New York, .- The actor Michael J. Fox gave a lesson of optimism this Tuesday at the Tribeca film festival in New York, where he was honest about the difficulties of living with Parkinson’s disease, which was diagnosed to the 29 years, and accept that “each step is an adventure”.
The audience gave applause and praise to the interpreter of the mythical trilogy “Back To The Future” (Back to the Future) while this starred in a talk about his career with actor Denis Leary, with whom he shared jokes and a visible harmony forged after years of friendship.
“After my spinal surgery it was difficult to learn to walk, I strutted around without help or a cane and then I broke my humerus, which is no fucking joke,” the actor explicitly said, who then said that “each step is a adventure”.
Fox published a book on optimism in 2008 (“Always Looking Up: The adventures of an incurable optimist”) but, according to Leary, that paradoxically brought out “his dark side of humor”, which allows him to express “the deep anger of a good way “and keep fighting.
However, the interpreter, who has devoted almost 20 years to activism and philanthropic work to finance the Parkinson’s research, admitted that rather than “selling” the idea of ​​optimism what he wants is to encourage those who suffer in some way.
“Sometimes I feel I do not want to sell this optimism, because people have problems, real depression, and go through things in their lives that I can not conceive, I just want to go and just say: ‘Cheer up,’ he explained.
In that sense, he invited the attendees to reconcile, if necessary, with any situation “that stinks” trying to look at “the general experience” and thinking “how that event fits into the life trajectory”.
“If I have Parkinson’s, it can be just an amorphous patch taking control of my life, or it can be something I can consider and be willing to face, and then it happens to be this size,” said Fox, representing with his hands a problem that decline.
Leary, who strengthened ties with Fox when he received him as a guest on the series “Rescue Me,” was “amazed” at the “lesson in optimism” that his friend had just given and, knowing the recovery process he faced, explained that it does not show a “stupid” optimism, but real.
Over an hour, the two actors exchanged admiring comments, especially from Leary to Fox, as he highlighted his “legacy” in the world of comedy and claimed that “there is no talk of his dramatic performances, and that is the second part of his career. “
Fox said with humility that he did not know much about acting, beyond what people and some professors have taught him: “I learned that if you laugh, you keep laughing, and if you cry, cry until you can not anymore. and you just keep going. “
The good humor of the actor and philanthropist is also reflected in the comedy events that he has organized each year for the benefit of his foundation, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, and in which he later plays the guitar on stage as if it was a “rock star”, revealed Leary.
Precisely both recalled with laughter a year in which the boxer Muhammad Ali was a surprise guest and had to hide in a closet so that Fox did not know, and when he took the stand later with the magician David Blaine, surprised him with his own tricks, which left the professional stunned.
Asked about his projects, Fox said he was writing a new book, although it was not clear if he meant it, by communicating with a laugh that will be called “Why are not we a disaster?” (EFEUSA)
