Two-time Academy Award®–winner Emma Thompson and fellow double Oscar®-winner Tom Hanks topline Disney’s “Saving Mr. Banks,” inspired by the extraordinary, untold backstory of how Disney’s classic “Mary Poppins” made it to the screen.
When Walt Disney’s daughters begged him to make a movie of their favorite book, P.L. Travers’ “Mary Poppins,” he made them a promise—one that he didn’t realize would take 20 years to keep. In his quest to obtain the rights, Walt comes up against a curmudgeonly, uncompromising writer who has absolutely no intention of letting her beloved magical nanny get mauled by the Hollywood machine. But, as the books stop selling and money grows short, Travers reluctantly agrees to go to Los Angeles to hear Disney’s plans for the adaptation.
For those two short weeks in 1961, Walt Disney pulls out all the stops. Armed with imaginative storyboards and chirpy songs from the talented Sherman brothers, Walt launches an all-out onslaught on P.L. Travers, but the prickly author doesn’t budge. He soon begins to watch helplessly as Travers becomes increasingly immovable and the rights begin to move further away from his grasp.
It is only when he reaches into his own childhood that Walt discovers the truth about the ghosts that haunt her, and together they set Mary Poppins free to ultimately make one of the most endearing films in cinematic history.
Inspired by true events, “Saving Mr. Banks” is the extraordinary, untold story of how Disney’s classic “Mary Poppins” made it to the screen—and the testy relationship that the legendary Walt Disney had with author P.L. Travers that almost derailed it.
Julie Andrews, the star of Mary Poppins, along with Emma Thompson who played P.L. Travers, the author of the book that Mary Poppins was based on. This is an incredible photo to me as Mary Poppins is one of my favorite movies of all time. I am so old I saw it in the theaters when it first came out!
Walt Disney Studios announces the release of SAVING MR. BANKS: The Official Multi-touch Book! Exploring the previously untold story of how Walt Disney worked his magic on author P.L. Travers to secure the rights to her book, “Mary Poppins,” the book includes a foreword by Academy Award®-winning composer Richard Sherman; never-before-seen correspondence between Walt Disney and P.L. Travers; rare storyboards and scripts from the Disney archives; an interactive timeline of historic Walt Disney Studios milestones; original recordings of the Sherman Brothers, performing their “Mary Poppins” hit songs; facts and profiles on the key characters in “Saving Mr. Banks”—all created by Apple’s digital book creation app, iBooks Author.
The “Saving Mr. Banks” book is available for free, exclusively on iBooks at www.iTunes.com/SavingMrBanks.
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Visit the official site here: www.disney.com/savingmrbanks
SAVING MR. BANKS opens in theaters limited on December 13th and opens wide on December 20th!
Disclosure: I received no compensation for this post.
Mitch,
I am so excited to see this movie –and read the book. Mary Poppins is one of my all time favorite movies. I love the singing, the dancing, Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, the scene where they jump into the painting, the carousel scene, the scene where Mary Poppins cleans the kids rooms and more. This will be such a treat for me. Thanks for the info.
Estelle
Congratulations to Emma Thompson-one of my most favorite actresses- on her Golden Globe and SAG Award nominations, and her National Board of Review win for Best Actress! I loved her hysterical acceptance speech at the Golden Globes, back in the day, in the style of Jane Austen!
Love Emma Thompson and the rest of them, too! I cannot wait to see this!
Saw the movie it was touching made me cry and happy.A lot of emotions went thru me.