Tom Hanks to play Fred Rogers in biopic based on Esquire article by Tom Junod.*

I just read through his Wikipedia article, and I think the "3rd act" of the movie will be his testimony before Congress about the need to fund PBS:

I can see Tom Hanks digging his teeth into that. And ending with his 9/11 memorial recording. Won't be a dry eye in the house.

 

That's the same Model A from a different angle.

 

Well I think that's the only one there is, so it's probably the one you saw on TV.

 

Is it any Spielberg extravaganza?

 

Yes, Fred puts Mr. McFeely in his bicycle basket and flies him past the moon to escape the cops.

 

His biggest claim to fame was doing something we do not see much of today.

He was Nice.

 

Marisa Tomei is always a bonus.

 

I found this a few years ago for 88 cents. I had to have it!

 

I dunno but Tommy is the BEST choice for it...

 

From The Burbs, 30 years ago.

 

Nice, but also kind, yet authoritative.

The Wikipedia article quotes Esquire magazine describing a scene at the 1997 Daytime Emmys:

Mister Rogers went onstage to accept the award—and there, in front of all the soap opera stars and talk show sinceratrons, in front of all the jutting man-tanned jaws and jutting saltwater bosoms, he made his small bow and said into the microphone, "All of us have special ones who have loved us into being. Would you just take, along with me, ten seconds to think of the people who have helped you become who you are. Ten seconds of silence."

And then he lifted his wrist, looked at the audience, looked at his watch, and said, "I'll watch the time." There was, at first, a small whoop from the crowd, a giddy, strangled hiccup of laughter, as people realized that he wasn't kidding, that Mister Rogers was not some convenient eunuch, but rather a man, an authority figure who actually expected them to do what he asked. And so they did. One second, two seconds, three seconds—and now the jaws clenched, and the bosoms heaved, and the mascara ran, and the tears fell upon the beglittered gathering like rain leaking down a crystal chandelier. And Mister Rogers finally looked up from his watch and said softly "May God be with you," to all his vanquished children.

**"*****

The phrase "loved you into being" is absolutely beautiful.

I want to be Fred Rogers when I grow up.

 

Most interesting thing I learned from his Wikipedia article is that he was a private pilot. I can just imagine being an air traffic controller at a small airport, and his unmistakable voice comes through the radio...

 

I'm enough of a Mister Rogers nut that I read the book this movie is based upon (and next to me on my desk is a framed personal letter from The Man, circa 1970. Among other things, he was very proud I'd learned to ice skate).

Tom Hanks or not, I don't think the movie will do him justice. The things that made him so admirable--his principles, his simplicity, his way of looking at the world--are best expressed in his own words, not a film portrayal.

 

I have that record, but it's too trashed to play. Why do I keep it? Because the jacket is autographed!

 

Here's Fred taking an electric car for a spin.

 

This.

 

All I really care about is, who's playing The Trolley?

 

I strongly recommend that article. It really conveys how otherworldly Rogers was in his gentleness of spirit.

I'm a very un-religious man, but it truly seems like he was some kind of saint.

 

Daniel Day Lewis was in Toy Story?

FYI, Colin Hanks will be portraying Mr. Rogers on an upcoming "Drunk History."

 

No. Tom.

 

How do you make a dramatic film about a person whose life was about as drama-free as you can get?

I mean, Mr. Rogers was arguably the kindest person in the history of this country............which translates to BORING.

 

Which is why I suggested his testimony before Congress defending public television as the big scene. One party was trying to defund PBS, and Mr Rogers talked to them, and they doubled PBS's funding. Given Tom's politics, I could see how that would appeal to him.

 

Meow Meow Tristar? Meow Meow Unicorn?

 

Nice, but nice to the point of being Forrest Gump nice. As a kid, I thought he was a weirdo. But a NICE weirdo.