articles / Film/TV
How Yo-Yo Ma Inspired the New Mr. Rogers Documentary
Photo by Todd Rosenberg
There is a blockbuster movie at your local theater this summer with no capes, tights or masks to be found, though some may say it has a superhero at its center. Oh, and there are puppets, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Won’t You Be My Neighbor, a documentary about the improbable success of the long running PBS television show for children, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, is leaving audiences cheering and in tears.
It turns out, Yo-Yo Ma provided the inspiration that brought this surprising tale to the big screen. In an interview, Director Morgan Neville asked him asked how he managed life as a world famous musician. Ma credited Mr. Rogers with teaching him how his fame “could be used for good in the world”. Apparently that was music to a documentary filmmaker’s ears….Neville began his research into the man who planned to become a minister but found his true calling bringing his gospel of radical kindness to children’s television. You can learn more about how Yo-Yo inspired this film at here.
