Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers in “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” (image via IMDB)
It’s a beautiful day for this new trailer for the upcoming movie, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.
Inspired by an article penned by Tom Junod for Esquire (“Can You Say…Hero?”), two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks portrays Fred Rogers (Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood) in a timely story of kindness triumphing over cynicism, based on the true story of a real-life friendship between Rogers and Junod.
The official longline reads: “After a jaded magazine writer (Emmy winner Matthew Rhys) is assigned a profile of Fred Rogers, he overcomes his skepticism, learning about empathy, kindness, and decency from America’s most beloved neighbor.”
Director Marielle Heller told Entertainment Weekly that the film was shot in the original Pittsburgh TV studio where “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” was filmed, and the sets from the long-running kids show were painstakingly recreated. And then, of course, there’s that famous sweater.
Earlier this year, it came to light that Rogers thought of himself as sexually fluid.
According to Maxwell King’s 2018 biography of Rogers, The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers, the TV host and puppeteer is quoted from a conversation with one of his friends, Dr. William Hirsch, regarding his own sexuality.
“Well, you know, I must be smack in the middle,” said Rogers. “Because I have found women attractive, and I have found men attractive.”
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood lands in theaters November 22.
