first look

Feel the Healing Power of Tom Hanks As Mr. Rogers in This You Are My Friend First Look

If you need a salve for your soul, Sony Pictures has delivered a well-timed look at their as yet untitled upcoming film. With a red cardigan on and a book in hand, seeing Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers may very well send you tumbling into an uncanny valley of emotions. But right now, looking at the familiar face of Hanks and seeing it merge seamlessly into the conjured memory of watching Mr. Rogers and hearing him sing “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” is the sort of escape into fiction we could all use. The film focuses on the specific period of time in which writer Tom Junod profiled Rogers for Esquire magazine in 1998, and the connection the two developed during that interview process.

Update: A previous version of this post incorrectly reported the title of the film.

See Tom Hanks As the Ideal Mr. Rogers in First-Look Photo