First Look: Tom Hanks Plays Mister Rogers in “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” Trailer

The long-awaited film is finally coming to theaters in November

Hanks is a dead ringer for the iconic children's television star
Hanks is a dead ringer for the iconic children's television star
Sony Pictures Entertainment

Sony just dropped the trailer for the upcoming Mister Rogers film, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, and it looks like it’s about to be a beautiful day in a movie theater near you.

A perfectly cast Tom Hanks nails Mister Roger’s signature “Hello, neighbor” in the opening moments of the trailer, before tossing up an instantly recognizable loafer and sliding into a pair of slippers in true Fred Rogers fashion.

The film follows the story of a jaded journalist named Lloyd Vogel who interviews Fred Rogers for Esquire‘s “heroes” issue. While Vogel, played by Matthew Rhys, is a fictional character, he is based on journalist Tom Junod, who famously profiled Rogers for a 1998 Esquire cover story.

Directed by Marielle Heller from a screenplay inspired by Junod’s original feature, the film has been a long time in the making. According to Vox, the screenplay found itself on the “Blacklist” of Hollywood’s best unproduced screenplays back in 2013. After spending years in development, the film’s original October 2018 release date was pushed back after a tragic on-set accident resulted in the death of Emmy-winning sound mixer James Emswiller.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is the latest film to profile the iconic children’s television icon, following the success of last year’s documentary, Won’t You Be My Neighbor.

Filled with nostalgia-inducing images that will ring familiar to the generations of viewers who grew up in Mister Rogers’ neighborhood, the trailer promises to live up to the plea uttered by Vogel’s wife, played by Susan Kelechi Watson, who begs the cynical journalist, “Please don’t ruin my childhood.”

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood hits theaters on November 22, just in time to prey on all the holiday feels.

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