Tom Hanks is close to signing up as Walt Disney in SAVING MR BANKS, which concerns the making of MARY POPPINS. Emma Thompson is also in negotiations to play PL Travers, the author of the Poppins novels.
Disney are producing the feature, so it will be interesting to see how they handle the tumultuous relationship between Uncle Walt and Travers. The writer hated the screen adaptation, particularly the animated sequences. She claimed the Poppins character was watered down and nowhere near as harsh as she should have been, she didn’t much care for the songs and refused to ever let Disney adapt any more Poppins pieces.
We can’t quite guess what tone the film will take. A light hearted look at one of the most popular family films in history? Or hard hitting Oscar-bait about the betrayal of trust and intellectual proporty. And you never know, some people may see Tom Hanks and the word ‘Saving’ and assume it’s a sequel to SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. Where Captain Miller comes back to life. And is Walt Disney.
Chances are it’ll be more FINDING NEVERLAND (2004) than THE SOCIAL NETWORK, but with Hanks on board and possibly Emma Thompson as the angry author, this will be getting a lot of attention. Thompson has the ideal credentials for the part, having played a novelist in STRANGER THAN FICTION (2006) and a part which owes a lot to Mary Poppins, NANNY MCPHEE (2005).
It will be scripted by Kelly Marcel (TERRA NOVA) and directed by John Lee Hancock (THE BLIND SIDE). On a personal note, the eponymous Mr Banks refers to the character played by David Tomlinson in MARY POPPINS, one of my comedy heroes. I’m intrigued to see who will be playing him, as well as Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. Although they’re both still so good, they could play themselves.
Hanks is one of the ensemble-cast for CLOUD ATLAS, released later this year and Emma Thompson stars in MEN IN BLACK 3 which is out 25th of May.
source: First Showing, Variety
