- How are you? - Very well.
Thank you very much. - Oh my god, oh,
the accent, so you're not from here?
- Sadly not. - No, where are you from?
- No, I'm from Wales.
- Wales? - Yes.
- Beautiful, I've played there.
- Have you? - I love Wales, yeah.
- In Cardiff? - Yeah.
- Oh. - Yeah, I love it there.
- I hope they were nice to you.
- They're great. - Good.
- I love going all around the UK, Europe, I love it.
- Good. - Yeah.
So, wait, since you're from Wales,
did you grow up watching Mr. Rogers?
- No, no, very sadly and all the poorer for it,
sadly he never made it across the Atlantic so
we never got to know Mr. Rogers.
I have, obviously, in the last few years.
- Yeah. - And as a result,
my three-year-old son has, incredibly so.
But no, we were deprived--
- I have a three-year-old son as well.
- Aw. - Yes.
It's a fun age, sometimes not. - Yes.
- Sometimes it's threenager. - True.
- Yeah. - True.
- So when did you learn about Mr. Rogers?
- Literally when the script landed in my lap and I
turned to my better half and I said, "Who's Mr. Rogers?"
And she went... (gasping)
- Oh. - Get out!
(audience laughing) And she very quickly explained
that Mr. Rogers, I was already familiar with Mr. Rogers,
unbeknown to me because our three year old
was watching Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.
- Yeah, yes. - The legacy.
So then I went on to watch the show on YouTube
and familiarize myself that way.
And Sam, our three year old, then became transfixed.
- Isn't it funny, as a parent,
you're kinda like woo, this is slow!
But then for kid's it's like so important.
- Yes, I quickly realized, initially going
what's happening, why, has he forgotten the words,
why is it so slow? - Yeah.
(laughing) - Why is he not,
why are they not cutting, do they only have one camera?
Why are they not cutting to anything else?
(laughing)
And I realized that he had thought meticulously
about the pacing children need of a certain age
so that they have the chance to listen
and to process and to feel listened.
This time when he was being incredibly brave
when he said, you know, children's entertainment
is becoming about custard pies.
You need to go the opposite direction, slow down for them.
- Yeah, and he tackled subjects that you're afraid
to talk to with your kids, you know?
- He was so brave. - Yeah, so brave.
- In every sense. - Yeah.
But he didn't see it as brave, that's the cool thing.
- No, no, he just saw it as something
you should absolutely do. - Yeah.
- I'm so happy you're honoring him today,
I think it's so important.
- I grew up on him so I love Mr. Rogers.
But a big moment is when Mr. Rogers reminds Lloyd,
your character in the movie, he reminds you
of your favorite childhood toy, Old Rabbit, right?
- Yeah. - Yeah,
and that's a really kind of pivotal moment in the movie?
- Yes, incredibly so.
And I don't know for those who do know, don't know,
the film is based on this actual Esquire Article
that happened. - Yeah.
- Back in the 90s when Mr. Rogers--
- Your character was a real writer for Esquire.
- He was, he was.
And there's this incredible article
that Tom Junod, the journalist that Lloyd is based on,
wrote this piece.
It's very moving how he touches on that very same subject of
something that Fred Rogers knew intrinsically well,
how children relate to these kind of talismans
early in your life. - Yeah.
So did you have one, did you have a toy
when you were a kid? - I did!
I did, I had a teddy bear that I was given
the day I was born that I very originally named Ted.
(audience laughing) - Oh, he's the O.G. Ted!
- The O.G. Ted. - Is he foul mouthed?
- No, no. (laughing)
Very silent, actually, doesn't say much.
Not much of a talker but a good listener.
- I love that you have the original Ted.
If you've seen the movie Ted, it's, well,
it's different (laughing)
than maybe what your Ted was like.
- Yes, my Ted was a little offended by that Ted.
- So wait, I hear that Tom Hanks
gave you an interesting gift at the end of the film.
(laughing)
'Cause I am so excited about this.
- Oh no, I feel terrible.
- Don't worry, all of you have said the same thing.
- Oh, no, that makes this worse!
- No! - He's probably gonna say,
oh, I've been working with a group of dimwits.
- Tell them, so he gets this, they all get this gift right?
A bunch of you got, the actors, right?
- Yes, a great number of us cast and crew
got this beautiful gift.
It's clearly incredibly well made, made of leather,
it's inscribed.
We're just not quite sure what it is.
(laughing)
Or maybe what to do with it.
- I cannot wait to ask!
- A journal from Mr. Hanks, the title of my autobiography.
(laughing)