There is one memory that has stuck withMichael J. Foxafter all these years.
As part of PEOPLE’s latest cover story, the retired actor opened up about his unexpected brush with Southern hospitality courtesy of the lateRiver Phoenix. The moment in question occurred 31 years ago as Fox, 61, filmed 1991’sDoc Hollywoodin a small Florida town.
“River Phoenix and his brother [Joaquin Phoenix] had a place there, and River would take us out,” Fox recalls. “He used to come and scoop us up and take us to his place and have a barbecue. It’s funny because that was an act of kindness that was built on an act of kindness.”
Fox believes the thoughtful gesture stemmed from his own act of kindness toward River, which occurred on the set of Fox’s former seriesFamily Ties. River — whodied at 23in 1993 fromcombined drug intoxication— served as a guest star in a previous episode.
Joe Pugliese
A teenage River received a pep talk from Fox after having a hard time with a particular scene.
“So I went up to him and I said, ‘What’s the problem?’ And he said, ‘I feel like a d—,'” Fox recalls. “And I said, ‘You feel like a d—? Why?’ He said, ‘I feel goofy, I feel like a d—.’ And I said, ‘Welcome to the business. That’s it. That’s the highest level of accomplishment you’ll get is to feel like a d—.’ It’s stupid. It’s a stupid thing to do for a living.”
Fox continued, “We pretend we’re other people for a living. We use things that we’re not really using and we eat things that we’re not really eating and we stand in a place because the light’s better there and it’s all goofy, but if you stick with it, you can find a way to tell a story that other people can’t.”
And ultimately, Fox says the late actor was “phenomenal” at the time.
“I guess that’s why he was always so nice to me when he became a huge star,” he adds.
For more from Michael J. Fox, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribehere.
Acts of kindness are important to Fox, who haslived with Parkinson’s diseasefor several decades and launchedThe Michael J. Fox Foundationin 2000. The foundation has since raised over $1.5 billion for Parkinson’s research and therapies.
“Everything we did, the motive was pure. We know the agenda. I just want to cure Parkinson’s,” he tells PEOPLE. “We just want to get it done.”
source: people.com
