“I’m a weepy mess of nostalgia and hope right now.”
A poignant trailer was released Tuesday for Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, an upcoming documentary chronicling the life and impact of Fred Rogers, the man who inspired generations of children in his much-loved educational show, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.
Coincidentally, Tuesday would’ve been Rogers’ 90th birthday.
A sneak peek for the upcoming film was first published in January. “We had a director that once said to me, ‘You take all the elements that make good television, and do the exact opposite, you have Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,'” said Margy Whitmer, a producer for the show.
Rogers passed away in 2003, but left an indelible mark on entertainment and culture, as well as on many lives he touched with his kindness and generosity. That impact was evident just last year when writer Anthony Breznican spoke to BuzzFeed News about an important life lesson Rogers taught him, one he thought to share with his many Twitter followers following the deadly bombing in Manchester, England, of an Ariana Grande concert.
“Fred Rogers was the real thing,” Breznican said in a popular Twitter thread about the host’s influence on him. “That gentle soul? It was no act.”
Marielle Heller, who’s previously done work on Transparent and the feature The Diary of a Teenage Girl, will direct the project, which was written by Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster.
Heller told Entertainment Weekly that the film is not a biopic and will largely focus on Rogers’ relationship with journalist Tom Junod, whose perspective about the beloved figure changes after he accepts the task of writing a profile on Rogers.
Thumbnail credit: PBS Television / Courtesy of Getty Images