Parkinson’s, alcoholism and child-stardom: Michael J. Fox’s documentary reveals all

Michael J. Fox attends the 2023 Sundance Film Festival premiere of "Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie". Photo / Getty Images

A moving new documentary shares Michael J. Fox’s decades-long struggle with Parkinson’s disease, and illustrates the Back to the Future star’s unwavering optimism in the face of illness.

Fox opened up about the difficulties he has with movement - particularly his afternoon trudges.

“The walking really freaks people out,” the 61-year-old actor revealed post-stroll on the streets of Manhattan. “But if you pity me, it’s never gonna get to me.”

Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20. The documentary incited an extended standing ovation for both the film and its adored protagonist who flew into Utah for the event, reports the New York Post.

After the film, Fox said onstage, “It’s been a f***ing amazing life.”

Showing on Apple TV+ later on in the year, Still narrates the emotional ups and downs of the 80s star, recognised for his boyishness and ability to nail a punchline.

A scene from the 1985 film Back To The Future. Photo / Supplied

Fox was only 16 years old when he decided to leave his Canadian high school for the thrill of Hollywood.

His dad - doubtful about his ambitious career pursuit - gave in, paying for the trip and telling his son, “If you’re gonna be a lumberjack, you might as well live in the goddamn forest.”

After several low-paying jobs and five years in a shabby studio apartment in Beverly Hills – Fox says he was so broke, he would eat Smuckers jam packets.

He soon became one of the US’s most famous actors.

Fox received his big break at 21 years old when he played Alex P. Keaton in the Family Ties television series, which acted as a stepping stone for the star to book Marty McFly in the Back to the Future trilogy. In one week in 1985, Fox’s movies Back to the Future and Teen Wolf were the number 1 and number 2 films at the US box office.

Michael J. Fox was at the peak of his career, fronting magazine covers and lounging on The Tonight Show couch, but things would soon begin to unravel.

Michael J. Fox during on The Tonight Show with host Johnny Carson on July 31, 1991. Photo / Getty Images

When speaking of fame, Fox reflects, “I was the Prince of Hollywood,” however, his experiences in life taught him a hard lesson. “You think it’s made of brick and rock. But it’s not. It’s made out of paper and feathers. It’s an illusion.”

How did Fox learn of the show business’s dark underbelly? In 1990, after a night out drinking in Florida, the actor woke up hung over and realised that his pinky finger kept on twitching. When it didn’t heal by itself, he eventually visited a neurologist who diagnosed Parkinson’s in 1991.

In a state of shock, Fox exclaimed to the doctor, “You know who you’re talking to, right? I’m not supposed to get this.”

For seven years, he kept his illness a secret. The star took dopamine pills to soothe his early symptoms and always carried film props in his left hand to hide the shaking on screen. Looking back, his film projects at the time revealed the stress that his diagnosis was putting him through.

He turned to alcohol to numb his silence.

Emmy Winners Betty White and Michael J. Fox backstage at the Emmy Awards Show in 1986. Photo / Getty Images

“I drank to dissociate,” he told to director Davis Guggenheim. “I was definitely an alcoholic. But I’ve gone 30 years without having a drink.”

Still shows scenes in which Fox works with a trainer who helps him to learn strategies to steady his walk and build his strength. During the filming of the documentary, he received multiple injuries from falls - a common Parkinson’s symptom. Fox dislocated his shoulder and broke the bones in his left cheek, his hand and his arm.

“A festival of self-abuse,” he jokes.

Fox hates it when people tell him to “be careful”.

“This has nothing to do with being careful,” he says. “This happens. You get Parkinson’s, you trip over stuff.”

Michael J. Fox and his wife Tracy Pollan at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 13th Governors Awards. Photo / Getty Images

While sitting on the beach with Sam, his 33-year-old son shared with his former Family Ties co-star and now-wife Tracy Pollan, Fox asks, “Do you feel like you have a 90-year-old dad? Because I don’t feel old.”

The star revealed in the documentary that Parkinson’s causes him “intense pain,” however he also views it as a grounding experience that contrasts with the years he spent at the peak of fame, being someone he didn’t recognise.

“Parkinson’s is a disaster – that’s real,” he says. “You can’t walk and you can’t go to the bathroom – that’s real.”

Fox reappeared in Hollywood in the early 2000s and 2010s, acting in TV shows such as Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Good Fight, in which he was able to be authentically himself, with his illness in tow. In 2020, the actor retired from the screen, however he still writes books about his experiences and is an integral part of the Micheal J. Fox Foundation, which advocates for more research and funding for the so-far incurable brain disorder.

“People express to me that I make them feel better and do things that they normally wouldn’t do,” he says. “That’s a big responsibility.”