Filmmaker sought to show Fred Rogers’ humanity
When Morgan Neville met with Joanne Rogers to discuss a documentary about her late husband, he told her, “I don’t want to make a documentary about Fred Rogers; I want to make a film about the ideas of Fred Rogers.”
According to Mr. Neville, Mrs. Rogers responded, “That’s good, because Fred always said his story was the most boring story, ever.”
It wasn’t, of course, and neither is “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
The film, which opens Friday, is a loving but serious look at the man who was not only every child’s neighbor but also a trusted friend.
Mr. Neville’s Oscar is for the 2013 documentary “20 Feet From Stardom,” which is about backup singers including Darlene Love and Merry Clayton. His next project is likely to be a doc about Orson Welles’ ill-fated Don Quixote film.
In “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” Mr. Neville showcases a very different type of star. He was recently in Pittsburgh as part of a special event for Fred Rogers’ family and friends. Sitting on a couch at the Heinz History Center in the Strip District — where some of the “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” sets are on permanent display — he said that Fred Rogers’ ministry to not only children but also their parents and caregivers was one of kindness and tolerance.
Citing “this feeling that’s been in the air for a long time, this incivility, this kind of peak shrillness,” he said it was especially relevant to recall the lessons of a powerful man known for his kindness.
“Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” debuted in 1968 and became a public television staple for decades. Fred Rogers died in 2003, having taught generations of kids that they were indeed special.
In fact, Mr. Rogers, who voiced all of the puppets on the show, used Daniel Tiger to express his own memories of being an insecure child. A clip from the film shows Daniel asking, “Am I a mistake?”
“The thing about kids that young, they have no sense of self. He thought they should, but what he wanted to impart to them was sort of a basic, humanist framework for how we should treat each other and ourselves. What kind of neighbors we should be,” Mr. Neville said.
“And he pulled, of course, from the Bible, and he studied all religions. I think he had this basic kind of moral viewpoint and this felt like it was a good time to revisit the kindness of it.”
Mr. Neville was born in 1967 and was a huge fan of the show as a
young child. His memories, he said, “Are more feelings than specific images or ideas. Fred’s audience was 2to 6-year-olds, and a lot of your experiences with him actually predate memory.
“I think, in an unexpected way, what the film has done is, it makes you visit the part of yourself you haven’t thought about in a long time.” Bring Kleenex. The roots of “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” took hold after a 2012 lunch with Yo-Yo Ma. Mr. Neville happened to ask the cellist how he learned to deal with fame.
“He said ‘Mister Rogers taught me,’” Mr. Neville said. “And I kind of chuckled, but he said, ‘No, no, I’m serious.’”
It turns out that after Mr. Ma — and later, his son, Nicholas, who is a producer on this film — appeared on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” Fred Rogers became a mentor who helped the musician deal with the best way to usehis growing celebrity.
TheMas were Mr. Neville’s entree into serious discussions with the Rogers family and what was then called the FredRogers Company.
Mr. Neville hoped the film would echo the same “holy ground experience” Mr. Rogers talked about when he described the relationship between “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” and the children who watched it.
He decided to make the film after visiting the Fred Rogers Center in Latrobe. There, he was able to watch the special 1968 episode produced in reaction to Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination.
“That trip, it wasn’t just me trying to get permission to make the film. I was also me trying to decide, ‘Did I want to make the film? Is there enough there?’ “
Fred Rogers was perceived by some as the “quintessential two-dimensional character,” Mr. Neville said, adding he was anything but that.
“I think the question that everybody asks is, ‘Is this guy for real?’ He just doesn’t seem like anybody else you know, so you assign something aroundthis guy. We wanted to address the rumor mill around Fred Rogers because he doesn’t fit into any convenient box, which actually makeshim a great character.”
So, to be clear: Mr. Rogers was not a Navy Seal. No tattoos. But he wasn’t milquetoast: “He had an iron will. If you look at his strength, he was, in fact, the opposite of wimpy.
“He was someone who would smash down walls for peace and kindness.”
But he was human and had his doubts and failures — some of which are chronicled in “Neighbor.”
“I’m a filmmaker, but a journalist, too,” he said. “So I’m not here to sanctify anybody, and in fact, the best permission I got on this film was from Joanne. At the end of that first meeting she said, ‘Don’t make him into a saint.’”
It’s impossible not to feel admiration for the man who, in account after account, cared about others and tried to help. Mr. Neville said, “I realized this every time I got into a cab and told anybody what I was working on.
“First, they would say, ‘I love Mister Rogers.’
“And the second thing they’d say was, ‘Don’t screw this up.’”