After playing late children’s TV star Fred Rogers, one of the friendliest neighbors ever, in the 2019 film A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, two-time Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks has changed his tune, and Mexican actress Mariana Treviño is along for the ride.
In the upcoming dark comedy A Man Called Otto, a remake of the 2015 Oscar-nominated Swedish film A Man Called Ove, Hanks plays the title character, a grumpy widower who doesn’t seem to like dogs or cats or people in general. Otto has bigger issues than people’s annoying pets. He has his mind set on committing suicide but can never finish the act because he’s always getting interrupted by his neighbors.
Otto’s outlook on life changes, however, when a woman and her family move into the neighborhood. Treviño plays the ray of sunshine Otto needs to brighten up his days, although he’s hesitant at first about getting too emotionally attached to anyone. She’s also the one who challenges him.
“Are you always this unfriendly?” Treviño asks Otto in the film’s first trailer when she brings him food and he immediately tries to close the door on her and her husband and she stops the door with her foot. Otto disagrees with her presumption. She responds: “OK, you’re not [unfriendly]. Every word you say is like a warm cuddle.”
Later, as Otto’s life starts to tangle itself with that of Treviño’s character, he tries to teach her how to drive and even agrees to babysit her two young daughters. When the trusting mother gets home, Otto has fallen asleep, but the girls agree that he did a good job, nonetheless.
“You think you have to do everything on your own,” Treviño’s character says at another point in the trailer, solidifying that she’s not going anywhere. “Well, guess what. No one can.”
During her career, Treviño has starred in several TV series, including Club de Cuervos, Narcos: Mexico, La Casa de las Flores, and 100 Días Para Enamorarnos. Joining her in the cast of A Man Called Otto are Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Christiana Montoya, and Alessandra Perez.
A Man Called Otto premieres at limited theaters on Christmas Day 2022 and goes wide on January 13, 2023.