The Wrap broke the news, citing that Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster have scripted Madigan's story which begins when Madgian was assigned a newspaper profile on Rogers in 1995, through Madigan's own dark times with his brother's death, and onto Rogers' own passing in 2003.
Fred Rogers, a Presbyterian minister turned children's TV show host, educator and author is arguably one of the most fascinating Americans of the 20th Century for a man who understood childhood as a wonderful and challenging time, by which he then treated children as equals, and for well, just being a good person, through and through. But being a good person rarely translates well to a cinema that often demands conflict. Bringing a little of Rogers' warm character to the big screen via Madigan's story seems like the smart route to take.
As someone who comes from a family of educators and early childhood advocates, as well as just being a child who grew up on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, (I cried profusely the day of his passing), I eagerly await to see what Dayton, Faris and the rest come up with for the film.