My Casting Story: Danny Irizarry on ‘STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie’

Ahead of its release next month, we wanted to sit down with someone who’s a part of one highly-anticipated upcoming documentary. Danny Irizarry had the unique opportunity of playing the central figure of STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie in scenes that reenact certain moments in the A-lister’s life. Irizarry sat down with Casting Networks to share a window into the process that landed him the part, including the full-circle moment of auditioning to play the person whose work inspired him to become an actor in the first place. Keep reading for all the insights into Irizarry’s casting story, which may or may not have led to the actor inviting Fox to his upcoming wedding.

Danny, thank you so much for being with us, and you play Michael J. Fox in a documentary about his life. Can you tell us more about what that role looks like?

I had the honor of playing Michael J. Fox when he was in his private moments. This story is told primarily through footage that exists of Michael in the movies he’s been in and interviews that have already been done. But, the big part of the story that’s explored [in the film] is his own personal battle with Parkinson’s [disease], his relationship with his family, and the impact that that has on others. A lot of that happens behind closed doors, so I essentially play the physical representation of young Michael when he was about eighteen to [him in] his forties. To kind of give the full context of what it means to me, I have to go back to when my sister and I were kids. We both had 45 minutes of screen time that we could use a day. We’d combine our time at the end of the day so that we could watch a couple episodes of Family Ties. And for me, that was what got me into acting: I saw Michael J. Fox playing Alex Keaton on the show. I saw somebody of my stature and my energy who was in the film industry making an impact and telling good stories — Family Ties is one of the greatest shows, in my opinion, ever. I saw him acting, and it made me think maybe I could do that when I grew up. The first monologue I ever performed at an acting showcase was from Family Ties, and I still have it locked in my head to this day.

Wow. You have such a personal connection to this role.

As I’ve been thinking about this, the word that keeps coming to mind for me is “serendipity.” It’s all these different pieces coming together. It’s very full circle.

Thank you for sharing that. And it sounds like you’re playing Fox in the reenactment scenes in the documentary. Can you tell us more about the process of booking that role?

All of it was based on the physicality of Michael J. Fox. You see, when the casting was first sent out, there was this idea of having an actor pretend like he’s speaking the lines that Michael J. Fox is actually saying so his [Fox’s] voice is coming out of the actor playing the younger version of him. As the film developed, it switched to using a lot of existing footage of Michael. And for the portions where you don’t see his story — where there isn’t any footage of him at home or alone or going through these emotional things that aren’t on screen — that’s where I come in. I fill in those pieces.

And so, going back to the casting process, was it in person?

The first casting call was back in November, and I sent in just a self tape with some photos. There were a couple of different motions they wanted you to do — like kicking up a skateboard or flipping over a bed — so they could get an idea of what your physicality was. Then later on in the process, they asked for another similar thing where you were reading these scenes, and one was from Back to the Future. And then the last audition was, for me, a dream come true. After it, I called my family and my fiancé — who was my girlfriend at the time — to say that even if I didn’t get cast in the project, I would feel absolutely satisfied by the process. Because, I got to meet Michael in person. He was there, sort of running the audition.

Photo by Adrian Van Stee, courtesy of Danny Irizarry.

Was that a “pinch-me” moment for you? You were meeting in person one of your heroes since childhood — that got you into acting — through auditioning to play him.

Absolutely. The whole time, you’re kind of checking your hands and looking around to see if you’re dreaming. Like, is this actually happening? And I got to meet some of the most wonderful people through this process. Everybody got a glimpse of this magic that comes off of Michael J. Fox. It’s this encouragement — there is goodness, there is hope, and we want to be a part of spreading and sharing it. The in-person audition, itself, was insane. They had a stunt coordinator on set who walked us through some of Michael’s iconic moves, one of which is jumping and sliding over the hood of the DeLorean. You see that in Back to the Future — it’s so cool. They spent a bunch of time teaching us how to do that safely. And then Michael came out, and he essentially coached us on how to do it like he did. I’ve been in gymnastics and have been a very physical person for most of my life. But, the nerves were going, and I was messing up this hood-slide over and over. And eventually, our director Davis [Guggenheim] told me to take a breath. He was like, “This time, I want you to imagine it’s the happiest day of your life. You’ve walked outside, and everything’s going your way.” I did it again, and all of a sudden, it just worked. I landed it, I looked Michael right in the face, and it was one of those pinch-me moments. That was it — they said it was what they were looking for.

It was just the note you needed.

Exactly. It’s that idea of positivity changing the entire way that you operate.

I love that. And how has landing this role on such a high-profile documentary impacted your career so far?

That’s a hard one to answer. In a weird way, I think it’s impacted me more on a personal and relational level than anything else. That’s mostly because of the message, especially as you look at his story and how vocal he’s been about the fight against Parkinson’s and raising funds to help people who are researching Parkinson’s and who are going through Parkinson’s. That’s the whole concept of the film — it’s this idea of what it means to be still. And what does it mean to take action? What does it mean to be there for the people around you? And that’s part of the reason that I believe Michael J. Fox is a hero. So all this to say, you sit down and watch this, and it affects you on such a personal level. You see what an impact he’s had on all these people’s lives, and it makes you desire to be intentional with your own relationships and with the people around you. I had just started dating the woman who’s now my fiancé when I went out to film this, so we had a month of doing long-distance right at the beginning of our relationship. And the relationship was directly affected by filming this project and seeing what the message was of this story being told.

What I heard from that is you’re inviting Michael J. Fox to your wedding.

Absolutely. That was actually something that we talked about. My fiancé and I were like, “Should we invite the Fox family to our wedding? They’re not going to come, but we’d love to have them there.” [Laughs]

But there’d be one heck of a speech if they did.

Oh my gosh, that’d be crazy. And when we were up in Park City for the [Sundance] premiere, I wrote a little note to Michael and to [his wife] Tracy [Pollan], just thanking them. Because, they had a profound impact on our relationship, and I think that was really a significant turning point for my fiancé and me. So, you know, if they were to be at our wedding, that would be the coolest thing ever.

Oh my goodness — we’ll have to follow up about that!

Yeah, we’ll see what happens there. [Laughs]

Danny, thank you for sharing a window into a role that was so impactful for you. Is there anything else you want to add before we wrap?

I think the experience has also given me a little bit more of an understanding of the importance of what I call “that magic.” There’s a purpose to art, right? There’s a reason that we’re storytellers, and it’s important to be able to identify what that is when you’re making art. So, I would encourage people to go watch the movie and enter with an introspective attitude. Let yourself be impacted by this hero of the industry.

From Fox’s early work inspiring Irizarry’s acting career to the wedding invite the actor extended to his hero — and everything in between — this has been a window into the casting story behind Irizarry’s role in STILL. Those interested in keeping up with the actor’s career journey can find him on IMDb and can catch his performance in the upcoming documentary when it releases on Apple TV+ come May 12.

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This interview has been edited and condensed.

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