A new trailer for the forthcoming Mr. Rogers documentary, Won't You Be My Neighbor, examines the radical vision that informed one of the most beloved children's television programs of all time.
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The clip teases the myriad ways Fred Rogers tweaked television conventions on his long-running PBS show, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, whether he was using simple sets and low production values or holding frank discussion with kids about issues like divorce and death.
Actor and singer François Clemmons – who played Officer Clemmons on the show – recalled one remarkable 1969 episode where Rogers took a stand against segregation simply by having the two of them soak their feet together in a kiddie pool. "My being on the program was a statement for Fred," Clemmons says.
The trailer is also packed with old clips from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, as well as archival behind-the-scenes footage and interviews. "The greatest thing that we can do is to help somebody know that they're loved and capable of loving," Rogers says in one clip.
Oscar-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville (20 Feet From Stardom) directed Won't You Be My Neighbor. The documentary opens in select theaters June 8th.
A first look at 'Won't You Be My Neighbor.' Watch below.
Photo: The Fred Rogers Company (Focus Features)
Today saw a bountiful harvest of trailers dropping onto YouTube like so many overripe fruits, with delights including a new documentary on the living saint that was Fred Rogers, another on a real-life exorcist from The Exorcist director William Friedkin, a clue to the whereabouts of Hawkeye (he’s been busy playing an adult game of Tag), and a new trailer for Sicario followup Soldado.
Pour yourself a refreshing beverage, put in your headphones, and enjoy these bite-sized looks at upcoming films in a little experiment we’re calling Trailer Happy Hour.
After its debut at SXSW, this morning Focus Features debuted the first trailer for its Fred Rogers documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor? on what would have been Rogers’ 90th birthday. This one’s set to debut in theaters on June 8.
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Also debuting today is the trailer for William Friedkin’s The Devil And Father Amorth. Not content to simply shape our collective cinematic nightmares with The Exorcist, this documentary sees Friedkin shadowing Father Gabriele Amorth, official exorcist of the Diocese of Rome, as he goes about his supernatural business, including a demonic “house call.” Based on the trailer, it looks like Friedkin is going for a more Michael Moore/Morgan Spurlock approach to documentary, centering himself as a character in the film. The Devil And Father Amorth is due out on April 20.
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Never say that Jeremy Renner isn’t devoted to his fans. Renner (we’re assuming) skipped the Avengers: Infinity War trailer shoot to introduce the trailer for his upcoming movie Tag, the newest in the “what if innocuous activity, but violent and with swears?” subgenre of contemporary ensemble comedies based on a 2013 Wall Street Journal story. Ed Helms, Jake Johnson, Hannibal Buress, Jon Hamm, Rashida Jones, Isla Fisher, Annabelle Wallis, and Leslie Bibb co-star in the film, due out June 15.
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Finally, we’ve got a new trailer for Sicario: Day Of The Soldado, filling in just a little bit of backstory for Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin’s ruthless assassin characters introduced in the first Soldado trailer back in December. Italian TV director Stefano Sollima takes over for Denis Villeneuve for this sequel, due out June 29.
See how a little kindness makes a world of difference. Won't You Be My Neighbor? is an intimate look at America’s favorite neighbor: Mister Fred Rogers. Watch the trailer and see it in select theaters June 8th. #MrRogersMovie pic.twitter.com/NiOw6rh5bM
It’s a beautiful day to return to Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood.
The trailer for an upcoming documentary about the late children’s show host, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor,” was released on Tuesday, which would have been Fred Rogers’ 90th birthday. And it’s bound to make many Mr. Rogers fans tear up.
The film, directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville (“20 Feet From Stardom”), follows the popular PBS children’s show “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” and its beloved host from its debut in 1968 through 2001, and showcases generations of kids inspired to grow up as empathetic human beings.
Fotos International via Getty Images Fred Rogers on “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.”
“The greatest thing that we can do is to help someone know that they’re loved and capable of loving,” Rogers says in the trailer.
The trailer boasts footage and interviews with colleagues, including producer Margy Whitmer, and castmates Elizabeth Seamans (Mrs. McFeely) and François Clemmons (Officer Clemmons).
It also features interviews with Rogers himself, who died in 2003 at age 74.
The film isn’t the only Rogers-related movie that will hit the big screen. TriStar Pictures announced in January that actor Tom Hanks will play Rogers in the biopic “You Are My Friend.”
That movie follows the budding friendship between Rogers and the initially cynical journalist Tom Junod, who is assigned to write a profile on cardigan-loving host.
