Oscar-winning documentarian gains perspective on life--as well as 2 Emmy nominations for “Still,” which scores 7 nods overall
By Robert Goldrich
Documentarian Davis Guggenheim has garnered assorted high-profile honors for his work, the latest being a pair of Emmy nominations for Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (Apple TV+)–in the Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special and Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program categories. Overall, Still earned seven Emmy nods–the others for cinematography, picture editing, original dramatic score, sound editing and sound mixing.
Guggenheim served as director and producer on Still, which delves into Michael J. Fox who recounts his life, career and battle with Parkinson’s disease. The film adroitly uses clips of Fox’s feature and TV series to reflect his life, coupled with home movies, intimate on-camera interviews and narration read by the actor.
While his dream-like rise from obscurity to stardom initiated by the break of a lifetime with his casting on Family Ties turns nightmarish with the diagnosis at 29 that he had a degenerative disease, Fox has persevered, showing his resilience, retaining a self-deprecating sense of humor and managing to keep on keeping on–with the love and support of his wife, Tracy Pollan, and their kids. Fox says that he’s become more present in the moment and “still.” To attain a stillness while enduring an illness that causes physical tremors reflects in a sense the triumph of the human spirit.
Guggenheim professionally has had his share of triumphs as well, directing and exec producing An Inconvenient Truth which won the Best Feature Documentary Oscar in 2007. He’s no stranger to the Emmys either with two earlier nominations—with his Boys State topping the Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special category in 2021, and being nominated for Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming in 2016 on the strength of He Named Me Malala.
The latter is a portrait of teen activist Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012 for advocating for girls’ education in Pakistan. Yousafzai recovered and continued her work worldwide, addressing the United Nations and winning the Nobel Peace prize.
Guggenheim was a DGA Award nominee in 2011 for the documentary Waiting for Supermany. Guggenheim’s credits also extend to films about rock stars such as U2, Jimmy Page, Jack White.
SHOOT: Please provide some backstory relative to this documentary. How did you become involved in Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie? What attracted you to his story and why did you feel the need to tell it?
Guggenheim: I was looking for a different kind of movie, something a little bit more adventurous, fun, a little more creatively wild. I read Michael J. Fox’s books–including “No Time Like The Future” and “Lucky Man.” They had a lot of heart. Also there was tremendous storytelling in them. I started imagining a documentary.
SHOOT: What was (were) the biggest challenge(s) that Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie posed to you as a director and executive producer?
Guggenheim: At first, I thought who should I get to direct this. In my simplistic mind, I thought this is a story about a celebrity. Then I found out it was much more and that I had a connection to it as a person. It was about the way he’s approaching his life. We’re about the same age and his experiences were meaningful to me. I don’t have Parkinson’s. But I’m dealing with getting older, facing your mortality. The challenge became how do you make a movie that includes Parkinson’s but wasn’t a sob story, that didn’t fall into those tropes. The key was not to fall into the trap of just another celebrity story–with all the trappings.
SHOOT: Would you provide some context for what some of the other Emmy nominees behind Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie brought to the table, why you gravitated towards them for this documentary.
Guggenheim: I’m filled with joy when I think about my collaborators being recognized. C. Kim Miles [Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program] shot re-creations in Vancouver. I had seen his work and fell in love with it. He’s a man of tremendous modesty but also tremendous craft. He shot Welcome to Marwen for Robert Zemeckis and episodes of Yellowjackets. Every image he shoots is gorgeous. I saw a refined, gentle touch with lighting that goes across all his projects.
John Powell [nominated for Original Dramatic Score] is an extraordinary composer who took a big leap to make his first documentary with me. He’s done The Bourne Identity, Happy Feet, How to Train Your Dragon [for which he earned an Oscar nomination]. He was a stranger in a strange land making a documentary. But he was able to find the right tone for the documentary. His music makes me cry. The audience isn’t conscious, though, of the music or the composer. That’s what a great score is. The work is hidden yet it’s deeply powerful.
Michael Harte [Picture Editing for a Nonfiction Program]–Anyone who makes documentaries knows that the editor is kind of your writer. Michael is more than that. He pushed me in directions I didn’t think I would go. His editing is next level.
And Skip Lievsay [re-recording mixer nominated for Sound Mixing for a Nonfiction Program] is a genius. We did An Inconvenient Truth together. He’s worked on almost all my movies [including an Emmy-nominated turn on He Called Me Malala]. Skip is a genius. He too has this delicate touch, a great ear. Seeing Skip get acknowledged is the most gratifying thing. [Lievsay is an eight-time Oscar nominee, winning in 2014 for Gravity].
SHOOT: What’s your biggest takeaway and/or the major lessons you learned from your experience on Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie? What is the documentary’s most lasting impact on you?
Guggenheim: I’m an old dog and I’ve learned a few new tricks. I will be 60 in November. I learned I can still push myself further creatively.
Michael J. Fox has taught me a lot about finding gratitude in my own life. It’s strange. I’m a lucky person yet feel like I have a darker, negative outlook on things. I look at Michael who is relentlessly optimistic. He sits on my shoulder now smiling when I get too dark, reminding me how lucky I am.
Editor's note: As a director, Guggenheim is represented by Bob Industries for commercials and branded content.
Review: Director Morgan Neville’s “Piece by Piece”
A movie documentary that uses only Lego pieces might seem an unconventional choice. When that documentary is about renowned musician-producer Pharrell Williams, it's actually sort of on-brand.
"Piece by Piece" is a bright, clever song-filled biopic that pretends it's a behind-the-scenes documentary using small plastic bricks, angles and curves to celebrate an artist known for his quirky soul. It is deep and surreal and often adorable. Is it high concept or low? Like Williams, it's a bit of both.
Director Morgan Neville — who has gotten more and more experimental exploring other celebrity lives like Fred Rogers in "Won't You Be My Neighbor?,""Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain" and "Steve! (Martin): A Documentary in Two Pieces" — this time uses real interviews but masks them under little Lego figurines with animated faces. Call this one a documentary in a million pieces.
The filmmakers try to explain their device — "What if nothing is real? What if life is like a Lego set?" Williams says at the beginning — but it's very tenuous. Just submit and enjoy the ride of a poor kid from Virginia Beach, Virginia, who rose to dominate music and become a creative director at Louis Vuitton.
Williams, by his own admission, is a little detached, a little odd. Music triggers colors in his brain — he has synesthesia, beautifully portrayed here — and it's his forward-looking musical brain that will make him a star, first as part of the producing team The Neptunes and then as an in-demand solo producer and songwriter.
There are highs and lows and then highs again. A verse Williams wrote for "Rump Shaker" by Wreckx-N-Effect when he was making a living selling beats would lead to superstars demanding to work with him and partner... Read More