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Michael J. Fox told the Los Angeles Times ahead of his return to acting in “Shrinking” Season 3 that his decision to leave the profession behind six years ago “was non-emotional and kind of ok.” The icon had a guest role on the legal drama “The Good Fight” at the time. The year was 2020.
“I was doing … ‘The Good Fight’ — I confused it with Kiefer [Sutherland’s] show [‘Designated Survivor’] because both shows, I had similar issues,” Fox said. “They’re both very legal. I’d have to read screeds of legalese. I couldn’t get it. When I did ‘The Good Fight,’ I had just seen one of my favorite movies, ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,’ and there was a great scene where Leo [DiCaprio] goes back in his room and just lays into himself in the mirror and just goes insane and drinking and crying at his lack of ability to memorize lines and I found myself, similarly, in front of a mirror and I went: Meh! I can’t do it. I can’t do this anymore.” So, let’s just get this puppy done as best I can and … move on with my life. So that’s what I did.”
Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1991 and publicly announced his condition in 1998. He was the star of the ABC sitcom “Spin City” at the time, a show he gave up in 2000 during the show’s fourth season because his Parkinson’s symptoms were already making it difficult to be on set. That was the first time Fox retired, although he was ultimately lured back to acting by “Spin City” co-creator Bill Lawrence.
“I had retired from ‘Spin City’ and I didn’t really want to do anything,” Fox said when Lawrence called him to do a guest role on “Scrubs,” an offer he accepted. “I did the show and I loved it and [had] all these great offers for things — I discovered this new niche, which is do characters that had some kind of flaw and taking my Parksinsonian issues and translate that into cancer on ‘Boston Legal’ and a form of Parkinsonism on ‘The Good Wife.’”
Now it’s happened again with Lawrence’s “Shrinking,” which includes a main storyline that features Harrison Ford’s character living with Parkinson’s. Fox watched the show and thought its representation of Parkinson’s was so spot on that he called Lawrence personally to make an appearance.
“The depth of character, the quality of relationships, the language — it’s just a beautiful show,” Fox told The Times. “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.”Fox stressed that coming out of retirement after half a decade is “not the beginning of any campaign to reestablish my career.” He originally announced his acting retirement in 2020 via his book, “No Time Like the Future,” where he told fans that his Parkinson’s was making it too difficult to be on set and to memorize lines. But on the “Shrinking” set, it didn’t matter.
“It was the first time ever I get to show up on-set, and I didn’t have to worry about am I too tired or coughing or anything,” Fox told People magazine last year. “I just do it. It was really good, because for the moments when I say, ‘I’m not going to be able to do this,’ then I say, ‘Well, I’ll just deal with how I can’t do it in the scene.’ And you get through it.”
“Shrinking” Season 3 is now streaming on Apple TV. Head over to the Los Angeles Times’ website to read more from Fox’s latest interview.
