Shrinking creator Bill Lawrence said his long friendship with Michael J Fox influenced the way Parkinson’s disease is portrayed in the award-winning drama.
In Shrinking, Harrison Ford’s character Paul, a mental health professional, has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s, a brain disorder that can cause tremors, stiffness, balance and coordination problems and painful muscle contractions, the newspaper said. Mayo Clinic.
During An Evening with Shrinking at PaleyLive on December 12, 56-year-old Lawrence said People that his father and the father of co-creator Brett Goldstein have both been diagnosed with the disease.
“It’s cool to write about things that matter to you right now,” the Emmy winner said.
“And Michael J. Fox is my first mentor. So we wanted to represent it in a hopefully inspiring and not sad or tragic way.”
Lawrence and Fox collaborated on the hit comedy Spin City, which aired from 1996-2002.
Michael J Fox, 63, served as the inspiration for Harrison Ford’s character Paul in the award-winning comedy Shrinking. “Michael J. Fox is my first mentor. So we wanted to represent it hopefully in an inspiring way and not a sad or tragic way,” says co-creator Bill Lawrence
In 1998, the Back to the Future star, 63, revealed he had been diagnosed with the disorder.
“I found the first mentor in my life and career, Michael J. Fox, so inspiring in the way he handled it and continues to work harder than anyone else,” the writer and director explained.
“And we want to convey that spirit, if we can, in the show.”
Season two ended on December 24 on Apple TV+.
Lawrence revealed he already has plans for season three and Paul’s journey shows he’s “obsessed with showing the portrait of living with it.”
“I soak up the inspiring people around me, and I steal as much as I can from them,” he explained, adding that he has “generally attacked difficult situations with humor in his real life.”
“As a writer, it takes a while to realize what your voice is; I think mine is naturally hopeful and optimistic.”
Lawrence, 56, first worked with Fox on the hit sitcom Spin City, which aired from 1996-2002. Fox revealed his Parkinson’s disease diagnosis in 1998 and found “Michael J. Fox so inspiring in the way he dealt with it and continues to work harder than anyone I know”
Ford, 82, said he takes his portrayal of Paul “deadly f**king seriously.” “There are people who take in these kinds of experiences with grace, courage and a little bit of wisdom,” he said, “and that is something I think is worth sharing with our audience” (pictured in Los Angeles on 13 December)
Ford, 82, said he takes his portrayal of Paul “deadly f**king seriously.”
“There are people who take in these kinds of experiences with grace, courage and a little bit of wisdom,” he said.
“I just want to say that this is a person who is extremely well equipped to communicate what it’s like, and that’s something that I think is worth sharing with our audience.”
“It feels like I’m telling a story,” the Oscar nominee explained. “The story I’m telling is a story I know, and so I can just feel it.”