Next month, the next (The Jungle Book) of the ongoing wave of Disney’s live-action remakes will hit theaters. And I say ‘ongoing’ in the sense that there will be more of those movies coming soon. In fact, one of those movies (despite not having a launch date) is already being cast.
The Hollywood Reporter has broke the news recently that Disney’s new Mary Poppins movie has found an actress to portray the title character.
Emily Blunt will star as Mary Poppins, stepping into the role that was famously portrayed by Julie Andrews in the 1964 classic. With this film, she will be reunited with Into the Woods director Rob Marshall.
According to THR, Blunt was positioned as a top contender when news of the film first broke last September. It wasn’t until later that negotiations with the actress began in earnest.
Not to be outdone, they have also found their leading man. According to a new report from Variety, Lin-Manuel Miranda (best known for the Broadway smash hit Hamilton) is in talks to join the cast of the film. He will portray Jack, a lamplighter who takes on a role similar to Bert, Dick Van Dyke’s character in the 1964 film.
The new film—which adapts material from subsequent books in P.L. Travers’ original book series— has been revealed to take place in Depression-era London, 20 years after the original film and around when the books themselves were originally written.
The plot will revolve around Michael Banks, now an adult and with children of his own. When his family runs into tough times, he and his sister Jane turn to Mary Poppins once more for help.
Marshall will direct the film from a screenplay by David Magee (Finding Neverland and Life of Pi) and will produce with Marc Platt and John DeLuca. Lin-Manuel Miranda already has an established relationship with Disney, having contributed to Star Wars: The Force Awakens and the upcoming film Moana. It is expected that he may work with songwriters Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (Hairspray and NBC’s Smash) on composing new songs.
In an intriguing twist, Disney appears to be taking a different tactic with this film. Instead of going the usual route of a remake/reboot, Marshall and company are using the source material of the additional books to craft a new story that more or less picks up from the original film. As such, we are catching up with characters from the 1964 film at a different point in their lives while introducing new characters (who may or may not be from the books). Whether this approach works has yet to be seen.
What do you think? Do you approve of the casting choices?
Edited by: Kelly Conley