The Cast and Crew of Mary Poppins Returns Were Inspired By The Original Film’s Brilliance

December 17th, 2018 by justJENN

It’s been over 56 years since Mary Poppins last graced our theaters and now she returns to help the Banks children and give hope to a whole new generation in Mary Poppins Returns!

Getting a chance to talk with the cast and crew of a movie gives great insight as to why they take on the project and do what they do. In the case of Mary Poppins Returns it was the love of the original film that was crucial to continuing her story. From the beginning, the nostalgia of all things Mary is what made this movie so near and dear to everyone’s hearts.

Emily Blunt (“Mary Poppins”), Lin-Manuel Miranda (“Jack”), Ben Whishaw (“Michael Banks”), and Emily Mortimer (“Jane Banks”), were joined by director Rob Marshall along with lyricists Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, in conversation with producer Marc Platt.

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As the director, Rob Marshall had to take on the very Mary Poppins-like task of getting just the right balance of paying homage to a classic film while creating a new story. Add in a whole lot of singing and dancing and the responsibility is practically Herculean.

Marshall explained how why this film was so personal to him, “You have to get up and approach your life in a certain way and to look at it from the angle from a different point of view which is in our film too – from the point of view of looking for the light. It’s in the P.L. Travers’ books. It’s about finding that childlike joy in life which might sound trivial to some, but to me it’s very profound. And I honestly was able to explore that idea in making this film.”

“And, you know, musicals are very difficult to do, an original musical, there are so many layers to it, but with this one, you know, creating an original musical from scratch was actually for me a dream and I’ve never done it before,” mused Marshall. “And to be able to create it with this beautiful company was exactly what I was hoping for.”

Mary is and always will be the heart of the story, and Marshall found the practically perfect Poppins in actress Emily Blunt who was thrilled and scared to take on the classic role, “It was so extraordinary, such an extraordinary rather unparalleled moment for me because I was filled with an instantaneous yes, but also with some trepidation, you know, all happening simultaneously in that moment because she is so iconic.”

“She had such a big imprint on my life and on everyone’s lives, you know. She, people hold this character so close to their hearts. And so, you know, how do I create my version of her? What will my version of her be because there’s no point?” Blunt explained, “No one wants to see me do a sort of cheap impersonation of Julie Andrews because no one is Julie Andrews. And so she should be preserved and treasured in her own way of what she did.”

There are so many wonderful surprise Easter Eggs in the film one of them being a quick cameo by Karen Dotrice who played the original Jane. Emily Mortimer described what it was like being back on Cherry Tree Lane for that meaningful moment, “It was extraordinary. She’s such a great, cool lady, so funny, wicked sense of humor, really down to earth and ballsy and she came to do the cameo as a little moment where Ben is emerging from the house with his briefcase late and he bumps into her and we’re out together—we all walked on to the set for the first time with her and she walked onto Cherry Tree Lane for the first time in 54 years or however long it has been since the first movie was made—and she just melted. I mean she just sort of crumbled and that was so moving being there with her while that happened and seeing that.”

As the new character Jack, Lin-Manuel Miranda knew all too well what it was like to feel that sort of reverence just being on set, “You know those kind of moments are really sort of unforgettable—for me I brought my son to set every time we filmed a musical number and to watch his eyes like saucers while daddy danced with, you know, what seems like 500 dancers and bikers. I’ll never forget the look on his face as long as I live.”

The stories of Mary Poppins have always been about finding lost hope, and the cast and crew understood how important their undertaking was, and that all eyes would be on this updated story. Ben Whishaw quickly realized the significance of this endeavor, “So I was sort of moved every day because of course it’s moving and you don’t expect as an adult to sort of be revisiting something that is such a part of your childhood. I was moved every day to be involved in that world again, you know, that I still recall so well. I mean I can’t watch the first film without crying and it’s just a very tender kind of place in myself.”

These stories of a magical, wondrous world is something that can sweep you away and bring up emotions long forgotten. That’s the wonderful part of tripping a little light fantastic with the unforgettable Mary Poppins.

Mary Poppins Returns arrives in theatres everywhere on December 19th!