Tom Hanks to Star as Mr. Rogers in Biopic ‘You Are My Friend’

Hollywood veteran Tom Hanks has landed the role of Mr. Rogers in an upcoming biopic about the iconic television personality, Variety has revealed.

Hanks, 61, will play the role of Fred Rogers, who became a popular icon for his long-running children’s television series Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.

The film, entitled You Are My Friend, explores the true story of the friendship between Rogers and the journalist Tom Junod, whose perspective on life is transformed after begrudgingly writing a profile piece on Rogers’ career.

Rogers, who died in 2003, was recently the subject of the documentary film Won’t You Be My Neighbor? that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

Hanks, meanwhile, was recently nominated for a Golden Globe for his role as the Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee in the political thriller The Post, which depicts the true story of journalists’ efforts to publish the Pentagon Papers.

The Rogers film is just one of a number of films Hanks is scheduled to appear in this year, including the World War II film Greyhound, the sci-fi film Bios, and a reprisal of his role as Woody in the latest installment of the Toy Story franchise.

You Are My Friend will be directed by Diary of a Teenage Girl helmer Marianne Heller from a screenplay by Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster, and is set up at TriStar Pictures. Filming is scheduled to begin in October.

 

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