A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood cast interviews

You probably grew up watching him and now there is a movie that will bring some of those memories back. 

Last weekend I had the opportunity to travel to NYC and interview some of the cast of the new Sony movie A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood. To give you a little bit of background about the movie, this movie centers around the character of Lloyd Vogel, a character is based on real life journalist Tom Junod, who wrote a piece on Mister Rogers over 20 years ago for Esquire Magazine. The movie is about Lloyd’s personal growth through knowing Mister Rogers.

Here are the highlights of the interviews

Interviews with the cast

Matthew Rhys

Matthew Rhys played Lloyd Vogel, the character based on journalist Tom Junod.

Rhys told us that he had no knowledge of Mr Rogers before the movie. He grew up in Wales, England and the show was not shown there. When he got the role it was his wife that told him about Mr Rogers and also told him that the show their kid watches Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood is a legacy from Mr Roger's show.

Rhys also told us that since he had no idea who Mr Rogers was, that was a good thing for his role in the movie. He had not preconceived notions for the role. That helped him to have a more realistic role for his character. It was also helpful that the role was not based on a real story, but on a fictional character inspired by Tom Junod.

An interesting fact we learned from Rhys, is something he called “Fred Karate.” Which is nothing else, but the fact that Fred Rogers would often deflect to the other person in conversations. When Fred would be asked a question, he might often turn it around and ask about the feelings that the other person was feeling, and then they would talk about that, and then come up with solutions to problems from those conversations.

Susan Kelechi Watson

Susan Kelechi Watson played Andrea Vogel, Lloyd’s wife.

Susan grew up  watching Mister Rogers and she loved the songs. 
She didn't know anything about the real character in the movie, so she was able to play the role in a way that she thought it was going to be well received by the audience.

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Tom Junod

Joanne Rogers