Tom Hanks On ‘A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood’ (Full Interview) | TODAY

so that Godfrey I know I'm gonna ask you some question you've never met great cities in America and one of the most fabulous regional theaters Repertory Theatre in Savannah yeah so my Guthrie the Guthrie in Minneapolis and Savannah Savannah do you know I've never been to Savannah is your name really Savannah or is that something like some some newsroom editor said listen Susan Susan Guthrie just don't make it sue Guthrie I don't see it Savannah Guthrie there we go you know what I come by my name honestly likewise I'm named after my great-grandmother what about you hanka wits and no Kowski my name has always been no no that's what it sounds like and that's what it's always been it's a good name it's Who I am I could see it in light someday but Savannah Guthrie yes that's marquee value well most people call me Samantha but I answer to it do people ever call you by the wrong name um I have been I have been called Tom Cruise quite a few times that's a good one and I'd take Tom Jones every night so taking on Mister Rogers somebody that everybody knows and loves when was the moment that you knew you could do it it was a discussion I had with Mari the boss Mari Hiller because I hadn't read the screenplay a long time ago before anybody was involved when that and I said okay I think I get it yeah the Fred Rogers of it all when she and I corresponded about trying to find something to do together and when she said I found this thing and you actually know of it but there's something there that I'd like to try and so I know it okay mr. Rogers is indigo so I read it and I came back and I said all right what's the deal here and when she told me that she was not interested in any kind of editorial comment on who mr. rogers was nor did she want an imitation of mr. rogers physicality of presentation she said essentially you'll get a wig and you'll get a will do something with your eyebrows and all the rest is gonna be up to you that's when I thought okay this is this is a deep throw on something that is going to have to be it's gonna have to have a DNA to it as opposed to teeth nose consume the CGI or something like that I I got to put on essentially an equal to Batman's cape and cowl you know to be Batman but I was in a cardigan sweater and blue deck shoes and I still felt just as just as identified on a external front and everything else was going to have to come out of some faith that I could do it and that Mari would tell me when I was wrong it is the essence of mr. Rogers it's something behind the eyes there is talking to Joanne Rogers who just said Oh old Fred would get full of himself every now and again Oh Fred made me mad a lot more than he made me mad there was a I say that anyway there is what they can't believe is that there was some trick to it even Tom Junod by you know the journalisted innocent what's the deal here what's he going for here what's he hiding what's the canard what's the what's the diabolical scheme that he is actually pulling on over us in order to make us feel better about ourselves or give other people slack because they might be having a bad day too and there was none and that's what I think that kind of absolute is something that people do not want to accept they do not want to believe that he was actually like this they want there to be a dark side they want there to be some degree of a cynical trick that is being pulled over our eyes because there's no way a guy who can a God can be a literally a ordained minister you know he was he was essentially the Reverend Fred Rogers and yet he had a children's television show that wasn't selling anything had no commercials wasn't wasn't hell-bent on on promoting anything and never used never used the word God he was a he was in a minister who prayed every day for the people that he knew and he loved and yet he never told children that God loves you or God is going to take care of you he said said this other thing which was almost it's almost diabolical and its simplicity which is it's it's okay to be sad sometimes it's okay that wait a minute that sounds like some sort of nefarious kind of like doublespeak to get us to pay $1700 for a for a weekend seminar you know I need you say he never mentioned God but don't you think what he did was so deeply spiritual it was this expression of his faith his way of being very much so and it comes down to this Joanne who is she's a fireplug of a lady she's just we ask you know what would what would Fred make of certain circumstances there were two things that that I remember Fred said and in times of disaster where do we turn to in times of crisis and he said you turn to the helpers you want to know what's going to come next it's going to be some brand of Hope that is going to be practiced by people who are volunteering their time to come and help you clean up your mess fix your bandages or talk to you and give you a cup of coffee and say how are you the other thing was that that Joann said is what would he do now what do you say something would he tweet something would he proselytize some sort of like answer to whatever are the divisions that the world seemed to be going through now and she said no at first I thought he might but now I realized he would just be the best person he could and let that be the language for the solution to what is it just just just be good you know or just be kind or just be caring or just be present and that's that's you get into some kind of like major Zen Hilda Braun kind of thing there that is ends up being kind of like the the essence of making the world a better place but even though in a way it looks effortless when you think about what he had to do to just be so decent Mariama told me that Fred Rogers died of stomach cancer I thought that's something deep inside that is that is suppressed and in the way I think of like certain caring religious philosophical philosophical figures I think he did that I think he made it a point and he worked hard he made the choices day in and day out of what was important and other people were more important than you know if you look at his shows which I saw 8 million hours of it you have have your daughter have you seen any of them I yes we watch it actually all the time and you're probably waiting and please cut and please speed up and please go somewhere else I watched Mister Rogers as a little girl you did I did he was talking to you yes and more interesting I think my daughter who is 5 years old watches mr. Rogers in the back of the car on long trips with a little headset and then she says mommy mr. Rogers says I'm fancy mr. Rogers is talking to her still it's not for us it's not for grown-ups to know how the world works it's not for grown-ups who are waiting to be flummoxed ER or dazzled it's for children who are looking to be invested in by somebody who cares about them and that that comes up is nefarious to some people right what's what's the point of that what what is he trying to what are the Apostle well yeah gang is he trying exactly what is what is his agenda and the agenda is was just nothing other than say you're worthwhile they're special and anything you're going through you can share with me I think that's divine you know I don't know if you occasionally get in arguments with your partner in life but when my wife and I start going at it the way anybody goes at it where should someone says you're not listening to me and the other let me get this straight then when we get to that point of you're not going to lose and I'm not going to lose because we're both right the words come out almost magically well you know what honey it's good to talk it's good to say the things we feel it's good to talk and it ends up being the great harmonizer because we have a right to feel bad we come time we feel bad sometimes we feel glad and ain't that true for all of us so there is a doing mr. Rogers Aelita I pulled mr. Rogers out of my pocket every now and again because I think I might know I'm a little bit better than I then I used to but it's true and this is the thing that you can't deny it's it actually is that's kind of like a rule for living as opposed to a zero-sum game on which I defeat you and I win I am the default mode of almost all of society now is cynicism it's you can make them you can make a good buck at it competition is is kind of like attractive it seems like you watch some movies and every problem is solved by a you know a blow to the head that ends an argument but it it's that's not that's not what is that's not how human human kind of actually grown beyond where where it is we started the default mode of cynicism and one that is hard to shut off you have to go deep into your hard drive in order to find the button that you slide from constantly cynical to constantly hopeful but when you when you do that switch it's not easy it's not easy to maintain anyway you will come to you know some kind of some kind of argument and some kind of a verbal conflict but the truth still will always be this savanna it's good to talk it's good to share the things we feel it's good to talk don't make me cry I'm not trying to but there is a it's funny when the the movie does garner this kind of life I don't know where it comes from except some degree of release from mmm from that constant grind of I might overuse the word cynicism but it wears you down after being as constant cynic that what's a deal here what's the agenda what do you trap all over my that's just self-protection I mean that's what I think is so interesting about mister Robert Rogers is that he was ultimately vulnerable by being so kind he really was put himself on the line to be so kind the opposite of cynicism is vulnerability yeah no one wants to lead with vulnerability we all want to be met with compassion but in order to do that you actually do have to lead with some brand of vulnerability which is like I feel that bad - as opposed I never feel that way oh I live by these rules here's what you gotta do he had that Tom Junod who was the actual journalist that Matthew is his character is based on he was around a lot because his life was changed by mr. Rogers just by exposure to mr. Rogers and I asked him I said were you aware of the jujitsu thing that he was doing in here in your time with him he says not at first but he came very much aware of it I said now was that a self-defense mechanism of fred's in order to I'm not going to talk about myself because I don't want to go into that place of vulnerability but I am going to bring it around to some how to you because you must be confused with you have on your five-year-old daughter now Savannah you have a five-year-old kid who literally hurt her rules of living or being established by you that must cause you some sleepless nights on occasion doesn't it I'm doing it it did and I've seen him do that over and over again in interviews interviews just like of course people want to be known so it's so powerful like but what he what he was saying is yes I am a cracked vessel and it's very hard to deal with those cracks sometimes because sometimes they never feel they never seemed to heal the way you want them to just as you sometimes and you you've got I'm trying to do it again but it was a shared sense of humanity that it was bringing up at the same time he was going to protect some brand of I said whatever it was it was inside him that when we were when we were shooting the movie and it came time to do the scene where he prays and Joanne is oh yeah oh no he prayed every night and I saw I was talking to Mari and it's like okay the this prayer thing is it him sitting in a Joe no no it's him him before bed I said we talked about kneeling before bed he says yeah we're gonna show him kneeling before bed and he's going to be praying for a long list of people some of whom we will know that we do not know and he did that now did he think it was doing good didn't matter he was just going to offer it up to you know I thought that was the most moving scene imagine if we all did that somehow for for ours you know the people that we cared that's the practice I started to adopt takes time doesn't it yes and do sometimes you forget to do it at night yes but the simplicity of praying for someone by name with a whole without a whole explanation I actually learned I mean I learned that five days ago in the movie he said we always got a quote of Fred's attach of the call sheet every day somebody in the production officer said oh this this will pertain to we're trying to shoot today and I don't know if was one of the quotes but I read and said anybody can pray and anybody can play pray and it only takes three simple words and it's a prayer that your God will hear and it is thank you God that's all you have to do is say thank you God oh wait that covers absolutely everything do you pray I do honey you know I do and you know what I say thank you thank you God yeah that's it sometimes sometimes I say it when I'm you know I'm not even thinking about anything and sometimes I make it a specific moment to say God as I know God thank you it's funny I know many people have remarked on the similarities of you to Mister Rogers not in your looks but in your being you seem to have an endless energy for people I'm a more glib I think than this rather I have I don't I I have a different sort of curiosity I think if I was going to say well they mean it as a compliment you know well I guess so and I'll take it they mean it as a compliment because you are kind here's what I've seen it in action okay all right right well you know I worked at it sometimes I know why there's sometimes they don't you know I'm gonna I'm gonna be on display so what I'm gonna do here I think I'll try to meet with compassion and lead it with vulnerability I do that because I know what the contract is between myself and you know I've been in an awful a lot of people's living rooms for the better part of 30 years now thanks to Home Video and doing the Today Show I'm pretty forget but I wake up ima I will tell you this and it drives a number of my family crazy I wake I am a happy morning person and I if that's the only thing I share with mr. Rogers I'll consider myself very very lucky well big question that the journalists in the movie has for mr. Rogers is whether there's a burden whether he carries a burden and how he carries it and I did wonder if there is ever and we can do all the caveats about your lucky life and how wonderful it is to be you and I know you know that but is there ever kind of that burden of being Tom Hanks true the America's Sweetheart I don't think there's a person on the planet Earth the matter where they are unless they are sociopaths that don't don't have a moment somehow where they think am i fraud am i actually what this is am I actually being true to myself enough to feel as though at any given moment I truly am present because I am aware of there are times when you perform I am aware that there are there are moments where the expectations are you can never be met in a hundred million years I'm also very much aware of there are times when I want to say to somebody get out of my way and get out of my face does that is that the same thing as of having a good nature that people are taking advantage of or is that just a matter of being a cracked vessel that deals with things there's there's a moment in the in the interview process between me and Matthew in it in which the boys mr. Rogers and he says it could not have been easy being being my kids he says something to that effect and that alone is really quite prescient and it I think it is a degree of compassion that he has for his boys but also a vulnerability that he feels because there's nothing he can do in order to change it who doesn't at some point in the course of their day or their lives thinking I'm just going to have to accept this thing because there's nothing I can do to change it I can't relieve the burden on somebody else and I can't take the burden upon myself in order to carry it for them and that's I think when you think in the shower in the morning and think well it's true I'm a fraud I'm a fraud I'm just gonna have to accept that in myself it's not true one final question you know when we were at that event a few weeks ago yes and you know how I was the emcee I had to go out and I had to someone on stage I left my phone right next to you did you take a cell phone on my phone yeah I have an unwritten rule that if you find an unguarded iPhone take a selfie of it just put it back down when did you when did you did you find I found it later and I thought Tom Hanks took a selfie oh that's right I did I didn't know where's your cellphone I just was leaving a selfie on it somewhere my digital footprint will follow me thank you I love seeing you so we've seen each other like what about once every six months I feel like this is Indianapolis and then Washington laughs oh that's right that's right well that's what I was gonna say I actually feel like we're friends I know you do I know you a little picture of you somewhere in America a little picture of me somewhere America and a little dot with question mark say where Tom and Savannah are gonna meet next then we'll find out on the day let's go somewhere and do some Texas how about that that's funny I was gonna say like the seychelles Iowa somewhere between Amarillo and the Seychelles you

Channel: TODAY

Views: 490,235

Rating: 4.8505764 out of 5

Keywords: Pop Culture, Movies, Today, The TODAY Show, TODAY Show, NBC, NBC News, Celebrity Interviews, TODAY Show Recipes, TODAY Show Interview, TODAY OV, TODAY original, news, Tom Hanks, Savannah Guthrie, biopic, Fred Rogers, tom hanks mr rogers, mr rogers movie, tom hanks interview, mr. rogers movie, tom hanks movies, tom hanks mister rogers, Celebrity Interview, Fred Rogers Biopic, a beautiful day in the neighborhood, mr rogers neighborhood, mister rogers neighborhood

Id: sEhZ4YJOGSE

Length: 20min 50sec (1250 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 19 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/FlyingSquid]

Not an atheist. From his Wikipedia page:

Before marrying Wilson, Hanks converted to the Greek Orthodox Church, the religion of Wilson and her family.[132][133] He said, "I must say that when I go to church—and I do go to church—I ponder the mystery. I meditate on the 'why?' of 'why people are as they are' and 'why bad things happen to good people,' and 'why good things happen to bad people' ... The mystery is what I think is, almost, the grand unifying theory of all mankind."

[u/SmallKangaroo]

That doesn’t mean he isn’t an atheist, but okay. All that means is that he attends a church and converted to the religion of his wife.

[u/tha70n3guy]

I'm not saying he's better if he is an atheist. All I'm saying is that whether he is or whether he isn't, this is a good way to view humanity. His answers just seem to be very noncommittal when the interviewer attempts to inject an actual god into it.

Simple observation, not trying to change the landscape of how we view him or adding another well-known figure to our ranks. Just a simple interesting observation is all.

[u/Jimmyjame1]

near the end he even says he prays.

[u/maddoxdoggy]

What’s his view on dog fighting?

[u/TravelingAunt]

I'm pretty sure he's Catholic.

[u/Lost_vob]

No, that just sounds like the typical Hollywood platitudes to me. I mean, I think Tom Hanks is of course sinsere (He is tom Hanks after all), but this isn't uniquely a humanity point of view, it's problem more from his exposure to liberal values in the film industry.