A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is a new film directed by Marielle Heller. In the film Tom Hanks stars as the television icon Fred Rogers.
The new movie is bound to make its mark on the Oscars 2020. So let’s dig into some trivia and facts about it.
- A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is a 2019 American biographical drama film
- It is directed by Marielle Heller
- It is written by Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster
- The film is inspired by the 1998 article “Can You Say… Hero?” by Tom Junod, published in Esquire
- The film stars Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys, Susan Kelechi Watson, and Chris Cooper
- It depicts Lloyd Vogel (Rhys), a journalist for Esquire who is assigned to profile beloved television icon Fred Rogers (Hanks)
- The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2019
- It is scheduled to be theatrically released in the United States on November 22, 2019, by Sony Pictures Releasing
- It received critical acclaim, with praise for the performances (particularly that of Hanks and Rhys), Heller’s direction, screenplay, and its heart-warming messages
- On January 29, 2018, it was announced that Sony’s TriStar Pictures had bought the worldwide distribution rights to the film You Are My Friend
- A biographical film based on a 1998 Esquire magazine article about television personality Fred Rogers, who would be played by Tom Hanks
- The film’s script by Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster appeared among the 2013 Black List of best unproduced screenplays
- It would be directed by Marielle Heller
- While producers would be Big Beach’s Marc Turtletaub and Peter Saraf along with Youree Henley
- In July 2018, Matthew Rhys joined the cast of the film to play the journalist Tom Junod
- With production set to start in September 2018
- In August 2018, Chris Cooper was added to the cast to play Junod’s father
- And in September, Susan Kelechi Watson was added
- In October 2018, Enrico Colantoni, Maryann Plunkett, Tammy Blanchard, Wendy Makkena, Sakina Jaffrey, Carmen Cusack, Harpster and Maddie Corman joined the cast of the film
- In 2018, Nate Heller was chosen to score the film
- Principal photography on the film began on September 10, 2018 in Pittsburgh, with several sets converted into New York City
- Filming also took place in Fred Rogers Studio at WQED (TV)
- Where the late television host recorded Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, and the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill
- The crew consulted with original crew members from Rogers’ television series
- And also brought in the same broadcast cameras and monitors used in the original production
- The film received tax credits of approximately $9.5 million against a production budget of $45 million for filming in Pittsburgh
- Production wrapped on November 9, 2018
- On October 12, 2018, sound mixer James Emswiller had a heart attack and fell from a second-story balcony
- He was taken to University of Pittsburgh Medical Center-Mercy
- There he was pronounced dead
- On December 27, 2018, it was announced the film had been officially titled A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
- A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2019
- The film was originally going to be released on October 18, 2019, by Sony Pictures Releasing
- But in May 2018 was pushed back a month to November 22, 2019
- On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 96%
- Based on 103 reviews
- With an average rating of 8.09/10
- The website’s critical consensus reads: “Much like the beloved TV personality that inspired it, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood offers a powerfully affecting message about acceptance and understanding”
- On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 80 out of 100
- Based on 23 critics
- Indicating “generally favorable reviews”
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