Fresh Air Weekend: Director Marielle Heller; Actor Robert Pattinson

Published November 26, 2019 at 11:27 AM CST

"The way the public feels about Tom Hanks has a similar quality to how we feel about Mister Rogers," says director Marielle Heller. But she found that Hanks and Rogers had a very different energy. At the beginning, she tried to "rein Tom's natural buoyancy back and settle him into a kind of zenlike state."<em></em> — "The way the public feels about Tom Hanks has a similar quality to how we feel about Mister Rogers," says director Marielle Heller. But she found that Hanks and Rogers had a very different energy. At the beginning, she tried to "rein Tom's natural buoyancy back and settle him into a kind of zenlike state."

Fresh Air Weekend highlights some of the best interviews and reviews from past weeks, and new program elements specially paced for weekends. Our weekend show emphasizes interviews with writers, filmmakers, actors and musicians, and often includes excerpts from live in-studio concerts. This week:

'Beautiful Day' Director On Mister Rogers' 'Radical Notion': Telling Kids The Truth:"He wasn't afraid of any of the hardest parts of childhood," Marielle Heller says. Her film A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhoodcenters on Rogers' unlikely friendship with a cynical journalist.

Robert Pattinson Does Not Want To Play An English Prince, Thank You Very Much: Even since he was a kid, Pattinson has been drawn to antihero characters. In his new film, he and costar Willem Dafoe play lighthouse keepers who get stranded by a bad storm in 1890s New England.

You can listen to the original interviews and review here:

'Beautiful Day' Director On Mister Rogers' 'Radical Notion': Telling Kids The Truth

Robert Pattinson Does Not Want To Play An English Prince, Thank You Very Much