Michael J Fox ‘personally rang director’ to make acting return six years after retiring from Hollywood
Michael J. Fox appeared on our screens in his first acting role since 2020 this week in a touching scene in TV show Shrinking.
The Apple TV hit stars Jason Segel as a grieving therapist who gets himself pretty involved in his patients’ lives. The series also features Harrison Ford as his boss, who is getting his head around his ongoing struggle with Parkinson’s disease.
And making this new season pretty special, there’s an appearance from Michael J. Fox.
This marks a return to acting for the legend, who retired from Hollywood around six years ago. Fox himself was diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s in 1991 at the age of 29 and began to find his symptoms were making it difficult to work.
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But bingeing his way through Shrinking, he saw an opportunity.
The Back to the Future actor ended up personally calling the show's co-creator Bill Lawrence himself and told the Los Angeles Times he simply asked: “Bill, why the f**k am I not on the show?”
Fox said he was moved by Shrinking, referring to it as ‘so human’ and ‘accessible' as he recalled thinking: “I know what that is.”
In the new season, Ford’s character Paul notices a progression of his Parkinson’s and books himself in for a visit to the doctor’s.
Here, he encounters Gerry (Fox) who asks him what he’s in for. “Parkinson’s,” Paul says. “You?”
And Gerry comically responds: “Just a haircut.”
The pair go on to chat about their disease and the various symptoms, before Fox’s character concludes: “Enough whining.
“I’m still here, so f**k Parkinson’s.”
Paul echoes this as he follows his doctor: “F**k Parkinson’s.”
Lawrence explained that Fox really could have made a cameo as himself, but had said he wanted ‘to play a character’ which was ‘so much cooler’ for the team.
The actor explained that when he previously came out of retirement to appear in the likes of Boston Legal and The Good Wife, he discovered a ‘new niche’.
“Which is do characters that had some kind of flaw and taking my Parksinsonian issues and translate that,” he explained, referencing his Boston Legal character’s cancer.
But with Shrinking, it was different as he explained it’s not necessarily a full return to acting.
“The depth of character, the quality of relationships, the language — it’s just a beautiful show,” Fox said. “And I thought, just do that for its own sake. I don’t have an agenda. Don’t have to be coming back into acting or anything. It’ll be fun. And there’s Harrison Ford, which is insane.”
He added that coming out of retirement is ‘not the beginning of any campaign to reestablish my career’.
Shrinking is now streaming on Apple TV.
Topics: TV and Film, Celebrity, Health, Apple
Jess Battison