[ Music ] ^M00:00:09 >> Sponsored by the James Madison Council and the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the National Endowment for the Humanities. ^M00:00:20 ^M00:00:27 [ Music ] ^M00:00:37 >> Roswell Encina: Welcome to the National Book Festival. I'm Roswell Encina. Today, we are joined by actor, philanthropist, and writer, the legendary Michael J. Fox. His new book is No Time Like the Future. And welcome Michael J. Fox to the National Book Festival. How are you? >> Michael J. Fox: I'm fine Roswell. Thank you. How are you? >> Roswell Encina: I'm doing great. So, I've got to ask you, we've all been going through this, like the entire country, the whole world has collectively experienced, you know, a very devastating thing. How are you and your family coping through all this. >> Michael J. Fox: Well, it was an amazing experience for us as it was for everybody else, and it happened on so many different levels. I think, I wrote the book, much of the book during the quarantine, while my family was quarantining. And I called my producers, not my editor, but my partner [inaudible]. I dictate to her, and she types it up, so we're on, of course, virtual, we were on, we were on Facetime. And I would just sit there and dictate my book and read from my notes that only I can read, and then she would write, and it got to where I would leave the room and go get a class of water for myself, and I'd bring one back for her, because I couldn't, she was in this box, but she was in the room with me. And it became that way with everybody in my life. My mother, who is in Canada, and I'm just, people existing in other realities, and it takes some getting used to. But it was an interesting time because it was very, it was such a personal memoir at a time when my concerns were global, in my own world, my concerns were global, but my concerns professionally were very personal. And then, I think one complemented the other, the experiences intermingled. But my family and I were in quarantine, took shelter for months, months, and it was really an amazing time. We did a lot of reading. We did a lot of talking. We did a lot of eating. We did a lot of sharing. And it was really, a real privilege. And all the time we were aware of what it was for other people and what they were experiencing, people [inaudible] never seeing loved ones again, and it was a difficult time for the country, but I think people are coming through it. >> Roswell Encina: Yeah, I know you've written several books through the course of your career. Why did you decide this book at this time? >> Michael J. Fox: This book just kind of happened. I was going to write a book about golf. I read a book about golf. It gave me a nice kind of second wind in terms of socially an athletically, and it was a nice thing for that point in my life. So, I was reading this book about golf, making notes and that, but my notes would kind of go off golf, and they'd start to go out [inaudible] about Parkinson's, because I was going to try and do this Venn diagram of golf and Parkinson's. And you know, they both suck, and they both are really hard. And so, it started to go that way. Then I got this spinal thing, a tumor on my spine, and I had that operated on. Then I broke my arm, and in the recovery from that, the spinal, I had to learn to walk again, and I fell and hurt myself. And I just, I found my optimism, my much valued optimism leaving the scene quickly. I mean it was just vacating me. I went into lemonade business. It just really reached a dark point for me. And as I experienced it and I came through it, with a lot of lessons learned from Gus, my dog, and my father-in-law, not necessarily in that order, but so many people in my life, my wife, Tracy, my kids, my friends. I saw, some of the, we'll get to it eventually in the conversation, but with gratitude, optimism becomes sustainable. I just got that. It just came to me, and I said, that's what it is. You can get through anything [inaudible]. ^M00:04:55 >> Roswell Encina: I know that was your advice from your father-in-law when he said that. How much did that sustain you and your family through this past year? >> Michael J. Fox: A lot. Because I really started to see it. I mean it wasn't just words. It was like I could see my gratitude and I could see it in an offhand remark of one of my children one day, [inaudible] but some remark, and again, I just felt, well, that's amazing. It's a shame that all the stuff in Minneapolis that happened, in the middle of the COVID. [inaudible] made such profound pronouncements about it and [inaudible] of their solidarity and their concern, and I was just like, wow. This is, I hate that this is happening, but I love that it's bringing this out in my kids and bringing this out among their friends. It was just an interesting time because for every rock, you turn it, and you see what's on the other side. It could be gold on the other side. It's just, and we have to especially think that way now, because it's so easy to make a negative choice, to make a negative turn, and we just really, really need to make positive, forthright, forward step. >> Roswell Encina: And I know, you mentioned it earlier, a lot of people are familiar with the term, you know, when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. At the very beginning of the book you said, you know, I'm out of the lemonade business. I mean if you can't sustain, you know, being optimistic and positive, how are the rest of us mere mortals able to go through the rest of this. So -- >> Michael J. Fox: Well, I said -- I'm sorry, go ahead. >> Roswell Encina: No, I was going to ask you like what's your advice to everyone who are still suffering or languishing as we go get to the other side of this pandemic? >> Michael J. Fox: Well, I would say whether it has to do with the pandemic or whether it has to do with ancillary side issues that come up, employment issues or family issues or any, education issues, is just that, [inaudible] I don't mean to glib, but accept it. Accept, see what it is, look at what it is, don't be afraid to look at it, and don't be afraid to look at all the nasty corners of it and all the stuff that [inaudible], and don't look at what's not there. Look at what's there. It doesn't take up all your life. I doesn't take up all your strength. There's still room for you to thrive around the edges, and eventually that'll shrink the central problem. It's just, it's just holding onto that, holding onto that. Like I said, that's the other thing. You need to be grateful. You need to be grateful. You may not like your working conditions, but be grateful you have a job, and then you [inaudible] from there. Or you may not like teaching your kids over the computer but be grateful that they're still in school in some fashion. I mean it's all, my position, my circumstance, when I [inaudible] I said that about lemonade, and I said a lot of other things, I was sitting under the phone on the wall in my kitchen with my shattered arm, I shattered my humerus. It was all torn up and useless, and I'm waiting for the ambulance, and I called my assistant, and she called an ambulance. And so, I had this time. It was kind of like the young, I don't remember what I was saying, the young student under the [inaudible], you know. I was on the kitchen floor or something [inaudible] with a broken arm, and I just said, who am I to tell people to be optimistic. Because I'm miserable right now. I'm really angry, and I'm frustrated with myself, and I'm angry. I'm not angry at anybody. I'm angry at me for letting this happen. The Parkinson's wasn't my fault. I couldn't do anything about that. The spinal tumor wasn't my fault. But the falling was my fault, because I was not careful, and then by not being careful, I was not being respectful to my doctors and my health care people that help me, my family that stuck by me through my rehabilitation and my friends. ^M00:09:52 And I just felt that I'd let them all down. And I thought, I thought, I let the Parkinson's community down because I'm telling them to chin up, and it'll all be okay and look forward to the cure, and then here I am whining and drooling on the floor of my kitchen. So, that was the low point. But it's okay to go there. I mean that's what I learned. And so, it's good to go there, it's good to go to that low point and really look around and get help if you need it and find answers to your questions. But what you can't do is run away from it. You can't [inaudible] happen. >> Roswell Encina: You have an amazing support system between your wife, your kids, your in-law, your friends, your golfing buddies, and your dog, Gus. You know, on behalf of the Library of Congress, we want to send our condolences to you and your family regarding Gus. How big did Gus play, your family play in bringing you back up? >> Michael J. Fox: But Gus was, my son went to college, it was the year that President Obama was elected, 2008, and he, and I was joking, I was with my three daughters and my wife, and I was drowning in a sea of estrogen. I had no male contacts in the house. So, we were on vacation at Martha's Vineyard, and I saw and ad on a bulletin board outside a community store, and it was for this dog. They called [inaudible] time, but it was this, you could tell it was a puppy, but you could tell it was going to be huge. And I liked the idea of a huge dog. So, I took note of it, and I went home. And Tracy had, she was on a bike ride [inaudible] and saw this billboard. I said [inaudible] you saw that? And she said, yeah. And I said, well, let's go find this dog. So, we tracked down the owner and went and saw the dog, and I just immediately knew. And he, as I took him, and he got bigger, he was 30 pounds when I got him. He was 120 pounds at his biggest. And he would, he knew that I had issues, and he would, he never jumped on me. He never even pushed me. He never put weight on me. He was always really careful with other people. I have these pictures right here. ^M00:12:23 ^M00:12:28 Pictures here of when I would, when I would work out and do yoga and stuff. If I was complaining that the exercise was too strenuous and I made a noise, he'd get really concerned, and he'd come over and he'd sit on the mat, and he just like, he protected me. I was doing it virtually with my trainer and my physical therapist over the voice, Facebook, Facetime, so he would hear that voice, and he'd come running in to protect me. And that's Gus in a nutshell. >> Roswell Encina: I do want to ask you about your father-in-law, Tracy's father. He gave you some great advice that you talk about in the book. He says, with gratitude, optimism becomes sustainable. I think those are very wise words that we could all kind of hold onto. How much did he mean to you and how much did his word help you? >> Michael J. Fox: He was a great man. He was really, he was a really pure -- his optimism and his, his optimism and his positive energy was so real. There was nothing at all synthetic about it. He just [inaudible] it gets better. It gets better, and he, when I had to [inaudible]. One of my favorite things I ever had to say in my life was, sentences I ever got to utter was, Steve, this is President Obama. President Obama, this is my father-in-law, Steve. And it was like, that was a great moment. So, you lived to please to him, but he a law firm, a law practice, and he would help people make decisions, life decision, whether to buy a house, whether to keep your old job or get a new job and do whatever, make big decisions in life, about the children or whatever, and he had a sign on his desk that said professional fear remover. And that the best description of him I could think of. He could just, could zone in on your fear and alleviate it by telling you the possibilities that you had, that you didn't even know you had, the capability to do certain things. I mean you can say no to people. You can say yes to things. ^M00:14:55 He'd say get the house. Get the new job. Have another kid. All positive stuff, and he helped me out a lot during when, when I first diagnosed, and I was struggling with the idea that I'd married this beautiful, vivacious, amazing, intelligent, brilliant woman, and then saddled her with this potential health outcome. And she was really great, basically she's been really supportive. But he said, don't worry, you know, I told him, I said, I feel bad for your daughter because she's in this situation. And he said, [inaudible]. >> Roswell Encina: I was at a commencement over the weekend, and somebody asked the students who were graduating what have they learned from this past year or has it changed them. What do you tell your kids in your optimistic way of what happens now post this pandemic for them. >> Michael J. Fox: My thinking about, it was a rare opportunity to, like I said, to think of, to be by yourself and spend a lot of quality time with certain people and a lot of time by yourself and enjoy that time, but at the same time be developing a concern and an empathy for other people because of what you know they're going through. Like being in quarantine, protected from it didn't make it any less, you know, oh, great, we're safe, we're safe, but look at what others are going through. And I think that any time there's a burst of empathy like that, any time there's a burst of awareness about other people's experience on this planet and what they're going through and what their needs are and what their fears are and what their goals are and their wishes and their ambitions, and we can tap into that. We can rally around common thoughts and achieve great things. So, the thing about this country is it's just, we're so on the cusp of greatness and on the cusp of disaster at the same time, and it's just, it just, you just know. If you're a positive person, an optimistic person like me, you just know, you just take that one thing that just pushes us over the line, and our lives will be so much easier and safer and more what we want them. >> Roswell Encina: It goes well with what you wrote in your book, you say that can you be an optimist and a realist at the same time? Have you found the answer to that? Can we? >> Michael J. Fox: Yeah, you can be a realist and an optimist at the same time. In fact, I think it even requires being a realist to be an optimist. You have to look at what the ground is around you. You have to be real about it and say, these facts are nondisputable. These are the realities as we see them. So, we broach that reality with respect for it and respect for it in that it's the truth, and then we can act on it, and we can see. I always picture it as this block, you know, there's room around it, there's room around any problem. And in that room, in that margin, you can find answers. >> Roswell Encina: I'm a child of the '80s. You know, I grew up watching you on Family Ties. Grew up watching the Back to the Future movies. So, your legacy in cinema is clearly cemented. You know, here at the Library of Congress, we added Back to the Future to the National Film Registry a couple years ago, and every year we show films on the lawn, and Back to the Future is probably one of the most requested films. Until this day, why do you think that those films, especially Back to the Future still resonate, and what would you like to tell the fans of the film here. >> Michael J. Fox: Well, you know, I think of it in terms of, it's funny, I just thought, when you said that, people sit on the lawn and watch movies, is that what you said? >> Roswell Encina: Yes. >> Michael J. Fox: And there's a song by James Taylor that for a lot of reasons I relate to. It's called That's Why I'm Here. And he says, fortune and fame is a curious game. Perfect strangers call you by name. Pay good money to hear fire and rain again and again and again. Some are like summer coming back every year, got your baby, got your blanket, got your bucket of beer. I can break into a grin from ear to ear because that's why I'm here. And I just feel that. It's just such a privilege to be a part of people's lives who you don't know and then, and to inform [inaudible] in their lives, whether it's through television or film or whatever. And Back to the Future is like, when I was a kid in Canada, we had like two channels, and you got what you got on the TV, but every year around Christmas time they showed the Wizard of Oz, and I'd watch it every year. ^M00:19:56 And we had a black and white TV, so we never had the transition to color, and it was lost on me. But I loved the flying monkeys. And I was having a conversation with someone about Back to the Future and how transgenerational it is now, how young kids love it, and old people love it, and it's just one of those movies that struck a chord. And I say, yeah, it's because I'm now a flying monkey. >> Roswell Encina: Now, we know that your film and TV legacy is clearly cemented, but I should say that one of your biggest legacies is the Michael J. Fox Foundation. You've raised more that a billion dollars for Parkinson's research. Do the people that you meet through the foundation motivate you, inspire you? I know people like Jimmy Choi that you mentioned in the book, and just everyday people that you could meet on the street, like at the Cinnabon at a rest stop? >> Michael J. Fox: Yeah, it's amazing. It's amazing to feel connected to people that you don't know. It's like I said, that line, curious game. Perfect strangers call you by name. And they're sincere in their approach. And people, I've never had nasty people [inaudible]. I've been lucky. I've always had people be very nice to me. I think that with the foundation, it originally started out that I wanted to focus on research, and I felt that, I talked to a lot of scientists, I was at a different point in my life when I was deciding whether to grind out my career a little longer or get right to work on the foundations work and promote science. So, I decided to focus on science, and we figured talking to scientists, that the science was ahead of the money. That if we could raise the funds that it could [inaudible] to worthwhile projects. And that happened [inaudible] when you kind of [inaudible] kind of ways to [inaudible] problems and correct other problems and create a good relationship with the science community and with pharma and all that stuff. ^M00:22:13 But along the line, I realized that there was this patient community that was waiting to be activated, waiting to be involved, and waiting to be able to be a part of their own rescue and to be the answer that they were looking for and [inaudible] all the clinical trials [inaudible] in collecting the personal data, personal information about their life experiences. And it became a very patient-driven foundation, and then it started to flourish. And now, because when I first disclosed that I had Parkinson's, it was considered pretty much an old person's dz, and so therefore, because those people weren't necessarily vibrant and active in the community on a daily basis, we didn't see it [inaudible] in a big way became [inaudible] be an example [inaudible] population and that we had the time and the [inaudible] and the energy to facilitate that. I think their therapies [inaudible]. ^M00:23:19 So, it just, it exploded into a patient a little bit. And Jimmy Choi, who you mentioned, American ninja, he's an amazing guy, and he's an example of never quit, never give up, and he's going to be a part of the answer. >> Roswell Encina: You say in your book, if you don't take risk, there's no room for luck. Do you think your optimism helps you, carry you through making tough decisions, whether it's your career or medical decisions? >> Michael J. Fox: Yeah. I think you just, I always feel that, well, one thing, I think I'm a good judge of people, of doctors, of people involved in the foundation or people that become available to me to work with. And I've been really lucky, again, with some people, some directors and maybe others wouldn't consider that I thought were great and turned out great. And you know, without the risk, you don't get the luck. That the, some material that I thought was, like writing this book, just writing this book about, again, in the middle of a global pandemic I'm writing about my navel, and it's a risk, but it turned out that people related to it on both terms, both levels, that it was about my navel, but it was about the world too. And so, you just got to take a risk, and it's, pouring this stuff out, because you're like, oh, I [inaudible] that. And it's one of those beautiful things about writing. Writing has been a great thing for me to, as things [inaudible] away, I mean I used to draw a lot, I can't draw now because my hands turn around. I don't play the guitar as anymore. I don't hike and run and boat and bike and all that stuff. But I enjoy my family. I enjoy reading. I enjoy writing. Writing has become a real, it's become everything to me. It's just so great to take an idea and look at it from 10 different ways and realize that there's one way to express the purity of that idea if you're determined to find it, and if you come even close, you just sit back and [inaudible] for the day. >> Roswell Encina: This wouldn't be the National Book Festival if I don't ask you what books have inspired you or what books have you been reading during the pandemic. >> Michael J. Fox: During the pandemic I wasn't reading a lot because I was writing, but books that have inspired me over the years, I like Cormac McCarthy. I like All the Pretty Horses. I like The Bird Artist, Norman Howard or Howard Norman, I keep getting his name mixed up, but he's a terrific writer, and that's a great book about [inaudible] of art. And I like, and I'm always a sucker for whatever nonfiction [inaudible]. I'm reading a book right now by, I wish I could remember his name, he's I think a Harvard professor or a Princeton professor about running the Trump administration through the filter of Shakespeare and comparing the events to the events [inaudible] and other things. ^M00:26:39 So, there's always something interesting to read. >> Roswell Encina: When you were growing up or as a kid, what books opened the world to you? >> Michael J. Fox: When I was growing up? Well, I loved, I discovered in like fifth grade Agatha Christie, and I just got hooked on Agatha Christie, and I read And Then There Were None, and then I just read as many as I could. So, I was like this 10-year-old kid in Canada reading about [inaudible] in pastoral England and the butler was doing it with a candlestick in the pantry. And it just captivated me, and then I kind of [inaudible] into Tolkien and started to read all those books and The Hobbit and the ring cycle, and it just, I just, my world just expanded. I mean it's just like books, I have books, I don't even think of it, like this room, I don't think I have any books in, but I have like [inaudible] books in this room. And this isn't even one of my rooms with a lot of books in it. These books are everywhere in my life. I have to get a book to get a book that's underneath a book. And it's just, and you can't replace that. I do a lot of your books. I do, you know, [inaudible] but it's definitely the book. It smells like a book and it looks like a book and it reads like a book, and it just makes you feel good like a book. >> Roswell Encina: You see it firsthand through your brother-in-law Michael Pollan and your friend Harlan. How do you think books create a community, of bringing people together, whether it's a book club or the National Book Festival, or you know, just reading as a family? >> Michael J. Fox: Well, it's a changing idea. My wife had her book club last night, and it was the first time in a year and a half that they actually got together, were able to sit across from each other and drink their wine and talk about their books, and it was like, it was like, she was talking about it. There was a look on her face just like, like this was a great thing, that she got to have her book club with her friends and talk about the books they had read. And they had only been able to do by Zoom but being together and sitting around and passing wine to each other and pass bread to each other and touch the books and pass them out. It's a great exchange of ideas. It's a chance to get an idea, form your own opinion, form your own feelings about it, discover your own feelings about it, and then share them, and they influence other people's feelings and other people's feelings influence yours. But it's all, it's all a community, and books are a great community, binding [inaudible]. >> Roswell Encina: After finishing your book, do you believe you're back into the lemonade business? >> Michael J. Fox: Oh, absolutely. Pink and yellow. >> Roswell Encina: Yay. We do have a surprise for you. You were talking about earlier about some of your doctors. So, I am lucky enough that I have some good friends at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, so I have a short video from someone who literally has your back. Let's look at this video. >> [laughter] Oh, my God. This is amazing. Michael, I want to congratulate you on an absolutely amazing book, and as an American icon, you have given so many people hope and joy in their lives, and I think the message is quite clear. There is no time like the future. I wish you the best and look forward to seeing you soon. >> Michael J. Fox: He's a good guy. >> Roswell Encina: That is Dr. Nicholas Theodore, who operated on your spine in Baltimore. How do you feel seeing him today. >> Michael J. Fox: He was like I was talking about like when you know when you meet people and you just know they're the right person. I was talking to him, we were going through the mess that was my spine, and [inaudible], and he was going through what he could do and what he couldn't do, and what could be faced, and what couldn't be faced. And then, we were talking about the fact that other surgeons weren't willing to take it on, and he was willing to take it on. And he said, he said, well, I understand where they're coming from though. He said, who wants to be the one who puts Michael Fox in a wheelchair. And I said, I love that you said that, and I knew in that second, like he just got it. He got that it was real, that this was not a make believe thing. This was a real event that I was going to go through, and he was going to get me through. And he began to instill trust in me that he would get me through it, and he did. And we've been good friends and followed up ever since. He's a good man. But he was reading all his bits, and then when I first saw a photograph of him reading a book, I thought, here's a book, my surgeon reading about my surgeon. He [inaudible] his bits. ^M00:32:01 >> Roswell Encina: I want to end it by saying I know you've got a birthday coming up in a couple weeks. Happy birthday from everyone here in Washington. ^M00:32:11 [ Inaudible Comment ] ^M00:32:12 And I wanted to, you know, if you had to go back and tell your, you know, 20-something self, what advice would you give him? >> Michael J. Fox: Slow down. Slow down and just enjoy. I was racing around so much when I was younger, and you know, things happen for a reason. I would never necessarily say it's all planned out, but there's stuff to be learned from everything. There's additions with every subtraction. With every subtraction you gain something. It fills that space, and if you're conscious [inaudible] of it, you can fill it with really good stuff. When I was a kid, I would fill it with parties and alcohol and fame and all that stuff, and now, it's family and love and pleasure, bliss. >> Roswell Encina: Well, we are blessed to have you today, Michael. The book is No Time Like the Future. Welcome to the National Book Festival. We hope to see you soon. You and your family have an open invitation to come here to the Library of Congress. >> Michael J. Fox: We'll take you up on it. Can't wait. >> Roswell Encina: Thank you so much. >> Michael J. Fox: Thank you. >> LeVar Burton: We hope you've enjoyed this conversation, and now, we'd like you to hear more from the Library's own experts on this topic. >> Kelly Chisholm: Welcome to the Library of Congress. My name is Kelly Chisholm, and I am a moving image archivist in the National Audiovisual Conservation Center at the Library of Congress. The National Audiovisual Conservation Center's Packard Campus where I work is located in Culpeper, Virginia, and it houses the Moving Image Section, the recorded sound section, and three preservation laboratories for film, video, and audio materials. The campus houses nearly nine million items in total, over three and a half million recorded sound elements that range from wax cylinders created in 1900 to newly released podcasts, and almost two million moving image items that come from the 80-year history of television, the 40-year history of home video games, and the over 120-year history of motion pictures. I have one of those items from motion picture history with me today, a 35-millimeter film print of the 1985 movie Back to the Future, directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring National Book Festival featured author Michael J. Fox. This print was donated to the collection by Universal Pictures to commemorate the edition of this film to the National Film Registry in 2007. The National Film Registry selects 25 films each year, showcasing the range and diversity of American film heritage to increase awareness for its preservation. On the surface, a science fiction comedy, it manages to comment on nostalgia, generation gaps, family folklore, and growing up. And in the center of that movie is Marty McFly, a teenage every man thrust into an unbelievable situation and played with warmth and humor by Michael J. Fox. It's hard to underestimate the impact this film has had on the generation of children that grew up with it, many of whom are now parents and showing it to their own children. Phrases like, "great Scott," "88 miles per hour," and "you built a time machine out of the DeLorean" are a part of the American cultural lexicon. They are also phrases that resonate in my head for a very particular reason. When I was in high school in the mid '90s, my very creative and enterprising friend, Rob Jeffers, made his own remix version of Back to the Future, none too small a feat in the mid-1990s. The result, which we watched on a particularly long bus ride for marching band, was silly and haunting and funny, and it was the kind of thing that someone would only do with a movie that everyone already knew so well, but you wanted to remix it to see what else you could discover within. Back to the Future was so ubiquitous and beloved in my own childhood that Marty McFly saying, "you built a time machine out of a DeLorean" echoes in my brain to this day, just as it echoed over Rob Jeffers' remixed version of the movie that he showed a bus full of teenagers 25 years ago. Back to the Future is one of 800 films on the National Film Registry chosen for their contributions to American film heritage. You can find more about the film registry on the Library of Congress website, loc.gov. On the Library website, you can also find the national screening room and the national jukebox, which makes some of those nine million items from the moving image and recorded sound collection accessible online. ^M00:37:01 [ Music ] ^E00:37:24