Martin Scorsese Praises Michael J. Fox For Parkinson’s Foundation, Says It “Means the World” to Him and His Wife, Who Also Has the Disease

Martin Scorsese praised Michael J. Fox for his Parkinson’s foundation, which he said is “leading the charge toward a world without Parkinson’s disease.” Since its conception, the Michael J. Fox Foundation has resulted in over 20 early-stage therapeutic programs and has funded several clinical trials. Scorsese said Fox’s work “means the world” to him and his wife Helen Morris, who also has the disease. 

The Hollywood director was one of three figureheads who presented Fox with his Lifetime Achievement Award at the Museum of the Moving Image’s 2023 Spring Awards on Tuesday (June 6). Alongside Scorsese was Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie director Davis Guggenheim and Sony Picture Classics co-president Michael Barker.

“I’m really pleased to be here tonight to help celebrate this remarkable actor, and the wonderful and courageous human being Michael J. Fox,” said Scorsese at the top of his speech. “Back in the ‘80s, it was really an amazing thing to witness how his career developed. It was like watching a rocket take off, soaring higher and higher and brighter and brighter. I watched him in those early pictures and I used to be stunned – I was stunned – by the energy and the force of his presence.”

The director then turned the attention to the work Fox has completed since his Parkinson’s diagnosis in 1991, citing his “dozens of television appearances” and movies that he’s made with Tim Burton, Woody Allen, and Peter Jackson, among others.

“Along the way, Michael not only started his foundation which has raised so much money for research and raised just as much awareness, but he also became a guiding light, a real guiding light for so many others with Parkinson’s,” Scorsese shared. “That includes my wife, Helen. Michael, your support has meant the world to her and to me.” He said Fox has “an incredible life” and introduced the trailer for Guggenheim’s Apple TV+ documentary which follows Fox through his career and diagnosis. 

Later in the ceremony, Fox took the stage to accept the Lifetime Achievement Award, during which he said, “I don’t have a weepy, sad life. I have this thing that happened [to me] that really sucks, but put me in a position to do other things that were effective and have perhaps made things better.”

The Back to the Future actor was met with a standing ovation when he entered the stage and was also honored via a video tribute by his former colleagues Connie Britton, Alan Ruck and Richard Kind. John Wilson, creator of HBO’s How to with John Wilson, was another honored guest and the recipient of the Innovative Series award.

Watch the trailer for Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie below: