Thank you to Disney Studios for hosting me during the Mary Poppins Returns Event!
It can’t be easy taking on an iconic role like Mary Poppins, but that’s just the task that was set before Emily Blunt when she took on the title role in Mary Poppins Returns. The upcoming film returns to Cherry Tree Lane to catch up with the now adult Banks children, with an all new need for a nanny with a little bit of magic behind her. Here’s what Emily Blunt had to say on becoming Mary Poppins for the film.
Disney
On the Costumes
I have to say I really loved the red suit with the skirt that kind of flowed out when I danced with 30 Lamplighters… Rob Marshall really wanted like a Ginger Rogers type of look to that, and it’s not actually accurate for the time period to have a skirt that opened up like that. So that’s where Sandy Powell, the great Sandy Powell, created all those very tight pleats so that it looked very chic and sort of straight lined. And then when I turned, the whole skirt kind of opened up… She’s just so exciting to work with, Sandy Powell.
Disney
On the Music
I love the poignancy of the ballad that I sing to the kids because it’s sort of her revealing her most tender side… That scene with the kids was really moving. I loved that big “The Cover Is Not The Book” number with Lin. It was wild. That was really fun.
Disney
On her OMG Moment
The arrival scene where I am dangling 60 feet from a crane and Rob Marshall played the amazing orchestral music from the speakers, like blared it from the speakers so that it was very transporting and really exciting… I was like “Oh My God!” But I think that was the moment, because I had the coat, the hat, the umbrella, the feet, the kite… It was one of the only moments I allowed myself [that] because I had to block out the fear of how iconic she was in taking this on for most of the shoot. But that was the moment where I allowed myself… I was hit between the eyeballs with it…
Disney
On Working With Dick Van Dyke
It was so overwhelming, I have to say, because he’s so sprightly and cool, just what a gorgeous human. And he walked on set and he just said I feel the same spirit here that was there on the first movie, and of course, we all wanted to cry. And we’d sit around him and just want him to tell us stories about the original and he sang “Jolly Holiday” to me. I was just like, “That’s it, I could die now, that’s it. I could die and be happy.”
Disney
On Her Version Of Mary Poppins
I think she’s much closer to how she is in the book. In the book, she’s incredibly rude and vain and funny and enigmatic and weird. She’s sort of bizarre and layered. So for me, it was how do I find those cracks of humanity in a super human and where are they? I said to Rob Marshall I really want all the sternness and this sort of imperious quality to her to drop when she goes into these fantasias. She should be like an adrenaline junkie, that sort of duality of the character, that when she goes into these adventures, you’ve got to see her childlike wonder and her thrill and enjoyment of it. And then when it’s over, she pretends none of it happened and she had nothing to do with it.
I have lots more to share about Mary Poppins Returns right here on As The Bunny Hops-you don’t want to miss it! Mary Poppins Returns is in theaters on December 19, 2018!
In Disney’s “Mary Poppins Returns,” an all new original musical and sequel, Mary Poppins is back to help the next generation of the Banks family find the joy and wonder missing in their lives following a personal loss. Emily Blunt stars as the practically-perfect nanny with unique magical skills who can turn any ordinary task into an unforgettable, fantastic adventure and Lin-Manuel Miranda plays her friend Jack, an optimistic street lamplighter who helps bring light—and life—to the streets of London.
“Mary Poppins Returns” is directed by Rob Marshall. The screenplay is by David Magee and the screen story is by Magee & Rob Marshall & John DeLuca based upon the Mary Poppins Stories by PL Travers. The producers are John DeLuca, p.g.a., Rob Marshall, p.g.a. and Marc Platt, p.g.a. with Callum McDougall serving as executive producer. The music score is by Marc Shaiman and the film features all new original songs with music by Shaiman and lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman. The film also stars Ben Whishaw as Michael Banks; Emily Mortimer as Jane Banks; Julie Walters as the Banks’ housekeeper Ellen; Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh and introducing Joel Dawson as the Banks’ children, with Colin Firth as Fidelity Fiduciary Bank’s William Weatherall Wilkins; and Meryl Streep as Mary’s eccentric cousin, Topsy. Angela Lansbury appears as the Balloon Lady, a treasured character from the PL Travers books and Dick Van Dyke is Mr. Dawes, Jr., the retired chairman of the bank now run by Firth’s character.
Fans of Mary Poppins Returns will want to pick up these adorable Funko POPs from Entertainment Earth-they’re practically perfect in every way!