Apple TV+’s Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie is a documentary that tells the actor's story in his own words — the improbable tale of an undersized kid from a Canadian army base who rose to the heights of stardom in 1980s Hollywood. The account of Fox’s public life, full of nostalgic thrills and cinematic gloss, unspools alongside his never-before-seen private journey, including the years that followed his diagnosis, at 29, with Parkinson’s disease.
Still was recognized with numerous Emmy nominations, including those for Directing, Cinematography, Picture Editing, Sound Editing
Sound Mixing and Music Composition. Michael Harte, ACE (pictured), served as editor on the project and says he initially worked from London, collaborating with director/producer Davis Guggenheim, writer Will Cohen and producer Annetta Marion.
“After assembling a radio cut of his audiobooks, I spent two months trawling through all the archive of Michael’s movies and TV shows, and any extra material from his life, which was obviously very well documented. After that process, I assembled the first rough cut and then moved my family to LA, where the real editing began as Davis and I got in a room together and began to shape the film.”
Harte cut the feature using Avid’s Media Composer.
“It’s what I’ve always used, and I just like the bin system it has. If you’re very organized with Avid at the start of a project, it pays off massively in the long run.”
In the case of Still, Harte says the challenge was finding the balance between scripted and documentary elements.
“That was always the battle in the edit,” recalls the editor. “Sometimes I’d push for more documentary elements and sometimes Davis would push for more scripted. It was a really important battle, but, as Davis said, in the end the winner was the movie.”
Harte says he’s honored to receive the Emmy nomination, adding, “I’m just happy for the film and for Michael J. Fox, as it’s a nice signifier that we’ve done his incredible story justice.”