While technically Canadian, Michael J. Fox is one of America’s most beloved actors. Fueled by an inability to be still, he’s been moving since the day he was born. That tenacity propelled him through his childhood and, years later, the difficult and nebulous waters of Hollywood. Rejections would have sent many young hopefuls packing…but not Mike.
Perseverance and attitude prevailed and Fox was rewarded with film and TV work that charted an unparalleled course few actors have been able to replicate or even follow. One of the best words that could describe this pint-sized Canuck is “joyful” – his delivery and smile elicits a laugh every single time. Fox may seem care-free, but like a duck his feet going a mile-a-minter under water. It’s eye-opening to learn in this doc that while his career was on fire, Michael was, as he puts it “in an acid bath of fear and professional insecurity.“
Directed by Davis Guggenheim and jaw-dropping editing by Michael Harte, Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie gives us a candid look at Michael then and now. But it also lets us in on the secretes he felt the need to hide. Full of worry, fear, and doubt, it was endlessly reassuring when Fox finally reveled his diagnosis, the fans only loved him more. It also shows the unbelievable support he got from Tracy who was, and will always be, his anchor.
So it’s quite fitting that if you were to score a film about the above mentioned ex-patriot, you would look for a composer who speaks joy with every instrument in the symphony. Who better than John Powell who, after writing for Ants, Chickens, Penguins, Bulls and Dragons now lends his creative heft to a story about a Fox.
Powell has a proficiency for robust, muscular and operatic themes and that comes from a lifetime of being in and around music. His father was a session musician and played in the Royal Philharmonic, (the RPO), and young Powell played trombone and attended the Church of England. Music opened the door to him to understand what words couldn’t explain playing violin and later the viola. He also saw how music changed when playing solo versus with other musicians and artists.
Classical composers were what he studied, but modern artists like Patty Smith, Kate Bush, and Peter Gabriel expanded Powell’s interest in music and his palate. That led him to music, college studying composition, where he later wrote music for advertisements where he met, of all people, a young Hans Zimmer, which soon led him to L.A. and the rest is history.
As this was John’s first doc, he admits to being a bit out of his league. But thanks to spotting sessions with Guggenheim and seeing edits of the film, he soon learned that if he matched the joy in Michael, he could find his themes very easily.
Going back to what his father taught him, John’s scores are full of instances where he over emphasizes rhythm and percussion. It’s evident in tracks like “That’s Boring” and “Life at the Beach” and just what you need to try to keep up with this spry Fox. But he also pulls from some tension he gave the Bourne series and then turns to melt our hearts with the chamber music and piano work. It’s tremendous. We go into all that and more, so please enjoy this extra-special chat with composer John Powell!
The film, which will incorporate documentary, archival and scripted elements, will recount Fox’s extraordinary story in his own words — the improbable tale of an undersized kid from a Canadian army base who rose to the heights of stardom in 1980s Hollywood. The account of Fox’s public life, full of nostalgic thrills and cinematic gloss, will unspool alongside his never-before-seen private journey, including the years that followed his diagnosis, at 29, with Parkinson’s disease. Intimate and honest, and produced with unprecedented access to Fox and his family, the film will chronicle Fox’s personal and professional triumphs and travails and will explore what happens when an incurable optimist confronts an incurable disease. With a mix of adventure and romance, comedy and drama, watching the film will feel like … well, like a Michael J. Fox movie.
