Why You
Know Her
Plays mission doctor
Judy Robinson
on Netflix’s Lost
in SpaceWhy You Will
Know Her
Plays a pivotal role
in Trey Edward
Shults’ buzzy family
drama WavesNOVEMBER
FA
LLMOVIE
PR
EVIEW
Matthew Rhys was ini-
tially drawn to A
Beautiful Day in the
Neighborhood out of an
interest in Mister Rogers, who
operated an ocean away from the
actor’s childhood in Wales. But it
was when Rhys first saw Tom Hanks
in character on set that he really felt
the film’s power. “I just had this
moment,” he recalls. “By this point
I’d watched an enormous amount of
Fred Rogers. [Tom] was just doing
this little bit of a walk. There was
something he did with his hands.
And I just went, ‘Oh my God!’ ”
Things got surreal once Beautiful
Day started shooting on a re-
created Mister Rogers’ Neighbor-
hood set. “They replicated every
single detail to the exact specs of
what Fred’s set was,” Rhys says. And
as Rogers’ loved ones, including hiswidow, Joanne, and right-hand
man Bill, were invited to set, only to
become “palpably moved” by the
experience, Rhys grasped the
weight of the movie’s significance:
“It was incredible to realize his
enormous, groundbreaking reach.”
The deeper he got into filming,
the more Rhys, parent to a 3-year-
old son with partner Keri Russell,
found himself thinking about his
own childhood. “Fred always said,
‘Relay frustration to [your chil-
dren] by remembering that you
were a child once, and see the
world through their eyes,’ ” he
says. In other words, he finally
internalized the philosophy Rog-
ers worked so hard to instill in his
viewers. “This keeps his message
going,” Rhys explains. “It reaf-
firms what it was that he strove so
hard to do.” —David CanfieldA BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE
NEIGHBORHOOD
Right Said,FredWAV E S
DIRECTED BY Marielle Heller STARRING Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys, Susan Kelechi
Watson IN THEATERS Nov. 22M
↑ Tom Hanks gives Matthew Rhys some Daniel Tiger action
TAYLOR RUSSELL CALLS HER TURN IN
Waves “instinctual.” Indeed, the actress,
25, does electrifying work as Emily in
the film, which follows an affluent African-
American family in South Florida through
a shocking event. The movie’s back
half traces Emily’s budding romance with
a classmate (Lucas Hedges) and her
strained relationship with her dad (Ster-
ling K. Brown). “We have such a natural
chemistry, all of us,” she says.
Along with Kelvin Harrison Jr., who plays
her older brother, Russell is a breakout
in Waves, teetering between the romantic
and tragic aspects of the story. Audi-
ences will be sure to note her palpable
intimacy with Hedges, too—affection that
emerged as an extension of the actors’
dynamic. “So much of my performance in
the movie is who [Taylor] allowed me to
be,” Hedges says. For Russell’s part, she
wanted to ground Emily in a journey
toward hope. “There’s a lot of healing...in
this movie,” she explains. “I hope that
people can feel that message.” —DC
DIRECTED BY Trey Edward Shults STARRING
Kelvin Harrison Jr., Taylor Russell, Sterling K.
Brown, Lucas Hedges IN THEATERS Nov. 15↓ Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Taylor RussellBreaking Big