Disney began production today on \u201cSaving Mr. Banks,\u201d the account of Walt Disney\u2019s twenty-year pursuit of the film rights to P.L. Travers\u2019 popular novel, Mary Poppins, and the testy partnership the upbeat filmmaker develops with the uptight author during the project\u2019s pre-production in 1961.<\/p>\n
Two-time Academy Award\u00ae-winner Tom Hanks (\u201cPhiladelphia,\u201d \u201cForrest Gump\u201d) will essay the role of the legendary Disney (the first time the entrepreneur has ever been depicted in a dramatic film) alongside fellow double Oscar\u00ae-winner Emma Thompson (\u201cHoward\u2019s End,\u201d \u201cSense and Sensibility\u201d) in the role of the prickly novelist. Before actually signing away the book\u2019s rights, Travers\u2019 demands for contractual script and character control circumvent not only Disney\u2019s vision for the film adaptation, but also those of the creative team of screenwriter Don DaGradi and sibling composers Richard and Robert Sherman, whose original score and song (Chim-Chim-Cher-ee) would go on to win Oscars\u00ae at the 1965 ceremonies (the film won five awards of its thirteen nominations).<\/p>\n
When Travers travels from London to Hollywood in 1961 to finally discuss Disney\u2019s desire to bring her beloved character to the motion picture screen (a quest he began in the 1940s as a promise to his two daughters), Disney meets a prim, uncompromising sexagenarian not only suspect of the impresario\u2019s concept for the film, but a woman struggling with her own past. During her stay in California, Travers\u2019 reflects back on her childhood in 1906 Australia, a trying time for her family which not only molded her aspirations to write, but one that also inspired the characters in her 1934 book. <\/p>\n
None more so than the one person whom she loved and admired more than any other\u2014her caring father, Travers Goff, a tormented banker who, before his untimely death that same year, instills the youngster with both affection and enlightenment (and would be the muse for the story\u2019s patriarch, Mr. Banks, the sole character that the famous nanny comes to aide). While reluctant to grant Disney the film rights, Travers comes to realize that the acclaimed Hollywood storyteller has his own motives for wanting to make the film\u2014which, like the author, hints at the relationship he shared with his own father in the early 20th Century Midwest. <\/p>\n
Colin Farrell (\u201cMinority Report,\u201d \u201cTotal Recall\u201d) co-stars as Travers\u2019 doting dad, Goff, along with British actress Ruth Wilson (the forthcoming films \u201cThe Lone Ranger\u201d and \u201cAnna Karenina\u201d) as his long-suffering wife, Margaret; Oscar\u00ae and Emmy\u00ae nominee Rachel Griffiths (\u201cSix Feet Under,\u201d \u201cHilary and Jackie,\u201d \u201cThe Rookie\u201d) as Margaret\u2019s sister, Aunt Ellie (who inspired the title character of Travers\u2019 novel); and a screen newcomer\u201411-year-old Aussie native Annie Buckley as the young, blossoming writer, nicknamed \u201cGinty\u201d in the flashback sequences.<\/p>\n
The cast also includes Emmy\u00ae winner Bradley Whitford (\u201cThe West Wing,\u201d \u201cThe Cabin in the Woods\u201d) as screenwriter Don DaGradi; Jason Schwartzman (\u201cRushmore,\u201d \u201cMoonrise Kingdom\u201d) and B.J. Novak (\u201cNBC\u2019s \u201cThe Office,\u201d \u201cInglourious Basterds\u201d) as the songwriting Sherman Brothers (Richard and Robert, respectively); Oscar\u00ae nominee and Emmy winner Paul Giamatti (\u201cSideways,\u201d \u201cCinderella Man,\u201d HBO\u2019s \u201cJohn Adams\u201d) as Ralph, the kindly limousine driver who escorts Travers during her two-week stay in Hollywood; and multi-Emmy winner Kathy Baker (\u201cPicket Fences,\u201d \u201cEdward Scissorhands\u201d) as Tommie, one of Disney\u2019s trusted studio associates.<\/p>\n
\u201cSaving Mr. Banks\u201d will be directed by John Lee Hancock (\u201cThe Blind Side,\u201d \u201cThe Rookie\u201d) based on a screenplay by Kelly Marcel (creator of FOX-TV\u2019s \u201cTerra Nova\u201d), from a story by Sue Smith (\u201cBrides of Christ,\u201d \u201cBastard Boys\u201d) and Kelly Marcel. The film is being produced by Alison Owen of Ruby Films (the Oscar\u00ae-nominated \u201cElizabeth,\u201d HBO\u2019s Emmy\u00ae-winning \u201cTemple Grandin\u201d), Ian Collie of Essential Media (the Aussie TV documentary \u201cThe Shadow of Mary Poppins,\u201d DirecTV\u2019s \u201cRake\u201d) and longtime Hancock collaborator Philip Steuer (\u201cThe Rookie,\u201d \u201cThe Chronicles of Narnia\u201d trilogy). The film\u2019s executive producers are Ruby Films\u2019 Paul Trijbits (\u201cLay the Favorite,\u201d \u201cJane Eyre\u201d), Hopscotch Features\u2019 Andrew Mason (\u201cThe Matrix\u201d trilogy, \u201cDark City\u201d) and Troy Lum (\u201cMao\u2019s Last Dancer,\u201d \u201cI, Frankenstein\u201d) and BBC Films\u2019 Christine Langan (Oscar\u00ae nominee for \u201cThe Queen,\u201d \u201cWe Need to Talk About Kevin\u201d).<\/p>\n
Hancock\u2019s filmmaking team includes a trio of artists with whom he worked on his 2009 Best Picture Oscar\u00ae nominee, \u201cThe Blind Side\u201d\u2014two-time Oscar\u00ae nominated production designer Michael Corenblith (\u201cHow The Grinch Stole Christmas,\u201d \u201cApollo 13\u201d), Emmy\u00ae-winning costume designer Daniel Orlandi (HBO\u2019s \u201cGame Change,\u201d \u201cFrost\/Nixon\u201d) and film editor Mark Livolsi, A.C.E. (\u201cWedding Crashers\u201d \u201cThe Devil Wears Prada\u201d). Hancock also reunites with Academy Award\u00ae-nominated cinematographer John Schwartzman (\u201cSeabiscuit,\u201d \u201cPearl Harbor\u201d), with whom he first worked on his inspiring 2002 sports drama, \u201cThe Rookie.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSaving Mr. Banks\u201d will film entirely in the Los Angeles area, with key locations to include Disneyland in Anaheim and the Disney Studios in Burbank. Filming will conclude around Thanksgiving, 2012, with no specific 2013 release date yet set.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Disney began production today on \u201cSaving Mr. Banks,\u201d the account of Walt Disney\u2019s twenty-year pursuit of the film rights to P.L. Travers\u2019 popular novel, Mary Poppins, and the testy partnership the upbeat filmmaker develops with the uptight author during the project\u2019s pre-production in 1961. Two-time Academy Award\u00ae-winner Tom Hanks (\u201cPhiladelphia,\u201d \u201cForrest Gump\u201d) will essay the\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3940],"class_list":["post-11112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movies","tag-saving-mr-banks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smartcine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smartcine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smartcine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smartcine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smartcine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11112"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.smartcine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11114,"href":"https:\/\/www.smartcine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11112\/revisions\/11114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smartcine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smartcine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smartcine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}