"We wanted to represent it in hopefully an inspiring and not sad or tragic way."
Shrinking co-creator Bill Lawrence has opened up about how Michael J Fox’s public battle with Parkinson’s influenced the way the disease is portrayed on the show.
In the series, which released its season 2 finale on Apple TV+ on 24th December, Harrison Ford plays a character called Paul, who is diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in the season 1 finale.
At An Evening with Shrinking at PaleyLive, Lawrence told People that his father and co-creator Brett Goldstein’s father have also both been diagnosed with the disease.
"It's cool to get to write about things you care about now," Lawrence said.
"And Michael J Fox is my first mentor. So we wanted to represent it in hopefully an inspiring and not sad or tragic way."
Lawrence and Fox worked together on the ABC sitcom Spin City, which ran from 1996 to 2002.
Fox revealed his Parkinson’s diagnosis in 1998, while working on the show with Lawrence.
"I found the first mentor in my life and career, Michael J Fox, to be so inspiring," Lawerence added. "The way he took it in stride and continues to work harder than anybody I know. And we want to kind of carry that spirit if we can into the show."
Talking about the upcoming third season, Lawrence added that he became "obsessed with showing the portrait of living with [Parkinson’s]".
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"I suck in the inspiring people around me, and I steal from them as much as I possibly can," he continued, before adding that he "generally has kind of attacked tough situations with comedy in his actual life".
"It takes you a while as a writer to realise what your voice is — I think mine is hopeful and optimistic by nature."
Shrinking season 2 is available to watch on Apple TV+. You can sign up to Apple TV+ here.
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Molly Moss is a Trends Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest trends across TV, film and more. She has an MA in Newspaper Journalism and has previously written for publications including The Guardian, The Times and The Sun Online.
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