Exclusive 'A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood' Clip Shows How Tom Hanks Learned To Use The Puppets Of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood

When it came time for Tom Hanks to play Fred Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, he was faced with an unenviable task. Everybody loves Mr. Rogers, and Hanks had to bring the beloved, well-known figure back to life. Fortunately, everyone loves Tom Hanks, too, so the actor was able to infuse his inherent likability into the role. In an exclusive A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood clip below, Hanks and the folks behind the movie talk about one of the important elements the actor had to work with: Puppets!

Fred Rogers did a lot of the puppeteering on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, so when it came time for Tom Hanks to play Rogers, he, too, had to get in on that puppet action. This exclusive clip has Hanks, director Marielle Heller, and more, discussing the puppetry Hanks got involved with. To prepare for the work, Hanks had to go through a kind of puppet boot-camp, and learn how to do something called "puppet push-ups."

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is now available on Digital, 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD, and the clip above is part of the special features included on the home media release. Here's a full list of what's included:

Tom Hanks portrays Mister Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, a timely story of kindness triumphing over cynicism, based on the true story of a real-life friendship between Fred Rogers and journalist Tom Junod. After a jaded magazine writer (Matthew Rhys) is assigned a profile of Fred Rogers, he overcomes his skepticism, learning about kindness, love and forgiveness from America's most beloved neighbor.