If somebody had said five years ago, that I was going to be spending the months in October and November 2019 sort of speaking for Fred Rogersyeah, right. Appearance, presentation, looks. And hes still going even, Junod is currently a senior writer at ESPN, where hes written about his, When he met Mr. Rogers, he was married, but had no children. At a pivotal moment in Vogels journey from skeptic to believer, Rogers asks Vogel to sit with him in silence in a crowded restaurant for a full minute to think of the people who have loved us into being.* Similar to the train scene, this actually happened but in a different and perhaps even more surprising context. He never stooped to proselytizing. Ive had people take issue with that. An exploration of the life, lessons, and legacy of iconic children's television host Fred Rogers. The story is written in The True Story Behind A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. Im just wondering on your end, where has your relationship with prayer landed now, and do you think it will continue to change? I mean, Fred wasnt just a reformer when it comes in terms of message. Isler had read Junods work and didnt think he was a good fit to do the interview. On the set of "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood," Tom Hanks (who portrays Fred Rogers) meets with reporter Tom Junod (center) and actor Matthew Rhys, who plays Junod in the movie. Freds favorite saying from all of literature was, That which is essential is invisible to the eye, from The Little Prince. A family affair! In one scene, he admits to having a strained relationship with one of his sons, which is also true to life. In the movie, Andrea is a lawyer and recent mother of a son who eventually becomes good enough. Thats the image featured in the ads and trailers for the upcoming holiday release, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. They are, in other words, what sex should be, what you want it to be, because they're so dangerous. Ive had people say, I know a lot of people who are really kind, but theyre just not media people, so no one knows about their kindness. I mean, the point is that Fred was a media person, and he did have a platform, and he spoke to an extremely large audience that he made into an even larger audience. I dont know if Im ever going to be as good at the active devotion whereas Fred would like me or us to be. Hes not like Supermanhe isnt otherworldly. He did eventually go to the Pittsburgh set as well as Rogers childhood home in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Connor Cruise, son of Tom Cruise and ex-wife Nicole Kidman, showcased his love of golf in his first Instagram pic in more than half a year. Its Lloyd Vogel, a fictionalized character based on Atlanta writer Tom Junod. Here is how you know you and your wife are going to have a fight: You haven't had sex. That's because over the course of married life, people supply their spouses with precisely what's required to finish them off. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. ESQ: I wanted to ask you about that nightmare scene [where Lloyd Vogel, the character loosely based on Junod, dreams that he's a character in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe]. Is Mr. Rogers like his television persona, or is he an impostor? But its the unintentional stuff that I think is really true to life. His journalism career kicked off in 1997 working as a writer for Esquire magazine. He pursued a bachelor's degree in English graduating in 1980. : Directed by Morgan Neville. Junod lives with his wife and their daughter, Nia, 12, in Marietta in suburban Atlanta. He prayed every day of his life. Im not gonna be describing anything but my social media experience, but I think that the social media experienceand I dont want to blame everything on social media, eitherbut I do think that social media tricks you into thinking that being unkind can be in itself, moral. Junod was brought to tears by "A Beautiful Day": "From the moment Tom begins talking to you in the audience, I just bought in," he says. As the film points out, it's not hard to imagine that having Mister Rogers as your father could be both a blessing and a burden. Photo illustration by Slate. When you were contemplating asking your wife to marry you, you asked yourself the same question that most men in your position ask themselves: Can I have sex with this woman, and only this woman, for the rest of my life? (He earned a National Magazine Award for a 1995 story called The Rapist Says Hes Sorry, about a convicted sex offender undergoing therapy.). He also loved the movie BIG. The hard-hitting journalist reluctantly takes an assignment to write a profile story about the cherished TV icon for a special 1998 "Heroes" issue of Esquire. The movie shows that Lloyd and Andrea have a newborn when the reporter goes to meet Mister Rogers. 3,177 likes, 16 comments - soltana beauty center (@soltana_beautycenter) on Instagram: "La jolie @the_good_wife__ que pensiez vous de son maquillage " Its on a difficult topic, but Junod says that it has a resolution he really likes. "Fred Rogers was a HUGE fan of Tom Hanks," says Fred's widow Joanne. Further, he had a controversial article about Kevin Spacey for Esquire that more or less outed the actor in 1997. The real journalist, Tom Junod, says that his father, Lou Junod, was in fact an eccentric, boozy philanderer, but he "had never rejected him or his message." The movie introduces us to the journalist in 1998, the year after he won the National Magazine Award. Really, I think its just that Tom Junod is a guy who stands out in a crowd. The new Mr. Rogers biopic A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, directed by Marielle Heller (Diary of a Teenage Girl, Can You Ever Forgive Me?) Tom wrote an article, on a celebrity profile, but the celebrity is the man in the gold cardigan who showed you how to tie your shoes. Co-screenwriter Micah Fitzerman-Blue said that while the personal struggles the journalist experiences in the movie are fictional, his relationship with Fred Rogers is "very accurate," which appears to be true (minus the moments when Rogers is helping him with his personal conflicts). Tom is 64 years old born on April 9, 1958, in Wantagh, New York, in the USA. But in the end, Rogers said he wanted to work with the journalist anyway. . The movie A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is structured like an episode of Mister Rogers Neighborhood. UNTOLD scroll BY Tom Junod and Paula Lavigne Editor's note: This story contains explicit language and graphic descriptions of sexual. Spacey, who was at the height of his career at the time, called for a Hollywood boycott of both the writer and the magazine, describing the story as mean-spirited and homophobic. It was not one of Junods proudest moments. "They just sang," wrote Junod. You fight because of things she does that you don't like, and things you do that she doesn't like. The show was aired from 1968 to 2001. Tom Junod, whose magazine article inspired the film, on the set of 'A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.' Lacey TerrellSony Pictures Before he was assigned to interview Rogers for an Esquire. Hes like Batman. The Slate Group LLC. Or do you take elements of what you see of the best men in your life, and try and put it together into one person? A fight to the finish is what finishes a marriage. ", Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, 1997 acceptance speech when he received the Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award, 1969 speech before congress asking for funding for public television. [7] The event is the premise of the 2019 feature film A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. Tom Junod (born April 9, 1958) is an American journalist. ESPN senior writer Tom Junod has written some of the most enduring and widely read longform journalism of the last 30 years. Meaning that there should be mistakes, there should be accidents, and if that was filmed, then it should stay filmed. You are fighting for power, of course but if your marriage is healthy, you will fight to restore the balance of power between you and your wife, instead of fighting to destroy it. He had given up meat in 1970 when his father died, and had often stated, as he does in the movie, that he wouldn't "eat anything that had a mother." You fight about what you always have fought about. Unlike the barely-there similarities between Junod and Vogel, Hanks Fred Rogers uncannily resembles the real Rogers in mannerisms (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood opens with the familiar routine of Rogers changing from his blue sports coat to his red cardigan, and Hanks use of silence, as if waiting for the audience to respond, is at once familiar and unsettling) and is largely faithful in terms of biography. Why it was Fred who made that decision, he never told me, Junod admits. See his new photo and other images of him over the years. In the film, Andrea meets Rogers and develops a friendship with the TV. And you don't say what can't be unsaid. The answer to: What did Fred want? Yet, it's all but absent from the movie. He was not a dogmatic person, but he was dogmatic about thatthat media should not be used as a distraction. ESQ: And then by Mister Rogers. He joined the station after following David Granger from GQ. Thats what I actually pray for. He never asked this of the real-life journalist, Tom Junod. Tom Junod, who wrote the 1998 article in Esquire that the movie is based on, would talk about the way his interactions with Fred Rogers changed his life. ESQ: I mean, you said that if he grew up in the age of Twitter, you can expect what he would have done. During a 1987 interview with Rick Sebak, Fred said that he gave up fish in the 1980s after hearing someone's reply when he said, "I heard that fish was very good for you." In the movie, we see Rogers (Tom Hanks) confess that he has a strained relationship with one of his two sons. Now a senior writer at ESPN, Junod is working on a 10,000-word story. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. At first skeptical of Rogers, his perspective begins to change as Rogers helps him explore his own feelings, including his troubled home life and fractured relationship with his father. And I was really quite moved by it.. While he still doesnt know whether Rogers had read the Spacey article, Junod believes Rogers recognized that he was going through a moment of transformation after losing trust in himself. TJ: I mean, I dont know. What do you fight about? It was late in the day, and the train was crowded with children who were going home from school. It depicts Lloyd Vogel (Rhys), a troubled journalist for Esquire who is assigned to profile television icon Fred Rogers (Hanks). Learn How rich is He in this year and how He spends money? The day of the show, he called and asked if I could take the subway down to Bryant Park. It's a question that fans were asking even prior to the movie's release. And my essay from 1998 is the intro for that. You know that they shot it with like the original cameras. Like the real-life Fred Rogers, the movies Rogers married an accomplished pianist named Joanne and fathered two sons. Except for people who are on the new-age end of it. Last week, Junod was in New York to walk in a charity fashion show for his alma mater, SUNY Albany, so I tried to get a hold of him for an interview about his Esquire story and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. Ive gone on the road through this story and Ive become a spokesman not just for the movie, but for Fred, and its one of the great surprises of my life. Instead, he asked the audience to do this during his, According to Ancestry.com spokeswoman Keri Madonna, "Fred Rogers and Tom Hanks are sixth cousins sharing the same 5x great-grandfather who immigrated from Germany to America in the 18th century." You always felt superior to them the kind of people who had a fender-bender and thought they were in a wreck. Anyone who has seen Mister Rogers' Neighborhood will also recognize Hanks' accurate wardrobe, including the blue sports coat and the red cardigan. "That story had the reek of bad faith to it, to be quite honest with you," Junod admitted when interviewed by Atlanta Magazine in 2019, noting that the negative response to his Kevin Spacey profile had stalled his career prior to his Fred Rogers assignment. When Creed first premiered in 2015, the world had no idea how big it would become; after all, it was just, Rocky Balboas iconic ascent up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art out of breath and in gray joggers as Eye of the Tiger blares in the, Spoilers ahead. ", "Writer Comes Clean On Fake Stipe Profile", "How Mister Rogers changed the life of Atlanta writer Tom Junod", "Mr. Rogers doc 'Wont You Be My Neighbor?' (Which, in journalism these days, is quite long. They told him, "Yeah, but it's not good for the fish. Junod had a file. Sixteen years after his death, Fred Rogers is having a bit of a moment. [6] Junod has stated that his encounter with Rogers changed his perspective on life. Simply watch his 1969 speech before congress asking for funding for public television and it's on its own enough to erase any doubt.In the end, while Lloyd's fictional storyline is effective and moving, we get a film in which Fred Rogers (Tom Hanks) is onscreen for only about half of the running time. Theres not a whole lot of information about Junods wife, Janet, in either of his pieces. Magazines, October 1997 cover story titled Kevin Spacey Has a Secret, Or create a free account to access more articles, Inside the Unlikely Friendship That Inspired. They are parents to Antonia Li Junod. Janet, Junod's wife of 35 years, said perhaps Junod learned from the encounter: "I can still be a writer and be a journalist and in Tom's word not be an (expletive) about it." Im not sure about it. In exploring the A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood fact vs. fiction, we learned that Fred Rogers really was a vegetarian. "My sister didn't have a wedding. A fact check reveals this to be accurate. Among its contents was a list of four pillars of journalism that Rogers hoped his friend would stick to: that journalists are human beings; that they should point out injustice when necessary; point out beauty when its possible; and celebrate the wonders of creation. But do you think there will be one? I said sure, hung up, and realized I didnt exactly catch where in Bryant Parkanother New York capital of constant, nightmarish pedestrian overflow. I have actually tried, since that moment, Ive tried to pray. And that always struck me as perverse. Perhaps it's because I grew up in Pittsburgh, where Fred Rogers lived and his show was created, but no one I know has ever questioned his sincerity. In the middle of their conversation, a group of children begin to sing Wont You be My Neighbor? This, implausibly, seems to actually have happenedthough while the movie might leave the viewer with the sense that Rogers regularly took the subway, the circumstances in the profile suggest this wasnt so routine. Im at my best as a father when I try to think what Fred Rogers would do, and Im probably at my worst when I think what my own father would do.. Fred moved in mysterious ways, he really did.. Can I fight with her and still love her for the rest of my life? Before he was assigned to interview Rogers for an Esquire issue about American heroes, Junod had earned a bit of an unsavory reputation. Slate is published by The Slate Simple: You fight about what you always fight about. February 14, 2014. Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. In cinemas now is A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, inspired by the real-life meeting between Esquire journalist Tom Junod and Fred Rogers (played in the movie by Tom Hanks), whom Junod wrote a . He made himself into a superhero with his utility belt and all his training, Junod says. After all, Rogers woke up daily at 5 a.m. to pray and read and swim; he famously even ensured that he weight the same exact amount143 poundswithout fluctuation. There's not a whole lot of information about Junod's wife, Janet, in either of his pieces. As a cynical investigative writer,. The thing that damaged me about the Kevin Spacey story was not that we revealed that Kevin was gayit was that we revealed Kevin was gay for a purpose that was not worth the revelation, Junod says. There are many people who follow the legacy of kindness, but I dont know of anybody who follows his legacy of kindness in media. But in answer to your question, I mean there are all sorts of ways to be helpful and be of service. Tom and his wife have been together for over 35 years. Though Hanks Mister Rogers is the storyteller in Marielle Hellers new film, the movies inspiration, a 1998 Esquire cover story, positions him instead as a subject. For instance, one that delves into his childhood, the creation of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, how he spent his three-year retirement before deciding to bring back his beloved TV show. As we spoke by cellphone, he walked the family's dog, Dexter, a pit bull rescue, around the neighborhood. In, I keep telling myself that I dont know how to answer Theresas question, that I dont know what to do next, because Fred never asked anything of me, Junod wrote.
