A children’s television show host teaches his philosophy of kindness to a jaded journalist in Director Marielle Heller’s new biographical drama, A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood.
Heller’s film retells the story of the real-life friendship that developed between television icon Fred Rogers and journalist Tom Junod. The story fictionalizes Junod as an equally skeptical writer named Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys), who is assigned to do a story on Rogers (Tom Hanks). Vogel is ultimately swayed as Rogers’ kindness triumphs over his cynicism and he learns about empathy and decency from America's most beloved neighbor.
Following the DGA membership screening in New York on November 15, Heller sat down with Director Tamara Jenkins (Private Life) to discuss the making of A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood. She also discussed the film in a conversation moderated by Director Jorma Taccone (Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping) following the Los Angeles screening on November 30.
In addition to A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood, Heller’s directorial credits include the feature films Can You Ever Forgive Me? and The Diary of a Teenage Girl; and episodes of the series Casual. Heller has been a DGA member since 2015.
You can listen to Heller's Q&A by clicking the podcast episode embedded below. You can find more DGA podcast episodes here.