ESQ: One thing I was really interested in how in the The Atlantic piece, you spell out masculinity as defined by your father. During a youth baseball game on June 1, 2018, a car driven by Carol Sharrow careened onto the field nearly missing players and umpires while family and friends watched in . So Sullivan and Michael embark on a journey . At work the next day, Lloyd plays off his shiner as the result of a softball injury and very reluctantly takes a 400-word profile of Mr. Rogers assigned by his editor at Esquire in an effort to clean up his reputation for being too hard on subjects. TJ: You can get into all sorts of weird head-trips about prayer and its purpose. Yeah, he would. TJ: Okay, so theres that scene in the beginning of the movie where hes zipping up his sweater. Tom Junod, whose magazine article inspired the film, on the set of 'A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.'. And I think that audience is sort of self-selecting and limited by definition, almost. You know couples who called it quits after the first big fight, because they didn't like what they saw in the other person when they were fighting, and they particularly didn't like what they saw in themselves. Upon graduating with his high school diploma, Tom enrolled at the State University of New York at Albany in 1978. He joined the station in July 2016. 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? He even became a co-owner of Vegetarian Times magazine and appeared on the cover. These are only escalated when the small family attends Lloyds sisters wedding. Rogers became a vegetarian in the 1970s, even taking a co-ownership in and appearing on the cover of the Vegetarian Times. Yet, it's all but absent from the movie. by Tom Junod, published in Esquire. We first meet Lloyd in 1998 where, as the previous years winner of the National Magazine Award, hes presenting the current years prize. Junod, who had just turned 40, was at a low point when an editor assigned him the story for a November issue celebrating heroes. Not that it's messy, or that the accumulated water glasses and coffee cups tend to . Marianne Paluso Our Woven Journey. like any other marital temptation, is always there. As Junods profile points out, when Rogers accepted his Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997, he stood in front of all the soap-opera stars and talk-show sinceratrons, in front of all the jutting man-tanned jaws and jutting saltwater bosoms and said, All of us have special ones who have loved us into being. The . This idea was revived, the idea of Fred, and that has been one of the great rewards of participating on this movie.. In the movie, Andrea is a lawyer and recent mother of a son who eventually becomes good enough. Firstly, Vogel's wife's name is Andrea, and she is somewhat modeled after Junod's wife, Janet. ESQ: So its like we dont knowwith the popular mediums we have nowhow to show kindness or come up to each other. Fred Rogers isnt even the central figure. By . They might not still be fucking. Vituperative is how Junod describes the media backlash. The spirit of Mister Rogers counseled her to forgive the insults, and after she told me her story in the morning, I called Fred. That light just burned out and there was I mean, that was on fire. As Junod himself writes in a recent piece for the Atlantic, I did not get into a fistfight with my father at my sisters wedding. There are many people who follow the legacy of kindness, but I dont know of anybody who follows his legacy of kindness in media. "My sister didn't have a wedding. Junod says it was with tools like his notesusing discipline to be a good friend or a good partnerthat he was able to uphold such goodness throughout his life. Junod had a file. All rights reserved. The real-life journalist, Tom Junod, admits that he was broken back then, but he says, "I had never uttered those words to Fred in my life." To Vogels surprise, Rogers decides not to retape, saying that children need to see that when adults make plans, sometimes they dont work.. In addition, he is a two-time National Magazine Awards winner. Junod and Rogers exchanged dozens of emails that would . Tom and his wife have been together for over 35 years. Its Lloyd Vogel, a fictionalized character based on Atlanta writer Tom Junod. 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." You can't separate the two. I was well aware of his eccentricity, but unlike my character in the script, I had never rejected him or his message., And while, according to Junod, he was indeed assigned to cover Rogers as a sort of mismatch between subject and reporter, it doesnt look like it was to brighten his reputation.Instead, he was assigned the story about Fred because one of the editors at Esquire thought it would be amusing to have me, with my stated determination to say the unsayable, write about the nicest man in the world. Still, like Vogel, Junod did have a reputation for being hard on subjects after he wrote an Esquire cover story dancing around the subject of Kevin Spaceys sexuality, a story of coy ill will that fooled no one.. It is your happiness and your love that make the fights so painful. With the emotional adventure of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever closing out the controversial fourth, Joseph Bologne Could Have Been As Big As Beethoven In, Angela Bassett Doesnt Owe The Oscars A Thing Not Even A Smile, Tessa Thompson Talks Going To Couples Therapy With Michael B. Jordan, now, Mr. Rogers' journalist friend Tom Junod, Mr. Rogers didnt just serve as an interview. Discover Tom Junod's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. While it seems like a nice movie moment that's hard to believe happened in real life, it actually comes straight from Tom Junod's article. Theres a moment in .css-umdwtv{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:.0625rem;text-decoration-color:#FF3A30;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:inherit;-webkit-transition:background 0.4s;transition:background 0.4s;background:linear-gradient(#ffffff, #ffffff 50%, #d5dbe3 50%, #d5dbe3);-webkit-background-size:100% 200%;background-size:100% 200%;}.css-umdwtv:hover{color:#000000;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;-webkit-background-position:100% 100%;background-position:100% 100%;}Can You Say Hero?Tom Junods Esquire profile on Fred Rogers, one of the all-time great magazine storieswhen the writer is searching for the childrens TV icon at the stuffed, panic-attack-palace of Penn Station. The movie shows that Lloyd and Andrea have a newborn when the reporter goes to meet Mister Rogers. Strangely enough, when interviewing Fred Rogers, Junod recalled that the questions were always turned . TJ: Thats a great question. 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. ("My wife gave me the idea."), what the writing process was like ("The first draft was 30,000 words and an impressive act of overkill"), why that first draft was so long ("I got lost . Can I fight with her and still have sex with her for the rest of my life? When he saw the movie for the first time, in a screening room in New York City over the summer, he asked himself: What would Mister Rogers think of my work? 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. He died at the age of 74 years old on February 27, 2003, from stomach cancer. The movie introduces us to the journalist in 1998, the year after he won the National Magazine Award. He never asked this of the real-life journalist, Tom Junod. 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. The first time that Vogel visits Rogers New York apartment, they take the train. This is one Mr. Rogers story you dont have to take on my authority, or Junods, because you can watch it yourself. I think he would have liked that Tom [Hanks] sort of straddles the line between following Freds gestures and mannerisms, but not doing an imitation of Fred, he says. But what do you fight for, if you can't fight to win? ESQUIRE: In your Atlantic piece, you talk about how theres no true successor to Mister Rogers. "It is a truism by now that there was no difference between Fred Rogers and Mister Rogers," says Tom Junod, the real-life journalist who loosely inspired Matthew Rhys character (The Atlantic). This content is imported from youTube. It was late in the day, and the train was crowded with children who were going home from school. Aside from a fictional subplot involving the writers father, the films narrative hews to the Esquire story. This story is around 1,400 words.) He did eventually go to the Pittsburgh set as well as Rogers childhood home in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. He wanted to make a sacred space out of what he regarded as a rich but toxic medium, which is television. ESQ: I mean, you said that if he grew up in the age of Twitter, you can expect what he would have done. That temptation is really large because its so easy. 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. The protagonist attempts to interview Rogers on the set of the TV show in Pittsburgh and in his modest pied-a-terre in New York, but Rogers always manages to turn the interview around on Vogel. In the movie, Lloyd's father, Jerry Vogel (Chris Cooper), is almost entirely fictional. He also worked for Atlanta magazine, Life, and Sports Illustrated. "They just sang," wrote Junod. Upon realizing the answer, he stopped to appreciate how he had come to take Rogers lessons with him. Moreover, he has also served for Atlanta magazine, Life, and Sports Illustrated. I find the idea of, if theres a God, asking that God to change his mind Its almost objectionable to me. My wife would offer a simple explanation for the failure of my office to be an office: it's a mess. Tom Junod does credit Fred Rogers with giving his wife Janet and him the courage to adopt their daughter. Junod worked as a writer for Esquire magazine beginning in 1997, after following editor David Granger to the magazine from GQ. But I mean, Fred and my dad could not have been more different. TJ: I grew up Roman Catholic too. He is a man of average stature. 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." Infidelity is the final measure of victory and defeat; it is the logical consequence of keeping score, and the ultimate extension of the dictum that if you have found a fight worth winning, you have found a marriage worth losing. When Lloyd asks Rogers why, he responds, Someone who is suffering that much must be very close to God. While Rogers never said this about Junods father, in the original profile, he does ask a boy with cerebral palsy he visited in California to pray for him, saying, I asked him because I think that anyone who has gone through challenges like that must be very close to God.. 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. Magazines, Digital Further, he had a controversial article about Kevin Spacey for Esquire that more or less outed the actor in 1997. Here's the True Story Behind A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Read Tom Junod's Iconic Mr. Rogers Profile. For example, at one point Matthew Rhys' character tells Fred Rogers (Tom Hanks), "You love people like me," to which Hanks as Rogers responds, "What are people like you?" Tom Junod (born April 9, 1958) is an American journalist. I was really struggling with that. Hes not like Supermanhe isnt otherworldly. Since 1961, Atlanta magazine, the citys premier general interest publication, has served as the authority on Atlanta, providing its readers with a mix of long-form nonfiction, lively lifestyle coverage, in-depth service journalism, and literary essays, columns, and profiles. I think he did the scales every day., If Mister Rogers were alive today to see A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Junod is pretty sure that he would enjoy the film. 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. 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. Your children understand that there are no trivial fights, because each fight has the potential to grow into the kind of fight that ends your marriage. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. I just try to ask for some sort of affirmation, you know? Fred was a guy who was very specific about his vision. He woke up in the morning and prayed, and wrote, and prayed for people. Simple: You fight about what you always fight about. Tom stands at a height of 5 ft 7 in (Approx 1.74 m). In the film, Andrea meets Rogers and develops a friendship with the TV. Tom has published some notable works for several magazines including The Falling Man, a controversial 2001 piece on R.E.M, The Abortionist, and The Rapist Says Hes Sorry. The question is not who can win, because anyone can win if they're willing to go far enough if they're willing to win at the cost of love and respect. He was born to his caring father and mother in 1958 in Wantagh, New York, in the United States. He was the host and creator of the preschool television series Mister Rogers Neighborhood. [5] As of November 2019, he is a writer for ESPN The Magazine. This is the story of the predator who had come before. Fidelity matters to a marriage. I mean, he was in favor of thatmedia should be human. Is Mr. Rogers like his television persona, or is he an impostor? 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. I mean, one of the great surprises of my life is doing this. "A long time ago, a man had seen something in me I hadn't seen in myself.". As of now, he serves as a Senior Writer at ESPN. Photos by TriStar Pictures and Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SCAD. At the time Spacey described the profile as "mean-spirited" and "homophobic" and called for a boycott of both the author and publication. No. One part of Jerrys story arc is accurate, though. And then there's the enormous influence of religion on Fred Rogers' life and career (he was an ordained Presbyterian minister but thought he could better spread a positive message to young people through public television).Christianity provided the foundation for Fred Rogers' message and it was the bedrock of his life. In the movie, Andrea is a lawyer and recent mother of a son who eventually becomes good enough friends with Mr. Rogers that he asks her if shes still worrying about putting her son in day care. He and his wife, Janet, were trying to have a child, and Mr. Rogers helped give them the courage to finally begin the process of adopting our daughter,, Junod is doing a fair amount of press for, Faith in God was a big part of both Junods initial and new article, and while hes never outright about what he believes, Junod often alludes to the way that Rogers affected him in that way, too. Not exactly. No. : Directed by Morgan Neville. In real life, Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister. ESQ: Have the past two months been fulfilling for you? I often have a good sense of what transpired during those two hours, give or take, and dont re, Latines love entertainment. But it might mean something to me, so thats why Ive been doing it.