Yesterday we got the first glimpse of Tom Hanks as Walt Disney in Saving Mr Banks and now the new trailer is available.
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.
Notes:
- “Saving Mr. Banks” is the first film to depict the iconic entrepreneur Walt Disney.
- Richard and Robert Sherman’s original score and song (“Chim Chim-Cher-ee”) would go on to win Oscars® at the 1965 ceremonies.
- “Mary Poppins” won five awards of its 13 Academy Award® nominations: Best Actress (Julie Andrews), Best Effects, Best Film Editing, Original Score and Original Song. Among the nominations were Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.
- Disney began his quest to get the rights to “Mary Poppins” in the 1940s as a promise to his two daughters.
- P.L. Travers’ father was a banker and is the basis for the “Mary Poppins” story’s patriarch, Mr. Banks—the character in the book whom the famous fictional nanny comes to aid.
Disney presents “Saving Mr. Banks,” directed by John Lee Hancock, produced by Alison Owen, Ian Collie and Philip Steuer, and written by Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith. Executive producers are Paul Trijbits, Andrew Mason, Troy Lum and Christine Langan. The film will release in U.S. theaters on December 13, 2013, limited, and open wide on December 20, 2013.
Love it! I can’t wait!
This made me SOOOO emotional. can’t wait to go see it!
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This trailer looks awesome and inspiring, I cant wait to see the movie. just from this trailer I feel a certain old Disney charm radiating off it.
I have been eagerly awaiting this movie since I first saw it was in production on imbd a few years ago. It looks like it may end up doing more justice to her nanny than the original. I love Mary Poppins, it’s always been a favorite of mine from the moment she pulls out her lamp fro her bag, to the marching toys, to the high flying laughter. It really strikes me as odd that Mrs Travers was so opposed to Disney’s whimsey considering how fanciful the story is. It really would seem like a match made in storytelling heaven.
I had read that Mrs Travers had made one request to not have animation in the movie and I have always thought it was odd that Disney did it anyway. He was such a visionary storyteller it really seems to me that his team could have come up with other ideas to create Mary Poppins’ world more to her liking. However, it might be more likely that the story was so close to her heart that no matter what it couldn’t be told the way she wanted it to be told.
Emma Thompson looks brilliant, as does Tom Hanks, though I find myself wondering if I could watch this movie and see him as Walt Disney or if I will only see Tom Hanks. In that short a moment I couldn’t forget he was Tom. Emma Thomson is a chameleon. Love that about her.
On another note, I’d love to see a movie about Disney’s trip to South America in 1941. The whole story around that seems fascinating.
I’ve read in various books on Disney that P.L. Travers had to be coaxed into allowing “Mary Poppins” to be filmed. But the idea that the plot devised for the Disney movie (one that does not exist in the Mary Poppins books) touched an emotional chord in P.L. Travers is something I haven’t heard of before. Also, going by the trailer, Emma Thompson’s portrayal of P.L. Travers seems very close to what I used to imagine Mary Poppins to be like when reading those books as a child (and it’s not at all like Nanny McPhee!).
It looks absolutely wonderful!!!
I think Emma Thompson has seen how authors feel when there books get turned into films first hand (JK Rowling and Harry Potter) I’d off thought she would have used JK’s fears and emotional attachment to her characters with PL Tavers.
as for tom hanks he looks like he’s killing it as walt and would be great to see a walt biopic
(although is his portrayal of Walt a little too nice? from different people who worked with Walt there’s always a contradicting story of what Walt was like. from what I’ve seen in documentary’s he was passionate about his work and ideas, but never really went out of his way to tell someone they did a good job)
I would love Disney to turn walts life into two films his early years with the creation and loosing of Oswald and then the creation of mickey and Walt Disney Pictures (title just Walt) Ryan gosling would be good for that
second film (title Disney. So that the dvd’s would read as Walt Disney when put together on a shelf) showing his later years with the planning, development and building of Disneyland whilst managing Walt Disney studios with tom hanks as Walt of course. they would be the films every Disney fan would love to see
Great Emma Thompson. Her performance is by Oscar. I hope in nominations and awards for this film.
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