Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 5, 1993 TAG: 9306050208
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: C-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD CAMP FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM
DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO LENGTH: Medium
Growing up on television, it's somewhat surprising that Fox would be attracted to roles that lampoon his place in Hollywood, but he's done it several times. In "The Hard Way," he played a spoiled star who tired of popcorn parts and longed to make "real" movies. In "Doc Hollywood," he was an idealistic internist who dreamed of life as a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon. And in his latest film, "Life With Mikey," Fox is a television has-been who struggles to make a living as an adult after success as a child star.
Self-effacing comedy aside, Michael J. Fox is not an actor who's above making fun of the industry within which he works while taking pot shots at himself along the way.
"I used to answer a lot of questions about, `Am I trying to change an image?' And the question is `Am I trying to change an audience?' " Fox said recently while promoting "Life With Mikey." "I'm not, and I never was. I never really thought I had an image. What I have is an identification with a group of people that are comfortable with me.
"So because they're comfortable with me, I can approach my work differently than other actors and I can wink at an audience in the middle of a performance. I can do a job, tell a story, hopefully do it well, have them believe in the character and at the same time, I can sit beside them and nudge them and say, `Look at this,"' he said.
After starring in both "The Hard Way" and now "Life With Mikey," Fox describes his two industry-oriented pictures as "the ghosts that could have been."
"`The Hard Way' is about what it would be like if I did take it as seriously as I think sometimes people want me to. If I was this Napoleonic idiot in a mansion screaming that I wanted to do Hamlet, I'd drive myself nuts!" Fox said.
"And `Life With Mikey,' . . . if things had been different and it didn't continue on the way it has, I might be this sad, bitter kind of guy. I'll never have the answer to that, but I can goof around in my work and explore it a little bit and hopefully make people laugh and have a good time."
After a successful career in movies that run the gamut of genres including fantasy/action, like Bob Zemeckis' "Back to the Future" trilogy; comedy, like "The Secret of My Success" and his latest pictures; and hard-hitting drama like "Bright Lights, Big City" and "Casualties of War," Fox has been anything but a slouch in the diversity department.
His aforementioned list of things to do includes promoting his next movie, "For Love or Money," also due out this summer from "Addams Family" director Barry Sonnenfeld. And he starts work on "Greed" with "Fatal Attraction" director Jonathan Lynn shortly thereafter.
Despite his regular work schedule and a seemingly endless demand for film appearances, it's Fox's good humor and lack of concern for all things Hollywood that keeps him grounded. He says it's an attitude he tried to foster even when he was starting out, a period usually filled with egotistical optimism.
"I remember when `Family Ties' was just starting and it was just before `Back to the Future.' There were all these young actors that came up at the same time and it seemed like every one of them could have sat down and told you what they were trying to be, except me," he said. "Because I had no concept. I had no idea what I was trying to do."
Fox avoids the glitz and glamour of movie stardom by spending time with his wife and former "Family Ties" co-star Tracy Pollon, and their 4-year-old son, Sam.
"I think it helps not living in LA, not reading Variety everyday, or Entertainment Weekly, People, and Us and not watching `Entertainment Tonight,' `Showbiz Today' and `E: Entertainment Television,' " Fox said. "I'm in the back yard reading Audubon and when I turn on the TV, I watch ESPN. It's just not my world except when I'm working, and when I'm working, it's what I do."
If his lack of concern gives you the impression he really doesn't care where his career goes next, you're probably right.
"If this movie opens this summer and does well, great. If it doesn't, hey, others have, others will. And people get disappointed because they want to hear how much it means to me," Fox said. "I just spent two weeks with my son. He couldn't get out of the house because he had chicken pox. That's a real deal. He's up at 4 in the morning because he's itchy, and I've got to draw a bath for him. It's much more important to me than other stuff."
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