Shrinking cocreator Bill Lawrence revealed Michael J. Fox had a hand in shaping the show’s portrayal of Parkinson’s disease.
“It’s cool to get to write about things you care about now,” Lawrence, 56, told People in an interview published on Saturday, December 28. “And Michael J. Fox is my first mentor. So we wanted to represent it in hopefully an inspiring and not sad or tragic way.”
Fox, 63, starred in Spin City, the first show Lawrence cocreated, from 1996 to 2002. The actor revealed his diagnosis with Parkinson’s disease while the series was airing in 1998.
For Shrinking, Lawrence said in the upcoming season 3 of the series he became “obsessed with showing the portrait of living with it.”
Related: Michael J. Fox’s Biggest ‘Still’ Documentary Revelations
The importance of stillness. As Michael J. Fox reflects on his enormously successful career and his 32-year battle with Parkinson’s disease, the Back to the Future star finds crucial moments of quiet contemplation in his new documentary, Still. The Apple TV+ film, which premiered on the streaming service on Friday, May 12, features candid interviews […]
“I found the first mentor in my life and career, Michael J. Fox, to be so inspiring with the way he took it in stride and continues to work harder than anybody I know,” he said. “And we want to kind of carry that spirit if we can into the show.”
Lawrence shared that both he and cocreator Brett Goldstein have a “deep history” with Parkinson’s as both their fathers battle the disease. Lawrence noted that he “generally has kind of attacked tough situations with comedy in his actual life.”
“It takes you a while as a writer to realize what your voice is — I think mine is hopeful and optimistic by nature,” he said. “I suck in the inspiring people around me, and I steal from them as much as I possibly can.”
Shrinking stars Jason Segel as Jimmy Laird, a therapist who is grieving in the wake of his wife’s death. As he grapples with moving forward, he throws himself into his job — where he works with senior therapist Dr. Paul Rhoades (Harrison Ford), who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s.
Ford, for his part, told the outlet earlier this month that he takes his storyline — and the responsibility that comes with it — “deadly f—ing seriously.”
“There are people that absorb these kinds of experiences with grace and courage and a little bit of wisdom,” Ford, 82, said in a December 12 interview. “It’s just to say that this is a person particularly equipped to communicate what it’s like, and that is something that I feel that is worth sharing with our audience.”
Ford noted that he feels like he’s “telling a story,” adding, “The story I’m telling is a story that I know, and so I can just simply feel it.”
Shrinking season 2 is streaming now on AppleTV+.
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