Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, the husband and wife directing team behind Little Miss Sunshine and Ruby Sparks, have set their sights on adapting Tim Madigan’s 2006 memoir I’m Proud of You into a feature film, The Wrap reports. The book details Madigan’s friendship with the late Fred Rogers, famous the world over for creating and hosting the PBS television series “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” It is officially described as follows:
It began as another newspaper assignment, a celebrity profile of the childrens television icon. But in Fred Rogers, Texas journalist Tim Madigan found more than a fascinating subject. From their first meeting in 1995, at Rogers invitation, the two became unlikely friends, a deep and abiding relationship that lasted until Rogers death in 2003.
In that time, Madigan found Rogers to be much more than the calm and compassionate personality of television. He was a person of unique human greatness who embodied love, compassion and wisdom his every waking moment. He was the transcendent being who guided Madigan through periods of life-threatening depression and the tragic death of a sibling and helped him heal his difficult relationship with his father.
Peter Saraf and Marc Turtletaub are developing the project through their Big Beach Films with Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster (The Motel Life) providing the adapted screenplay. Youree Henley will produce.
