- The first thing I thought,
as a singer having to do videos
all the time and having to
time things with the lyrics,
when you did the entrance and the song,
I was like how many times
did you have to do that?
- I think 27 was the
official take on the day.
Because Fred
- Was that like
one of the hardest ones?
- Fred had nine years,
or 14 years in order to figure this out.
It was nearly impossible.
You think that song lasts a long time.
- It's not.
- That song
does not last a long time when
you gotta carry a thing in,
take off a jacket, open closet door,
pull a sweater off a hanger
- I had a mini panic attack
- Put the jacket
on the hanger.
- Watching it.
- Maury, the boss, Maury Heller,
our director, she confessed
to me later on that she
blew it, that she could've
made it easier, but then
she found out that Fred's
blue shoes were already halfway tied.
They were bigger than his feet anyway,
so they went on really easy.
Then the shoes that come off
are also bigger than my feet,
so those come off easy.
But I had to do the full tie.
You know, criss-cross applesauce.
- Yeah, I watched.
- A rabbit goes around
the ear and in the hole.
- Yes.
- I had to do
that whole thing.
He only had to do the rabbit
around, the fly around
- Oh my Gosh.
- It was a nightmare.
- What's the nicest thing,
'cause we have a whole
neighbor thing we do on our show too.
The whole reason why I
signed on to do this show,
is 'cause I feel like
we're really divided.
So I wanted my show to kind
of connect people and actually
meet your neighbors instead
of being on your phone
all the time and actually be present.
I was curious, have you
ever had a really cool
neighbor moment in your life?
- My dad was divorced and he was working
in the restaurant business,
so there were three kids that
were living in an apartment
complex in Alameda, California.
My dad would leave us food to prepare,
frozen peas and vegetables that
we would literally just take
to the garbage chute, and
frozen we'd just throw it away,
'cause we're not makin' those peas.
So we had really, really
super bad eating habits.
A lady moved over.
She had three kids.
One of them was, I only remember one name.
His name was Marco.
But she lived just like two
doors down on the opposite side
of the hall.
Her door was always open a crack,
because we could always
just go in and out.
She would always make us food.
Corn dogs, the first time you have
a corn dog made with love.
- I'm Texan.
Tom, would you like a,
yes, what is a corn dog?
It was magnificent.
- Every kid kinda has
something they latch onto
when they're younger, and
I love that Mr. Rogers
pulled that out of Lloyd.
Because Matthew Reece's
character played Lloyd,
and he had 10, the original 10.
- We compared notes on all of this.
I don't remember having
anything that was given to me,
but I remember buying that thing
that I had my heart set on.
Major Matt Mason, the posable, bendable
astronaut doll by Mattel.
- Major Matt Mason.
- Major Matt Mason.
This was during,
- So specific.
- You know, men were landin'
on the moon, and it cost $1.95.
I had a paper dollar.
I had some nickels.
I had a couple quarters.
- It was all your money.
- I saved up $1.95, went
to Clark's Drugstore
on my brother's borrowed
bicycle, picked it off the rack
- We had the same childhood.
- It's in the plastic
shell and it's on a rack.
You gotta kinda work it
loose, then you take it up,
and the shelf is here and
the lady, I put it down
and I put out all my coins.
And she says, all right, very good.
And with sales tax that will be $2.06.
- Oh, that's sad.
- I was 11 cents short.
- [Kelly] Did she spot you?
- No.
- That is wrong, that is
not a neighborly thing.
- Goof life lesson.
Son, you're close, go out
and earn another 11 cents.
And I went home and went through
the cushions of the couch.
Lift up the tank of the toilet,
there might be somethin' in there.
- We did that too.
In the movie, people recognize you.
I love this part of the
movie, when they recognize you
and all the kids start singing.
- Yeah, that really happened.
- So has that ever happened to you?
- When Big came out, my
dad and my step-mom were
in New York, and we went to
a really fancy restaurant.
There was a pianist and
a harpist and a violinist
playing a little music.
The piano dance in Big
was the heart and soul.
Well, suddenly a piano
and a harp and a violinist
started playing Heart and Soul.
- Oh my gosh.
- I think this is because of the movie.
- Do you get embarrassed
in that situation,
or do you think it's cool?
- It's better than the
other stuff they yell at ya.
- Yeah, exactly.
- Wilson, you know.
I get a lot of that.
Brace for impact.
Anything that landed in a movie.
- We actually call our balls
Wilson at our house. (laughs)
- [Tom] There ya go.
- We go, we're like grab
Wilson, put him in the car.
- Get a little bit of every,
yeah son, you have a problem.
(laughs)
- How did playing Mr. Rogers
change you as a person?
I'm asking you this because I
grew up watching Mr. Rogers,
and it changed me as a
child and helped me develop,
but at the same time,
watching it as an adult,
because I've seen the documentary
and I've also seen the film.
- The documentary's a beautiful thing.
- It is, and it does change you.
It makes you re-think your
actions with your children,
especially as an adult.
- Every role that comes
out enlightens you somehow,
because you have to ponder
something about what the
character goes through and how
it relates to your own life.
There hasn't been a time I
haven't walked away from a job
thinking like, oh man, I
gotta re-think that aspect
of my personality defects.
- They all change you.
- Mr. Rogers was all about
listening to invest in what
the other person is saying.
Since then, I have made a study
of how I listen to people.
There's this acronym, W-A-I-T.
That stands for why am I talking.
There have been many times where
I've been in a circumstance
where I have told myself to
shut up and start listening.
It's been an extraordinary,
I've learned so much about
my kids by listening to them more
than asking them questions.
- You have to work at it.
- The concept of listening
is a human endeavor.
There's been so many times
where, contrary to my nature
of being so glib and loud,
I have been working on listening better.
- Matthew and Susan were
both telling us that you gave
the most awesome wrap gift.
They were like, it's so beautiful.
It's leather.
It's inscribed.
It's like so beautiful.
- Got their name on it.
- Yes, and they were
like, I just don't know
what it is.
- What it is, yeah.
(laughs)
- And you're Tom Hanks, so
they were too afraid to ask.
- Here's what it is.
When you show up to work
on a movie, you have a copy
of the pages that you're,
they're called sides.
- Sides, yeah.
- The script pages that
you're shooting that day
and the call sheets.
So everybody knows
exactly what you're doing.
They are leather holders for those sides.
And this little pen and
you can keep notes on it.
I've used it on complicated
days, 'cause you need to know.
And the fact that
neither Susan nor Matthew
knew what they were.
- No, but the fact
that they were two
- Are these people
professional actors?
- I think they were
like, it's so beautiful.
She even said, I don't know,
some sort of saddle. (laughs)
I don't know what she said.
- Use it as a coin purse.
I don't care.
- But it was funny though
because then they're gonna
figure it out though and
it makes perfect sense.
It's the most perfect wrap gift.
- It's a tool.
- It's beautiful.
Now they know.
- Now they know.
- The more you know.
- Yeah, so take it down from the shelf,
take it out of its shrink
wrap, and use the damn things
for cryin' out loud.
- I wanna say thank you so much.
For a kid that grew up on Mr. Rogers,
you did such a great job.
Like anybody had any doubt, but it's just,
that's an important role
for a lot of people,
and you did such a great job.
- Well thanks.
