My Tale of Two Cities - Production & Contact Info

My Tale of Two Cities (2008)
85 min | Documentary

My Tale of Two Cities (2008)

85 min | Documentary

Screenwriter (St. Elmo's Fire) and TV writer/producer (Saved By The Bell) Carl Kurlander was living in Hollywood when he received an offer to go back to his hometown and teach at the University of Pittsburgh. In search for a more ...See moreScreenwriter (St. Elmo's Fire) and TV writer/producer (Saved By The Bell) Carl Kurlander was living in Hollywood when he received an offer to go back to his hometown and teach at the University of Pittsburgh. In search for a more meaningful and balanced life for himself and his family, Carl decided to move back to Pittsburgh, the real life "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." Shortly after, Fred Rogers died, and the city of Pittsburgh declared itself "financially distressed." With both himself and his hometown in a mid-life crisis, Kurlander set out on a Don Quixote quest to make a film to help the place where he grew up. Armed with a cranky cameraman, funded by his dermatologist, and often battling his wife, who longs to return to the sunny West Coast, Carl asks his neighbors from the famous (Franco Harris, Teresa Heinz Kerry) to the not-so-famous (his old gym teacher, the girl who inspired St. Elmo's Fire) how this once great industrial giant, which built America with its steel, conquered polio, and invented everything from aluminum to the Big Mac, can reinvent itself for a new age. Kurlander goes cheese shopping with Teresa Heinz Kerry where they discuss her late husband John Heinz's belief that sometimes your worst problems can become your best opportunities; tosses a football with legendary Steeler Franco Harris and his brilliant son, attorney and entrepreneur, Dok Harris, who moved back from Washington, D.C. to help his hometown; and goes fishing in Pittsburgh's once polluted rivers and, after eating a catfish, visits famed coroner Dr. Cyril Wecht to find out if he will live. The film also co-stars former Treasury Secretary Paul O' Neill, transplant pioneer Thomas Starzl, Manchester Craftsmen's Guild CEO Bill Strickland, Joanne Rogers, (wife of Fred Rogers), Mr. McFeely of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (actor David Newell), and Sister Linda Yankoski, of Holy Family Institute who has received national headlines of late for taking in orphans from Haiti. Ultimately, the film explores what it means to come home again and how individuals can make a difference in re-energizing the communities in which they grew up. We are reminded of this by Pittsburgh's late Mayor Bob O' Connor who articulates in the movie that, even in dark times, if we work together and believe in ourselves, it can still be a "beautiful day in the neighborhood." Written by Kris Veenis See less

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Cast	+ Add Cast
21 cast members

Name	Known for
Louie Anderson Actor Actor See fewer	Life with Louie (1994)
Art Ettinger Self Self See fewer	The Final Interview (2018)
Richard Florida Actor Actor See fewer	Americonned (2023)
Bob Grandizio Actor Actor See fewer	My Tale of Two Cities (2008)
Franco Harris Actor Actor See fewer	Monsters (1988)
Kirsten Heibert Dancer Dancer See fewer	My Tale of Two Cities (2008)
Teresa Heinz Kerry Actress Actress See fewer	West Wing Week (2010)
Jenji Kohan Actress Actress See fewer	Orange Is the New Black (2013)
Doug Kress Actor Actor See fewer	The Shot Felt 'Round the World (2010)
Carl Kurlander Actor Actor See fewer	St. Elmo's Fire (1985)
Tom Kurlander Actor Actor See fewer	Kindergarten Cop (1990)
David Newell Mr. McFeely Mr. McFeely See fewer	Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968)
Christopher Noxon Actor Actor See fewer	United States of Tara (2009)
Paul O'Neill Actor Actor See fewer	Frontline (1983)
Joanne Rogers Actress Actress See fewer	Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018)
Lynn Snyderman Actress Actress See fewer	My Tale of Two Cities (2008)
Thomas Sokolowski Actor Actor See fewer	When Night Is Falling (1995)
Thomas Starzl Actor (as Dr. Thomas Starzl) Actor (as Dr. Thomas Starzl) See fewer	Unsolved Mysteries (1987)
William E. Strickland Jr. Actor Actor See fewer	My Tale of Two Cities (2008)
Cyril H. Wecht Actor Actor See fewer	JFK (1991)
Linda Yankoski Actress Actress See fewer	My Tale of Two Cities (2008)