Mister Rogers (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood)

"Do you know what that means? To forgive? It's a decision we make to release a person from the feelings of anger we have at them."

- Fred Rogers.

"VOGEL: This piece will be for an issue about heroes. Do you consider yourself a hero? ROGERS: I don't think of myself as a hero, no, not at all. VOGEL: What about Mister Rogers? Is he a hero? ROGERS: I don't understand the question."

- Lloyd Vogel and Fred Rogers.

Fred McFeely Rogers is the heroic primary antagonist of the 2019 drama film A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. Rogers was known to young children as Mister Rogers as the creator of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and was adored nationally for his gentle demeanor.

In 1998, Rogers strikes a friendship with Lloyd Vogel, a self-absorbed, embittered journalist who is assigned to interview him for the magazine Esquire. After learning that Vogel assaulted his father Jerry for cheating on his cancer-stricken mother and abandoning his family, Rogers challenges Vogel to forgive Jerry and acknowledge his emotional problems, breaking through the journalist's callous front and slowly winning him over through his gentle kindness, patience, friendship, and preternatural empathy.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood employs Rogers and the format of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood as storytelling devices, framing its events within an episode of Rogers' show to make it an access point to Rogers' friendship with the Vogel family.

Rogers, who is based on his real-life counterpart, is portrayed by Tom Hanks, who also voiced Woody and portrayed Forrest Gump.

Opening


"Someone has hurt my friend Lloyd. And not just on his face. He’s having a hard time forgiving the person who hurt him."

- Fred Rogers to the viewer.

Rogers begins the film by singing the opening song to his television show and performing the routine he has on almost every episode: changing out of his suit and into a sweater and slipping on his sneakers while greeting the viewer, whom he regards as his neighbor. Rogers shows a picture board with doors that reveal pictures of several of his friends and cast members of the show. He opens two doors that reveal King Friday XIII and Lady Aberlin, two residents of the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, and another door that reveals Mr. McFeely, his mailman. He introduces the viewer to a "new friend" of his, Lloyd Vogel, by opening a fourth door to reveal Lloyd's bloodied face. Rogers explains that Lloyd is unable to forgive and invites the viewer to visit him.

Reflecting on anger and receiving a visit from Mr. McFeely


"There is always something you can do with the mad that you feel."

- Fred Rogers to the viewer.

After Lloyd's scuffle with his father Jerry, the film returns to Rogers, who explains to the viewer that there are healthy ways to deal with anger. He receives a visit from Mr. McFeely, who has a magazine and a video cassette that details the creation of magazines. Rogers explains what magazines are, and he and McFeely play the tape on Picture Picture, through which they eventually see Lloyd walking into his office at Esquire.

Meeting Lloyd
When Esquire seeks out subjects for Lloyd to profile for its article about heroes, the magazine reaches out to Rogers and several other candidates. Rogers and Family Communications president Bill Isler read all of Lloyd's articles before Rogers agrees to the interview. In fact, Rogers is the only candidate to agree to interview with Lloyd after learning of the journalist's reputation for tearing his subjects down.

"ROGERS: Do you know what this is? It's Lloyd! L-Lloyd! CREW MEMBER: Hold, please! WHITMER: We can't fire him, can we? ROGERS: Hello, Lloyd. Oh, it's nice to meet you. What -- are you alright? VOGEL: Play at the plate. ROGERS: Ooh! I see. That looks like it hurts."

- Fred Rogers, his crew members, and Lloyd Vogel

Lloyd first conducts a phone interview with Rogers, who explains that he wants to "look through the camera into the eyes of a single child" on his show and that talking to Lloyd is the most important thing to him at the moment. Rogers meets with Lloyd the next morning at the WQED studio in Pittsburgh for an in-person interview, where Rogers dismisses his fame and displays concern for Lloyd's nose injury. He presses Lloyd, who lied about his nose contusion by claiming it was a "play at the plate", into revealing its true origin: Lloyd had started a fistfight with Jerry over Jerry's actions in the past, and this fight left Lloyd with a broken nose. Rogers is disturbed at this revelation, but before he can continue his interview with Lloyd, an associate calls him back on set for more filming.

He returns to the set to film a sequence of the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, performing as Daniel Striped Tiger through a hand puppet with Betty Aberlin; they sing "What Do You Do With the Mad That You Feel" at Daniel's clock, flummoxing Lloyd, who watches the production with suspicion.

Traveling in New York City
Rogers, his wife Joanne, and his crew travel through New York City to tape more footage for Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, and he invites Lloyd to join them. After listening to a string quartet play "You Are My Friend", Rogers returns to his hotel room with Lloyd for a second interview. He dodges Lloyd's questions on whether his empathy is a burden and instead shows Lloyd the hand puppets he uses in his show. Rogers reflects on his struggles as a father to his two sons (now adults), learns that Lloyd owned a toy rabbit named Old Rabbit that his mother gave to him, and asks Lloyd about Jerry; this last question enrages Lloyd, who ends the interview and stomps out of Rogers' hotel room.

Taking a minute
"VOGEL: You love people like me. ROGERS: What are people like you? VOGEL: Broken people. ROGERS: I don't think you are broken."

- Lloyd Vogel and Fred Rogers Lloyd collapses out of exhaustion on the set of the Neighborhood of Make-Believe during a day of filming, and Rogers and his crew surround him. He and Joanne take Lloyd back to their home, and after Lloyd awakens from a nightmare about his repressed anger, his mother Lila, and being shuffled into an episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Rogers and Lloyd eat lunch at a restaurant. Lloyd admits that he is "broken" because of his relationship with Jerry, but Rogers disagrees and convinces Lloyd to forgive his father. He and Lloyd think in silence about the people who "loved us into being" for one minute.

Visiting Jerry and Dorothy
Rogers, Lloyd's sister Lorraine, and her husband Todd visit Jerry and Dorothy's home, where Lloyd, his wife Andrea, and their son Gavin have been staying because of Jerry's impending death. He assures the Vogel family that talking about death should not be avoided, especially since Jerry is dying of a prolonged illness. Before he departs, he whispers a request to Jerry to pray for him, which he explains to Lloyd while walking outside. Rogers makes an ASL sign for "friend" to Lloyd before departing from Jerry's home.

Denouement
After Jerry dies and is laid to rest, the film returns to Rogers' show as he returns the Neighborhood Trolley to its station. Rogers thanks the viewer for letting him talk about Lloyd before he reveals one more picture on his board of Lloyd and his family enjoying a Christmas party. He muses that seeing Lloyd happy gives him "such a good feeling" and affirms to the viewer that he likes them just the way they are; he then sings the closing theme and changes back into his suit and dress shoes. Rogers exits the set and looks at the recorded footage with approval, and he plays the lowest keys on the studio piano to signify the end of a day of taping for his show.

Personality
"VOGEL: How does it feel to be married to a living saint? JOANNE: If you think of him as a saint, then his way of being is unattainable. You know he works at it all the time. It's a practice. He's not a perfect person. He has a temper. He chooses how he responds to that anger."

- Lloyd Vogel and Joanne Rogers To be added

Behind the scenes

 * Hanks, who portrays Rogers in the film, is actually Fred Rogers' sixth cousin in real life, a fact that Hanks learned mere days before A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood's release.
 * Hanks was also Rogers's favorite actor, with Rogers having seen Forrest Gump 40 times.
 * Hanks turned down the role of Rogers three times before he viewed the work of Marielle Heller, who directed the film.
 * Hanks watched over 8 million hours of footage of Rogers to prepare for his role.
 * Hanks had previously starred in The Burbs, in which Mister Rogers sang "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" on Ray Peterson's television, and would go on to star as Rogers thirty years later.