Tag Archives: Dennis Leary
Michael J. Fox Is Having Fun Playing Bitter, Nasty & Paralyzed.
Posted on 08. Nov, 2008 by CSS.
The characters that Michael J. Fox has portrayed have always been popular. In Family Ties, Alex P. Keaton was his parent’s, and sisters’, biggest nightmare, but when push came to shove, he had a heart. The role propelled him to 80’s teen superstar, even though he was over 21 when he started playing the high school uber-Republican. Marty McFly, his character in the Back to the Future franchise, started out as kind of a goofy jerk, but ended up a hero. And Fox’s Mike Flaherty in Spin City was certainly more likeable than his successor, Charlie Crawford, played by Charlie Sheen.
So, after years of being the good guy in everything, Fox is enjoying his turn as a bad guy in Rescue Me. Fox takes on an even bigger challenge physically, playing paralyzed. Michael was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease almost 20 years ago, a degenerative nerve disorder which can cause tremors.
“The funny part is me playing a paralyzed guy because I am the opposite of paralyzed,” he tells Entertainment Tonight in an interview airing this evening. “It’s tricky just to even just to be still.”
The character is a far cry from the good guys Michael usually plays on screen, which will be another stretch for the veteran actor, one he’s looking forward to.
“[Dennis Leary] called me up and described [the character],” he says. “He is really dark and misanthropic. He’s bitter and nasty. It’s really fun.”
-From Ok! Magazine
Many actors have said how much more interesting it is to play complexly negative characters but it has to be especially fun for someone like Fox. Having been typecast his entire career as the annoying but lovable guy next door, it could be cathartic to play a jerk, release his inner demons in character, so to speak. Only, Michael J. Fox doesn’t seem to have inner demons.
Although the beloved actor has been struggling with the disease for a long time, Michael has remained optimistic about his condition, saying he’s “pretty good all things considered,” and penning Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist, due out this spring.
“If you’re never down you’ll never know how good it feels to be up,” he tells ET. “It’s a great ride and I wouldn’t change a thing. I love my life for whatever difficulties there are.”
-From OK! Magazine
Fox could rightfully feel bad about the hand he’s been dealt, so you have to respect the indomitable spirit he seems to have. Michael and his wife, Tracy Pollan, whom he met when she played his girlfriend on Family Ties, have four kids who grew up watching their father fight Parkinson’s. I’m sure they had alot to do with Fox’s choice to look at things in the most positive light.
Michael J. Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991 and established the Michael J. Fox Foundation to support research for the disease. He is an ardent and outspoken advocate for stem cell research as a means to cure Parkinson’s and other diseases.
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Jenny McCarthy: Announces Dennis Leary is "Stupid"
Posted on 19. Oct, 2008 by CSS.
All for good reason, trust me the comment didn’t come without warrant- check it out:
Outspoken actress Jenny McCarthy has plenty to say to Denis Leary, who makes jokes about autism in his new book Why We Suck: A Feel-Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid.
“Whoo! First of all, let me tell you, the autism community has received probably 10,000 emails [saying] ‘Go kill him!’ ‘Go yell at him,’” McCarthy, 36, told Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush.
“[But] it’s so hard to even get up enough juice in me or energy in me to even try to fight someone that is obviously stupid.”
Autism activist McCarthy is featured in the current issue of Us Weekly discussing how her son recovered from the brain-development disorder that impairs a person’s ability to communicate.
Leary, 51 — whose book was quoted in newspapers as saying people diagnosed with autism are “stupid. Or lazy. Or both” — issued a statement to Us October 16, saying his words were taken out of context.
“I thought I made my feelings about autism very clear: that I not only support the current rational approaches to the diagnoses and treatment of real autism but have witnessed it firsthand while watching very dear old friends raise a functioning autistic child,” he says.
Still, McCarthy is not moved by his explanation.
“This community has been through so much and to compare and use the word ‘dumb-ass lazy’ with autism, it’s just not fair. Mind you, I have not read his chapter that he has said he has been misunderstood,” she says. “So I can’t comment too much.”
McCarthy isn’t the first celebrity to respond to Leary’s words. Holly Robinson Peete, who has an autistic son, told Us, “Autism is not a good punchline.”
-From Us Weekly
