Tom Hanks Realizes He And Mr. Rogers Are Actually Relatives

Nov 25, 2019 by apost team

Ever since it was first announced that Tom Hanks would play Mr. Rogers in a newly released biopic, the internet has been losing its mind over how utterly perfect this casting choice is. Tom Hanks and Mr. Rogers are two of the most widely loved figures in Americana. For one to play the other in a film is truly extraordinary.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood opened on November 22nd, just in time for the holiday season. Both fans and critics alike can't stop raving about how fantastic the film truly is. The AV Club gushed that the movie captured Mr. Rogers' "radical kindness," while the New York Times said that the film displayed the "wondrous heroism" of the beloved children's entertainer.

Before you get ready to go to the theater and see this extraordinary film for yourself, here's what you should know about the film, in addition to an awe-inspiring new development in the tale of Tom Hanks and Mr. Rogers that will leave you speechless.

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There's really never going to be another Mr. Rogers. Fred Rogers was born in 1928 to a successful family in Pittsburgh. While many might've assumed that the future hero of children everywhere had a good childhood himself, the opposite was actually true. Mr. Rogers was overweight and an awkward child who was the subject of relentless bullying. Since he couldn't seem to make friends, he would often play by himself, using his stuffed animals like puppets and allowing himself to get lost in his own imagination.

After his difficult childhood, Mr. Rogers decided to pursue a career as a minister in order to help others. Many people might have become bitter if they were in Fred's shoes, but Mr. Rogers never let his troubled past get in the way of his kind soul and empathetic spirit.

Despite his original goal of becoming a minister, Mr. Rogers quickly grew fascinated by the world of television. The beloved entertainer always maintained that he actually "hated" television and that he wanted to get into the industry so that he could make it better.

Thus, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood was born. As the years and decades passed, parents began to trust the soft-spoken man to educate and entertain their children. While other children's shows focused on bright lights and flashing colors, Mr. Rogers wanted to actually teach children something. He wanted to present them with something enriching and meaningful, not cheap and flashy nonsense.

In 1998, Esquire writer Tom Junod profiled Mr. Rogers in a piece entitled "Can You Say... Hero?" While Mr. Rogers has won many awards and accolades, Junod was the first to paint Mr. Rogers not solely as an entertainer, but as an actual hero of the modern era. Years later, scriptwriters got the idea to turn the story behind the famous article into a major motion picture.

Tom Hanks was always the first choice to play Mr. Rogers. To prepare for the role, Tom watched hundreds of hours of footage from Mr. Rogers' legendary series. It's actually a challenging role, as Mr. Rogers is not a typical film protagonist.

When producers for Access Hollywood began researching the film in preparation for their coverage of the premiere, someone on staff got the bold idea to compare the Ancestry.com results of both Tom Hanks and Mr. Rogers. It was definitely a shot in the dark, but in a downright miraculous twist, it was revealed that the two men were actually sixth cousins.

An Access Hollywood reporter decided to surprise Tom and his wife, Rita Wilson, with the news of the big reveal on the red carpet for the premiere of the film. "No. Impossible! You're pulling our leg!" Rita exclaimed, completely blown away by the news.

The reporter was prepared for such a response. She pulled out a document that showed the family tree that proved definitively that the men were relatives. Tom looked completely moved as he processed the information. "It all just comes together," he said thoughtfully.

"This is crazy!" Rita exclaimed, asking the reporter if she and her husband could keep the document.

Considering how much bad news there is in the world, this is just the kind of film and the kind of message we all need. Show this story to anyone who's excited to see A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.