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 difficulties, and painful muscle contractions, according to the Mayo Clinic.
On An Evening with Shrinking on PaleyLive on December 12, Lawrence, 56, said People that his father and co-creator Brett Goldstein’s father have been diagnosed with the disease.
“It’s great to be able to write about things that matter to you now,” the Emmy winner said.
And Michael J. Fox is my first mentor. So we wanted to portray it in a way that was inspiring and not sad or tragic.”
Lawrence and Fox worked together on the hit comedy Spin City, which aired from 1996 to 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 portray it in a way that was inspiring and not sad or tragic,” said co-creator Bill Lawrence.
In 1998, the Back to the Future star, 63, revealed that she had been diagnosed with the disorder.
“I found the first mentor in my life and career, Michael J. Fox, to be very inspiring in the way he took it in stride and continues to work harder than anyone I know,” the writer-director explained.
“And we want to bring that spirit, if we can, to the show.”
The second season concluded on December 24 on Apple TV+.
Lawrence revealed that he already has plans for season three and Paul’s journey reveals that he is “obsessed with showing the portrait of living with it.”
“I embrace the inspiring people around me and steal from them as much as I can,” he explained, adding that he’s “usually attacked difficult situations with comedy in his real life.”
“As a writer, it takes a while to realize what your voice is; I think mine is hopeful and optimistic by nature.”
Lawrence, 56, first worked with Fox on the hit comedy Spin City, which aired from 1996 to 2002. Fox revealed his Parkinson’s disease diagnosis in 1998 and found “Michael J. Fox to be very inspiring for the way he took it in stride and continues to work harder than anyone I know.
Ford, 82, said he takes his portrayal of Paul as “the damn mortal king” seriously. “There are people who absorb these kinds of experiences with grace, courage and a little wisdom,” he said, and I think that’s something worth sharing with our audience. (Pictured in Los Angeles on December 13).
Ford, 82, said he takes his portrayal of Paul as the “mortal fucking king” seriously.
“There are people who absorb these types of experiences with grace, courage and a little wisdom,” he said.
“I just want to say that this is a person uniquely equipped to communicate how things are, and I think that’s something worth sharing with our audience.”
“I feel 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.”