LYNN — Local filmmaker and artist Rocco Capano is in the process of shooting his newest documentary “Dancing with Mr. M,” a tapestried account of the life, career, and resiliency of Lynn attorney Michael Mahoney.
In July 1980 Mahoney, who was 22 at the time, dove from the cliffs at Red Rock Park. Upon impact, Mahoney broke his neck and became permanently paralyzed from the waist down.
Mahoney now works as a catastrophic event attorney out of his Seaport Landing law office. He was recognized by Boston Magazine as the top injury lawyer in 2022 and has, on numerous occasions, won his clients multimillion-dollar settlements.
On two wheels, Mahoney is now the father of four children, has been to 33 baseball parks across the country with his son Paul, teaches law at Boston College Law School, and has traveled across Europe.
“I know what it’s like to be totally independent one day and then totally dependent the next day, and I know what it’s like to work my way out of that dependence,” Mahoney said. “I have an understanding of what somebody with a catastrophic injury has gone through.”
During his six-month hospitalization, Mahoney said he was in despair when he realized that he would spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair, and often struggled to get out of bed or do anything.
Mahoney said most days he just wanted to go to his one-bedroom apartment in Lynnfield and watch “The Beverly Hillbillies,” but that a rehabilitation specialist at a Boston University hospital gave him a piece of advice that shaped the rest of his life. He said he has since given it to his newly-injured clients.
“She said to me, ‘No matter what, even if you have no place to go, you get up every morning and you take a shower, and you get dressed and you act as if you’ve got someplace to go,’” Mahoney said.
Trying to rebuild his life, Mahoney relearned everyday tasks like getting dressed and driving. He paid his way through law school as a disk jockey and held sober dance parties at St. Mary’s High School. That’s where he reconnected with Capano, his childhood friend who ended up as a competing disk jockey. The two would spend hours discussing music and literature, and still text and call one another on a daily basis.
“He’s just a true artist,” Mahoney said. “He’s the kind of guy that you can call at 3 a.m. and you know he’ll be up.”
After making a name for himself as a catastrophic accident attorney in North Reading, Mahoney came back to Lynn. When he decided to shoot a commercial advertising his Lynn practice, he reached out to Capano.
Capano, after hours of talking to his old friend, decided he wanted to make a documentary outlining the highs and lows of Capano’s life, and his remarkable ability to overcome hardship.
“He just always finds a way to do one thing and make something else happen,” Capano said. “It’s just so fascinating to see the way he’s overcome, and it’s an inspiring story.”
Capano, who’s in the process of gathering and piecing together footage, said he does not want to rush the film. He is hoping to start submitting the documentary to film festivals by the end of the year.
“Everything he does, he does extraordinarily well, but the thing that always blew my mind was that he never really had any significant success until he had this major catastrophic accident,” Capano said.
