With award season almost upon us, studios are starting their campaigns and posting featurettes showcasing the craft behind some of the most acclaimed movies of the year. When it comes to actors, featurettes are usually about the heavy makeup or deep research that went into creating the characters we see on screen. But when it comes to “A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood” and Tom Hanks’ role as Fred Rogers, simplicity is key.
READ MORE: ‘A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood’ Trailer: Tom Hanks Is Born To Play Mr. Rogers
The two-and-a-half-minute video features a series of interviews with the cast and crew of Marielle Heller’s new film, describing the process of recreating America’s Neighbor, Fred Rogers, in American’s dad, Tom Hanks. It is no easy task to transform yourself into such an iconic and instantly recognizable figure in American TV history, but Tom Hanks somehow made it work. As Heller herself puts it, the goal was authenticity, not a 1:1 recreation.
Hanks echoes this sentiment, and recounts watching hours and hours of footage of Rogers, to achieve “a cadence. A quietness. A slowness.” instead of a “microscopic mole-for-mole imitation of Fred Rogers.” And it truly works. Hanks doesn’t look like Rogers, and he doesn’t need to be. But what he does is capture the spirit of calmness and openness that Mr. Rogers had, as well as a vulnerability that audiences were able to see in the 2018 documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” More importantly, Hanks perfectly nails the soft-spoken near ASMR-inducing voice that Rogers had, which managed to captivate children and adults for decades, and which is guaranteed to make you cry your eyes out in the theater.
There may be no better endorsement for Hanks’ performance than hearing Fred Roger’s widow, Joanne Byrde say Hanks “looks adorable as Fred. He looks wonderful.”
“A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood” will be released in theaters on November 22. Bring many tissues.