Mary Poppins Returns By: Dana 12 A SYNOPSIS “Now an adult with three children, bank teller Michael Banks learns that his house will be repossessed in five days unless he can pay back a loan. His only hope is to find a missing certificate that shows proof of valuable shares that his father left him years earlier. Just as all seems lost, Michael and his sister receive the surprise of a lifetime when Mary Poppins - the beloved nanny from their childhood - arrives to save the day and take the Banks family on a magical, fun-filled adventure.” TRAILER ABOUT THE MOVIE Mary Poppins Returns is a 2018 American musical fantasy film directed by Rob Marshall, with a screenplay written by David Magee and a story by Magee, Marshall, and John DeLuca. Based on the book series Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers, the film is a sequel to the 1964 film Mary Poppins, and stars Emily Blunt as the eponymous character with Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, Julie Walters, Dick Van Dyke, Angela Lansbury, Colin Firth, and Meryl Streep in supporting roles. Set in 1930s London, twenty-five years after the events of the original film, it sees Mary Poppins, the former nanny of Jane and Michael Banks, returning after a family tragedy. Walt Disney Pictures announced the film in September 2015. Marshall was hired later that month, and Blunt and Miranda were cast in February 2016. Principal photography lasted from February to July 2017, and took place at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England. Mary Poppins Returns held its world premiere at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on November 29, 2018, and was released in the United States on December 19, 2018, making it one of the longest gaps between film sequels in cinematic history at 54 years. The film has grossed over $329 million worldwide and received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its acting (particularly Blunt's performance), direction, musical score, musical numbers, costume design, production values, visuals, and sense of nostalgia, although some critics found it derivative of its predecessor. It was chosen by both the National Board of Review and American Film Institute as one of the top ten films of 2018 and received numerous award nominations, including four at the 76th Golden Globe Awards (including for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy), nine at the 24th Critics' Choice Awards, three at the 72nd British Academy Film Awards, and a SAG Award nomination for Blunt at the 25th Screen Actors Guild Awards. It also received four Academy Award nominations for Best Original Score, Best Original Song ("The Place Where Lost Things Go"), Best Production Design, and Best Costume Design at the 91st Academy Awards. Marshall has confirmed that a potential third Mary Poppins film with Blunt is in development as he stated that P. L. Travers wrote eight books in total with plenty more material to mine. PRODUCTION: DEVELOPMENT A sequel to Mary Poppins had been gestating in development hell since its release in 1964. Walt Disney attempted to produce a sequel a year later, but was rejected by the author P. L. Travers, who dismissed Disney's first adaptation. In the late 1980s, then-chairman of Walt Disney Studios Jeffrey Katzenberg and vice-president of live-action production Martin Kaplan approached Travers with the idea of a sequel set years after the first film, with the Banks children now as adults and Julie Andrews reprising her role as an older Mary Poppins. Travers again rejected the concept, except for Andrews' return, suggesting a sequel set one year after the original film with Andrews reprising the role, but her idea was shot down too because it was impossible to deal with her, who also imposed her own rules, including Poppins' clothing and barring it from being red. On September 14, 2015, Walt Disney Pictures president Sean Bailey pitched a new Mary Poppins film to Rob Marshall, John DeLuca, and Marc E. Platt, as the team had produced Into the Woods for the studio the year prior. With approval from Travers' estate, Disney greenlit the project with the film taking place 25 years after the first, featuring a standalone narrative, based on the remaining seven books in the series. Marshall was hired to direct, while DeLuca and Platt would serve as producers along with Marshall. David Magee was hired to write the script. Production: CASTING On February 18, 2016, Emily Blunt was cast in the film to play the title role in the sequel. On February 24, 2016, Lin-Manuel Miranda was cast in the film to play Jack, a lamplighter. In April 2016, Disney confirmed that the film was in development and that Blunt and Miranda had been cast in the lead roles. In May, Disney announced the film's title as Mary Poppins Returns. By July 2016, Meryl Streep had entered negotiations to join the cast to play cousin Topsy, and in the following month, Ben Whishaw in negotiations to play the grownup Michael Banks. In September, Streep formally joined the cast. The following month, Emily Mortimer was cast as the grownup Jane Banks, and Colin Firth joined the film as William Weatherall Wilkins, president of the Fidelity Fiduciary Bank. In February 2017, Angela Lansbury was cast to play the Balloon Lady. Julie Andrews, who portrayed Poppins in the 1964 film, was approached to do a cameo in the sequel, but turned down the offer as she wanted it to be "Emily's show". Dick Van Dyke, who portrayed Bert and Mr. Dawes Sr. in the original film, returns in the sequel as the latter's son, Mr. Dawes Jr., replacing Arthur Malet, who died in 2013. Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins Lin Manuel-Miranda as Jack the Lamplighter 9 Dick Van Dyke as Mr. Dawes Sr. Angela Lansbury as The Balloon Lady 10 Ben Whishaw as Michael Banks Emily Mortimer as Jane Banks Meryl Streep as Topsy Julie Walters as Ellen LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA: HOW WAS HE CAST INTO THE MOVIE? A few years ago, everyone couldn't stop buzzing about the hit rap musical Hamilton about one of America's Founding Fathers - and honestly has much changed since? Fans are still struggling to get Hamilton tickets and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s popularity has only soared higher. The Hamilton creator's life has certainly turned around thanks to his original musical, but it also was one the key reasons he nabbed the role of Jack the Lamplighter in Mary Poppins Returns. Here's how Lin-Manuel Miranda was picked to be in the Disney musical, according to director Rob Marshall: Well, that actually just happened organically. It wasn't even fully intentional. It was actually John DeLuca's idea. He said,“ 'What about Lin-Manuel?' I thought, 'Oh, what a great idea!' I mean, it was the height of the Hamilton craze. I sat with him in between shows. As soon as you sit with Lin, there's such an infectiousness about his enthusiasm and his very pure childlike spirit. It's very authentic, and I thought, 'Well, there's Jack.' It's like he's that cohort of Mary's who sees light in the darkness, and lights up London, figuratively and literally. Back in 2015, the musical-theater-loving community couldn't get Hamilton out of their heads. So when Rob Marshall and John DeLuca, who was producer, choreographer and screen story writer along with Marshall and screenwriter David Magee on Mary Poppins Returns were looking for a Jack, Lin-Manuel Miranda was a no-brainer. Looks like Lin-Manuel Miranda was on the filmmakers' minds right as they were trying to figure out casting. Once they met with him, it sealed the deal as he fit the bill for the sunshine-y character they were looking for in Mary Poppins Returns' Jack. In his interview with Deadline, Rob Marshall also said that he was following Hamilton from the beginning, before it made its debut on Broadway. While Lin-Manuel Miranda was getting a lot of credit at the time for creating the musical, Marshall saw it for himself, also saw his skill as a performer. Rob Marshall thinks part of why Mary Poppins Returns was an attractive project for Miranda was that it allowed him to hone in on just being an actor, and not also being involved in writing the project. His past projects like Moana and In the Heights have seen him primarily writing before lending his acting and singing chops. Lin-Manuel Miranda took his shot at being a part of the Mary Poppins sequel alongside Emily Blunt, and it certainly has paid off. The movie has been positively received by critics and audiences alike for its blend of nostalgia, new material and delightful message. PRODUCTION: FILMING Principal photography (phase of film production in which the bulk of the movie is filmed, with actors on set and the camera rolling, as distinct from pre-production and post-production) on the film began on February 10, 2017, at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England. Eight soundstages were used to build practical sets for the film, including Cherry Tree Lane, Topsy’s Fix-It Shop, Big Ben, the interiors of the Banks home, and the enormous abandoned park, where a big part of the musical number, "Trip a Little Light Fantastic", was set. Scenes requiring green and blue screens for visual effects were first filmed on J and K Stages with physical set pieces for the cast to interact with, which were then replaced with animation in post-production. Filming also took place on location, including outside the Bank of England in March 2017, and outside Buckingham Palace in April 2017.