As always, the Sundance Film Festival hosted premieres for a bunch of new documentaries, and among the premieres wasWon’t You Be My Neighbor?, the new film from Oscar-winning directorMorgan Neville(20 Feet from Stardom). The documentary follows the life and career ofFred Rogers, showing the genesis ofMister Rogers’ Neighborhood, and why the show was so special. Rather than just simply go through the events of Rogers’ life or attempt to be a hagiography, the documentary comes alive thanks to how Neville shines a light on Rogers’ values. The documentary is incredibly heartwarming, surprisingly thoughtful, and shows why we continue to adore Mister Rogers.Click here to readMatt Goldberg’s full review.
Before getting to see the film, I sat down with Morgan Neville for an exclusive video interview. He talked about the film’s enthusiastic response at Sundance, how Yo-Yo Ma led him to make a Mister Rogers documentary, the length of the first cut versus the finished film, a deleted scene showing the influence of Mister Rogers in China, his involvement with the release date and marketing, why he likes releasing the movie in summer, and a lot more. In addition, he talked about his upcoming projects including a documentary aboutOrson Welles’unfinished final feature and how he included a clip of Welles doing theTransformersTV show in the Mister Rogers documentary.
Check out what he had to say in the video above and below is a listing of exactly what we talked about. Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Will be in theaters this summer.
Finally, ahugethank you to everyone atKiaandThe Future Partyfor helping to make these interviews happen at the Kia Supper Suite and offering up transportation in the all new Kia Stinger high performance Sportback for our guests. We’d also like to thank Altec Lansing, Kunde Wines, Blue Moon Brewing, and Topo Chico for their support.
Morgan Neville:
