WEBVTT - Michael J. Fox: The Heroic Story of an Unlikely Hero 0:00:04.840 --> 0:00:07.800 Hi everyone, I'm Kitty Kuric, and this is next question. 0:00:09.320 --> 0:00:13.680 So I have a confession to make. I love Michael J. 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:17.279 Fox and I love Tracy Pollin. I have known this 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:22.239 couple for several years now. I've interviewed Michael many times 0:00:22.280 --> 0:00:25.759 through the years, and I have to admit both of 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:29.840 them are my personal heroes. But when I saw Still, 0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:33.760 the newly released documentary that chronicles his life, I felt 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:36.520 like I got to know Michael in a whole new way. 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:40.760 The film is part eighties movie featuring Michael as the 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:45.600 unlikely hero and is charming, supercharged, always on the move way, 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:51.479 but it's also such a deeply, profoundly personal story because 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:55.640 it features Michael as another kind of unlikely hero, as 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:59.760 someone who's fighting a battle every second of every day 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:01.800 with Parkinson's disease. 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:07.080 It seem to a dance you do in this this 0:01:07.280 --> 0:01:09.959 thing that I'm doing that I'm playing with his pill. 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:12.680 I'm moving this same movement. I said, I'm finding ways 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:15.520 to negotiate with this thing that's with me all the time, 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:17.800 and so I'm having a conversation with you, but I'm 0:01:17.800 --> 0:01:23.120 also having this this WCO Roman wrestling match with his 0:01:23.280 --> 0:01:24.440 monster is my Brain. 0:01:25.000 --> 0:01:29.520 Academy Award winning filmmaker Davis Guggenheim, who I also admire 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:34.600 a ton, spent three years making this documentary, capturing Michael's struggles, 0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:39.200 but also getting up close and personal with what motivates Michael, 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:43.520 and that is a deep connection to his family, a 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:49.360 gigantic heart, and the knowledge that he is encouraging so 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:53.360 many other people dealing with Parkinson's. 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:56.640 He's actually the sweetest guy, the most wonderful guy I've 0:01:56.640 --> 0:01:57.200 ever worked with. 0:01:57.560 --> 0:02:00.160 On today's episode of Next Question, you'll hear how the 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:04.200 filmmaker and the subject of Still came together to create 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:08.360 an unforgettable portrait of a dear friend and an incredibly 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:12.440 courageous man who has so much to teach us about 0:02:12.520 --> 0:02:19.119 what it means to live and appreciate every single day. 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:23.280 I'll yeah, is it okay, okay, good? 0:02:23.639 --> 0:02:23.960 All right. 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:29.959 First of all, Hi guys, I'm so happy to see 0:02:30.000 --> 0:02:33.960 you both. Davis. It's been a long time, Mike, less long, 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:37.920 but always love being with you. I finished watching the 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:41.000 documentary and I have one word for both of you, 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:44.799 which is wow. I loved it. I thought, I mean, 0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:49.160 I love Michael, so I was predisposed, but there's so much. 0:02:49.240 --> 0:02:51.000 I want to talk to you all about and I 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:53.919 guess the first question is is for Mike, why now? 0:02:53.960 --> 0:02:57.280 Why did you want to do this documentary? Now becos? 0:02:57.320 --> 0:02:57.760 He asked me. 0:02:57.800 --> 0:03:01.640 I think really I was just hanging out, not doing anything, 0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:04.799 and kind of like the air was ripe with the 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:08.240 opportunity united and what the opportunity was to do something 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:12.720 interesting and and Davis called me, and I think I 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:14.520 said some things that he liked, which, as I said, 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:17.120 if we do this, I'm not interested in editing you. 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:19.079 I'm not interested in making a. 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:20.760 Movie about how I got you to make a movie 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:23.680 I want to make Yeah, I want you really just 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:27.919 so you are at it and so it happens. And 0:03:28.240 --> 0:03:34.160 as far as why now, the more complicated answer, which 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:37.400 is that I broke my hand. 0:03:37.480 --> 0:03:40.120 Can't play histar anymore, my handshakes. 0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:43.360 I can't draw anymore. I can't paign anymore. I can't 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:46.120 I can't all this stuff. I can't do that I 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:48.960 ever could, but things I enjoyed and things that gave 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:52.520 me peace, and he gave me a sense of doing 0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:56.640 doing something and now and my life has become my clay. 0:03:56.720 --> 0:03:59.280 And I was like, throw it back, were going to 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:02.240 make something else of it, and that's what this is. 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:06.680 It really was an opportunity for you to be creative 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:09.280 in another way and to look back on your life. 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:13.720 And Davis, before I talk to you about the really 0:04:13.800 --> 0:04:17.920 unique way that you made this film, which is a 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:24.320 visual amalgamation and audio amalgamation of Michael's life, why did 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:28.640 you decide you wanted to do a documentary about Michael J. Fox. 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:34.359 I was on Martha's vineyard during COVID and feeling pretty low, 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:39.640 feeling in a personal rut and a professional rut, and 0:04:39.839 --> 0:04:41.960 feeling like I just made the same movie over and 0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:42.479 over again. 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:44.120 And I was. 0:04:44.120 --> 0:04:49.360 Looking not just for a movie, but just for some lifeline. 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:52.880 And I started reading his book No Time Like the Future, 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:56.600 and there was wisdom in it for me in an 0:04:56.640 --> 0:04:59.120 unexpected place. I didn't think I was going to find 0:04:59.120 --> 0:04:59.760 wisdom from a. 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:07.320 Movie, he says dismissively. He's written four books. Did you 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:10.080 read all four of them? Davis? Ultimately, Yeah, the. 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:12.719 Deep dive into all his stuff and it's easy to 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:15.640 sort of say, oh, that's a that's a famous person 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:19.080 just writing something. First of all, he's a great writer. 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:22.719 There's a great storytelling in it, and there's humor and 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:25.040 wisdom in it that I personally needed. 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:32.480 So you decided to tackle this project, and you had 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:37.440 some challenges because there was limited footage of Mike as 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:42.640 a little boy. Although God blessed those class photos. They 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:46.120 killed me. Honestly, they are priceless. I'm so glad you 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:49.440 kept those. So there were some things from Michael's childhood. 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:54.320 But there were also limitations in terms of how you 0:05:55.920 --> 0:05:59.640 got the visual vocabulary to tell Michael's story. So put 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:02.080 together the pieces of the puzzle, because I know it 0:06:02.120 --> 0:06:04.599 was sort of a conversation between you and your editor 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:08.000 and you were trying to figure out, like, how do 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:09.000 we tell this story? 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:11.240 Right? So with the glue of all this is Michael's 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:14.800 great writing and his voice carries the movie. But then 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:17.080 there's part, like you say, they're parts of his life 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:20.039 that were there weren't cameras, and so my my solution 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:24.080 was re enactments. But Michael Hart, this brilliant editor from 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:32.000 Donegal Ireland, Michael Fox's clapping right now quietly and and 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:34.840 and his solution was to use some of Michael J. 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:35.839 Fox's movies. 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:37.320 It was brilliant. 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:39.280 I'm not period in ways that I would never have. 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:43.800 Imagined, right, So you give me an example when. 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:46.280 I was falling a little Tracy, I was so in 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:50.119 love with the schirl and we were seeing other people 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:52.080 in it. She just only did the show for short 0:06:52.200 --> 0:06:54.720 any time, so I thought, he's just gonna go away? 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:58.120 Person, Am I just going to see you anymore? 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:03.760 And and a great moment our car is really a 0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:06.039 nice metaphor when when she was leaving the show for 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:08.800 the last time and Mike car was parked next to 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:14.800 her car at parking lot, her rental rabbit in my Ferrari. 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:17.280 That yeah, I mean, doesn't that say it all? 0:07:17.320 --> 0:07:20.880 By the way, Mike, Oh my Ferrari, you get in 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:23.080 my Ferrari to get into a rabbit to talk about 0:07:23.440 --> 0:07:26.320 about and I guess she's really worried about me. He's 0:07:26.400 --> 0:07:28.360 just girl, I'm only in love with this one and 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:32.720 see her again she thinks I'm gonna die in partying 0:07:32.720 --> 0:07:37.440 to her and a you have the job, bab having 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:41.840 lunch and she we got married two years later. So 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:45.560 so it was this amazing moment. We shot the big 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:49.960 scene down in a Grance village walking through the streets 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:51.080 and the characters. 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:53.600 Falling in love from bright lights, big city, big. 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:56.000 City and I was the person who was living in 0:07:56.040 --> 0:07:57.520 that and I felt the. 0:07:57.520 --> 0:08:01.120 Same, but on a date in the movie, but they're 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:04.880 also dating and lit by Gordon Willis, the guy who 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:08.760 shot The Godfather. So it's like beautiful, beautiful there in silhouette, 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:10.360 and her first line is I was looking at the 0:08:10.400 --> 0:08:12.480 other night. She goes, I guess I'm supposed to be 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:16.720 impressed by your big, fancy job, which is true for 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:19.400 the characters in that movie, but it was also true 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:20.960 in their life. He had just done back to the 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:25.160 future and he's he's she's still not impressed. 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:28.560 But that's but it's true in so many cases. You've 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:33.040 found a place for art imitating life and it really 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:36.000 works so well. I was curious where this came from 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:39.120 the beginning of the film, Michael wakes up and he 0:08:39.240 --> 0:08:44.120 notices his his pinkiest fluttering. I think you showed Michael 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:48.960 in bed, so you you intercut a reenactment. Tell me 0:08:49.040 --> 0:08:51.920 about that scene and why you chose to start with that. 0:08:52.240 --> 0:08:56.240 Why do we start there? It cuts to Michael present 0:08:56.280 --> 0:08:58.760 time in bed as well, right, and this is great line, 0:08:58.760 --> 0:09:01.720 which is, uh, he's about what pinky is, and it's 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:04.720 like this, this is a message from the future, right, 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:08.160 which is obviously incredible reference to Back to the Future, 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:12.679 but also gave me this incredible optunity to jump forward 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:13.840 in time to Michael. 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:16.920 Now and double time. 0:09:17.120 --> 0:09:21.080 There really are And obviously the title of the film 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:26.560 is still, but you use that in contrast with Michael, 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:30.840 who was for so long just and still is in 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:34.400 constant motion, right, you know. And you you allude to 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:38.160 that Michael towards the end about sort of always moving, 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:42.560 always moving, And it's amazing how many of those shots 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:46.600 that you all found beautifully illustrated sort of the frenetic 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:47.640 energy of Michael. 0:09:47.840 --> 0:09:50.320 Yeah, there's a feeling that and this is in your 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:52.920 book because all these go back to Michael's writing. But 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:56.400 for a long time, you're running towards something, which is 0:09:56.440 --> 0:10:01.479 what what you said, that would be the destiny, future, future, fame, Hollywood, 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:05.000 you know. And then of course he's running away from 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:08.040 Parkinson's always running, always running, always running. 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:10.800 The biggest thing was me watching movies. You sucked me in. 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:13.280 I felt I was watching a movie and like, even 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:14.439 though it was about me, I just. 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:18.360 When you saw all those scenes, did you feel like 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:20.720 you were watching your life flash before your eyes in 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:21.320 a way. 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:24.280 Very much, very much. It was amazing. 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:27.960 We all have this fantasy where someone takes your life 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:32.439 and goes, this is it. You look at some total 0:10:32.440 --> 0:10:34.120 of what you've done and what you've accomplished, what you 0:10:34.160 --> 0:10:37.520 haven't accomplished, who you love, who loves you, and it 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:39.319 was all there. I had this gift, he and me, 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:44.520 this is really amazing, and I guess I am who 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:47.920 I thought I was, which kind of nice. 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:51.920 When we come back, you'll hear what really happened when 0:10:51.960 --> 0:10:54.680 Michael was told off by his now wife Tracy on 0:10:54.720 --> 0:11:09.480 the day they met. We're back with Michael J. Fox 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:10.920 and Davis Guggenheim. 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:13.480 Can I ask that question, Katie, because yeah, you make 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:15.560 your film, it's over, and then you have a new question. 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:19.600 And I don't think I ever asked this, but because 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:22.680 now I see Michael as this incredible role model, he's 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:25.840 become the spectacular human. Did you have any intention of 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:26.960 being this person? Now? 0:11:28.360 --> 0:11:31.960 No, I just wanted to drag all the beard and 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:33.000 going to their girlfriends. 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:36.640 It's always said, you know, in in forty years, you're 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:39.120 going to be this guy who starts a foundation. 0:11:38.800 --> 0:11:40.760 In this That's that's that's weird. 0:11:41.160 --> 0:11:42.280 That's weird. 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:44.720 I'm telling you what you know because you did it. 0:11:44.760 --> 0:11:47.800 But but this is moving towards. 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:52.160 Something and moving away from something, moving towards the signing 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:53.840 of his kid is gonna leave Canada? 0:11:53.960 --> 0:11:54.640 Who does that? 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:55.320 Right? 0:11:55.800 --> 0:12:01.160 You don't move from Canada to California at seventeen is preposterous. 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:03.560 I thought one of the great things about the film 0:12:03.720 --> 0:12:08.080 was I didn't realize how hard it was when you 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:11.040 first got to La I got you illustrated that really well. 0:12:11.120 --> 0:12:14.160 You know when when Michael had to sell his sectional couch, 0:12:14.320 --> 0:12:17.880 you know, bit by bit, how you know you were 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:20.960 living on McDonald's and you were eating I think you 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:24.040 said you would get those little jam or jelly packets 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:28.600 and eat those. I mean, yeah, yeah, I mean talk 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:32.720 about like a starving artist. But that was really fun 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:37.680 to watch those family ties moments, and particularly because Gary 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:40.800 David Goldberg did not want him. I remember reading about 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:43.600 this in any way, shape or form. He didn't want you, 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:46.840 Brandon Tartakoff didn't want you. Said you were never going 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:48.720 to be on the front of a lunch box, and 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:51.800 you send him a lunchbox with something like here I 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:56.440 am love Michael or whatever you're crowing. Oh yeah, oh 0:12:56.520 --> 0:13:01.079 this is this is to put your crow in. Well, 0:13:01.120 --> 0:13:03.240 you were kind of a dick a little bit, you know, 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:06.199 doing family ties. You got, as my mom would say, 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:09.520 a little big for your breeches, and you would admit that. 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:12.679 And that footage. 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:21.560 Very demanded shot and you could even tell that Justin 0:13:21.640 --> 0:13:24.760 Bateman was like rolling her eyes, like this guy is 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:30.679 so annoying and obnoxious, right, and yeah, no, I saw 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:35.560 how many shots and I saw it? Yeah, exactly, and 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:38.880 she's rolling her eyes. So you were being kind of 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:41.680 a tool and and got a little full of yourself. 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:46.520 And you talk about a scene you were in with 0:13:46.559 --> 0:13:50.240 Tracy Coolin, who is also a friend who I adore, 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:54.040 and she had garlic breath, and you made some joke 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:57.480 about how was that trump scampy, a. 0:13:57.440 --> 0:14:02.200 Little scampy for lunch, babe scampy when the documentarian has 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:03.880 to do the one liner, you're in trouble. 0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:07.719 The baby. 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:11.880 Tracy looked you in the eye and said that was 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:14.360 really mean, that was cruel and you were. 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:15.960 A complete fucking asshole. 0:14:16.080 --> 0:14:19.680 Yeah, and that really since you were the golden boy. 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:22.760 In fact, you saying the documentary nobody had really ever 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:23.760 talked to me like that. 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:28.600 Yeah, got a little chubby got a little chubby in 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:32.480 that moment, little turned on by how cool she was was. 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:38.000 Oh, you got a little chubby. Sorry, I didn't know 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:41.440 what you were talking about. That took me a few minutes. Okay, 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:50.360 well thanks for that. So but I was going to 0:14:50.440 --> 0:14:54.200 ask you, is that one of many things that attracted 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:57.440 you to her that she just like was direct and 0:14:57.520 --> 0:15:00.600 told you exactly what you needed to hear it that time. 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:04.120 Yeah, she's brilliant that way. She just can see things clearly. 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:06.720 And this is a really difficult time for her right 0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:09.480 now with me getting all this attention for this film, 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:14.040 because because she's not me, she's her and like to 0:15:14.080 --> 0:15:18.440 this day, I mean that, I love that. It makes 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:21.640 me full of love for her. I just think, yeah, absolutely, 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:23.400 she hadn't have partisans. 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:25.120 I have partisans. 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:28.000 She has experienced it every day and she has to 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:29.840 and I have to make sure I find the room 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:33.480 for her to be her separate from this. And that 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:35.240 was kind of like what you were saying that the 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:37.520 first thing I was saying, I'm not here to play 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:39.440 your game and I don't have. 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:42.680 To put up with your being a jerk. I'll just 0:15:42.760 --> 0:15:48.000 scrap Davis. I'm just curious as an outsider, as a filmmaker, 0:15:48.120 --> 0:15:50.400 someone who has spent time with both of them now 0:15:50.520 --> 0:15:56.680 a lot of time, what have you observed about their relationship, 0:15:56.800 --> 0:16:01.240 because they are just quite remarkable. 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:06.320 I agree, And one thing they share is devotion to family. 0:16:07.160 --> 0:16:10.560 Michael is a complete open book and making this movie, 0:16:10.600 --> 0:16:14.480 but both Tracy and Michael were protective of their family. 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:17.480 It's like, not just to keep them off camera, but 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:19.960 just to they have their own lives. I'm not I 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:23.400 don't speak for you, guys, but that's what Tracy and Hey, 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:27.040 this film shouldn't even remotely detract from what they're doing. 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:29.680 What they're doing in their own lives is more important 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:34.560 that devotion to family. I think is is really really beautiful. 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:37.240 But let's let's talk kids. 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:39.240 Up. 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:42.960 People said, said ask about Parkinsons. 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:45.760 They would not they didn't get it, they wouldn't get 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:47.480 the connection, they wouldn't like it was never a big 0:16:47.520 --> 0:16:50.840 part of our lives. Are my fame with a big 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:53.640 part of their lives their own lives are really interesting 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:56.160 people for sweet people, the very kind. 0:16:56.000 --> 0:16:59.680 People, very unpretentious and they're not of themselves. They never 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:03.320 right on your celebrity or trac and it's amazing that 0:17:03.520 --> 0:17:09.160 all of your kids turned out to be such normal, good, hardworking, 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:14.360 kind people. There's so many great stories and obviously the 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:19.080 foundation of the documentary is Michael talking. And how many 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:21.359 days did you spend doing those interviews? 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:23.920 I almost didn't do them at all. So my first 0:17:23.920 --> 0:17:26.800 idea was no interviews. I wanted just to make a 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:28.440 movie where you get lost in the footage. 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:29.359 Uh huh. 0:17:29.680 --> 0:17:31.679 What I pitched to Apple was I wanted to make 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:35.040 a documentary that felt like an eighties movie. And then 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:38.840 I did this commercial. This dpiece showed me the shot 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:41.440 where the camera's right here and Michael and I are 0:17:41.440 --> 0:17:44.439 like look at each other, like really really close. Usually, 0:17:44.720 --> 0:17:47.560 you know, sometimes you're ten feet away, right, and there's 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:49.800 lots of people and a guy geting a sandwich, and 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:56.040 you know, and this one angle, Michael could look me 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:57.920 in the eye, but it looks like he's looking into 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:01.719 the camera, right. I said, that's I'm going to try that. 0:18:02.320 --> 0:18:05.480 And we went to your office on Fifth Avenue and 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:08.080 we did that one interview and it was just electric. 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:11.320 Like you see in the movie. He's just so winning, 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:14.080 he's so charismatic, he's so funny, so. 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:17.120 Intimate and so honest and so so. 0:18:17.280 --> 0:18:21.280 Really honest, and I go, wow, this is the core 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:25.400 of the movie. And so that one setup we did 0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:28.080 six days over a year. 0:18:28.480 --> 0:18:28.760 Wow. 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:31.760 So the last thing we shot was that last one 0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:34.080 with your last therapy session with Ryan. 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:38.800 The process of even doing that interview was probably pretty 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:39.840 tiring for Michael. 0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:44.280 A lot happened in that year we're shooting. It was 0:18:44.720 --> 0:18:46.960 you call it, we tell your doctor. It was a 0:18:47.000 --> 0:18:48.240 festival self abuse. 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:50.560 I kept breaking him in. 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:52.919 You broke your hand. 0:18:52.920 --> 0:18:56.000 I broke both arms. I broke my shoulder, hit my 0:18:56.040 --> 0:19:01.240 shoulder replaced. I brought my face. I broke my elbow 0:19:02.680 --> 0:19:04.920 and it was really painful. It was in the hospital. 0:19:05.640 --> 0:19:06.600 I'm down for a good time. 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:11.200 I don't want to be a jerk anybody, but it's constantly, constantly, 0:19:11.880 --> 0:19:13.440 I always say, what do you think I'm doing? 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:17.760 And doing something else, and it's just the fact of 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:18.200 your life. 0:19:18.920 --> 0:19:22.040 Everything that I do, Like the movie, everything happens in 0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:27.120 the context of Negoshi with this thing. 0:19:27.640 --> 0:19:30.240 You know, I want to talk about three moments in 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:35.680 the movie that really affected me. So you were diagnosed 0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:38.080 at twenty nine and nineteen ninety one, is that right? 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:38.440 Yeah? 0:19:39.119 --> 0:19:43.760 And then you told the world you had it ninety 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:49.120 eight and you're dealing with so much and then you're 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:51.879 dealing with having to keep this a secret. And I 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:56.280 was curious, looking back on it, now, do you have 0:19:56.280 --> 0:20:00.240 any regrets about not telling the world? Was you were 0:20:00.280 --> 0:20:03.360 really afraid? And you talk about this in the film 0:20:03.840 --> 0:20:06.520 if people would accept you, if they would find you funny, 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:09.760 you know what the reaction would be. But at the 0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:14.200 same time, harboring this secret must have been so much 0:20:14.640 --> 0:20:15.920 pressure on you as well. 0:20:16.480 --> 0:20:17.440 Yeah, it was. It was hard. 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:21.560 I'm Tracy was amazing during that time, and she got 0:20:21.560 --> 0:20:24.399 me too, like like I had to figure out how 0:20:24.400 --> 0:20:27.199 to keep a secret and I quit drinking, So that 0:20:27.320 --> 0:20:29.520 was that was interesting. And then and then I was 0:20:29.600 --> 0:20:31.960 I was she was dangerous losing my marriage and losing 0:20:31.960 --> 0:20:36.639 my family. One of the things really affected me in 0:20:36.680 --> 0:20:39.879 a great way and paid off downline was when I 0:20:40.320 --> 0:20:43.359 said I had Parkinson's and all this fuss happened on 0:20:43.720 --> 0:20:48.160 tabloids and stuff, and I got these chat rooms with. 0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:51.880 The Parkinson's patients who didn't know it was me, and I. 0:20:51.960 --> 0:20:54.440 Talked to him and said, what about this Michael fun 0:20:55.359 --> 0:20:58.800 And they said, I love that he had Parkinson's. And 0:20:58.840 --> 0:21:01.760 when I got over the shock these people celebrating the 0:21:01.760 --> 0:21:02.560 fact that I had parties. 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:03.320 So I got it. 0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:06.240 I went, I get it, and then my goal began 0:21:06.600 --> 0:21:09.960 to get to the point where eventually got to I 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:12.480 could step into that and saying here's what I can't do, 0:21:12.520 --> 0:21:14.719 here's what I can't do, let's talk about it. 0:21:15.640 --> 0:21:19.919 So that's when you started the fat Foundation. You know, 0:21:20.800 --> 0:21:23.480 I did have to laugh when you used that sort 0:21:23.520 --> 0:21:27.399 of cloying Barbara Walters interview, May She Rest in Peace? 0:21:29.119 --> 0:21:36.880 That was sort of unctuous and inappropriate. What did she say, Davis. 0:21:36.800 --> 0:21:38.360 You're in the fight for your life. 0:21:38.800 --> 0:21:43.280 It's almost the way she said it more than her words, right, 0:21:43.480 --> 0:21:46.760 because you were afraid that audiences would treat you differently. 0:21:47.080 --> 0:21:49.680 And I love the line when Michael said, oh my god, 0:21:49.720 --> 0:21:53.520 what have I done, because he was now being subjected 0:21:53.680 --> 0:22:00.560 to that kind of maudlin pitying kind of interaction, and 0:22:00.600 --> 0:22:03.240 you were like, holy shit, was it better when I 0:22:03.320 --> 0:22:07.080 kept it a secret just for that nanosecond. The other 0:22:07.240 --> 0:22:11.320 moment that I was very taken by was when you 0:22:11.359 --> 0:22:14.800 were with your physical therapist. You said something along the 0:22:14.800 --> 0:22:19.679 lines Michael, of people are looking to me, they're looking 0:22:19.720 --> 0:22:23.960 to me fighting this disease, and I can't let them down. 0:22:24.960 --> 0:22:27.919 Your physical therapist said, you know, you don't always have 0:22:28.000 --> 0:22:31.160 to be Michael J. Fox, And it made me think 0:22:31.760 --> 0:22:35.359 what a huge responsibility and how unfair in many ways 0:22:35.440 --> 0:22:39.280 that was to you. And I wondered, Gosh, does Mike 0:22:39.359 --> 0:22:41.520 ever think I don't want to be the goddamn poster 0:22:41.720 --> 0:22:46.520 child for Parkinson's disease. I wondered about that, because you've 0:22:46.560 --> 0:22:49.359 got so much you're dealing with already, as you said, 0:22:49.840 --> 0:22:55.160 simultaneously navigating what's happening in your brain every moment while 0:22:55.280 --> 0:22:58.000 trying to carry on a conversation while trying to walk 0:22:58.040 --> 0:23:00.960