instance, when Fox was struggling and couldn’t get a job, we see Fox begging for a job in The Secret of My Success. He filmed Family Ties and Back to the Future at the same time for three months. Fox in this doc says none of that was real. He could have passed on Back to the Future after they came back to him after Eric Stoltz didn’t work out. Fox Movie](https://uproxx.com/tag/still-a-michael-j-fox-movie/) (which premiered this week at [Sundance](https://uproxx.com/tag/sundance-2023/)) would deal with the status of Fox’s current health (we’ll get to that in a bit) but what I really wanted was for this movie to dive into the era when Michael J. Fox Movie, it’s not like I didn’t realize he was an important cultural figure for me – and a lot of us – but it made me realize just how much. And his last hope was Family Ties and NBC head Brandon Tartikoff wasn’t a fan of Fox and that’s kind of a problem. (I will say I was disappointed that at no time during this part of the movie is the cult favorite Midnight Madness mentioned.) As Fox put it, he still had a chip and a seat. He gets his Parkinson’s diagnosis, then uses pills and booze and work to try to escape his realities. Explaining as long as you still have a chair and one chip at a poker table, you’re not out of the game. He was getting small parts, but after selling off his furniture, he was basically down to spare change and thought he’d have to walk himself to the airport, then take a job back home picking up nails on construction sites.

This year there are two to pick from: Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, about 1970s child star Brooke Shields and her bitter introduction to Hollywood, and Still: A ...

He remembers pursuing Hollywood success at the expense of his family and a complex relationship with his dad, William Fox, who was initially set against him pursuing an acting career. Fast forward past his successful Family Ties screen test and a hit first season for the show, and Fox was giving the exec a surprise gift: a lunchbox with his picture on it. In the doc, he remembers his early days in Hollywood involving a tonne of auditions, but also a slew of rejections. In the doc, Fox admits that he could be ‘a dick’ in those early ego-led days, but adds: ‘In the face of all evidence to the contrary, I was a massive bath of fear and professional anxiety.’ It all worked out swimmingly for him and Pollan, though: they were married three years later. ‘I was a cute elf,’ he notes in the doc. The reconstruction shows Fox waking up after a night’s drinking with his old friend and Doc Hollywood co-star Woody Harrelson, shaking and unable to focus on the finger in front of his face.

Sundance biopic STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie provokes plenty of emotion without ever stooping to being a manipulative tearjerker.

It all serves, fittingly, as kind of a time machine, taking the viewer on a journey through an unforgettable past and looking ahead to the future with courage, determination and hope. While it doesn’t pull any punches about the years of fear and pain the actor has experienced, the film leaves us with a sense of joy and gratitude. The most poignant and affecting moments come in the interviews and candid footage of Fox interacting with his family, and STILL provokes plenty of emotion without ever stooping to being a manipulative tearjerker. Fox Movie, we see that while a lot has changed to the superstar, he is still the coolest guy in any room that he enters. At its core, STILL is an intimate portrait of a guy that everyone in America thought they knew but was deeply insecure and frequently used acting as a way to hide from the world, even before his devastating diagnosis. Fox not only gave me someone to identify with—he made me feel like it was possible to be the coolest guy in the room without being the tallest.