But we liked as a starting place more than a rich family who doesn't appreciate all they have.' 'The first film was moved back to the turn of the century because didn't want it to feel sad. Travers's books 'were set during the Depression-the Banks home is described as the shabbiest house on the street,' says Magee. To answer that question, he, Marshall and producer John DeLuca returned again to the source. The biggest challenge for this film was figuring out why, 'if Mary did the job we all believe she did in the first film, the Banks family would need her again,' says Magee. Jay Maidment / Walt Disney Motion Pictures Travers would have thought of that phrase.'įROM LEFT: Emily Mortimer and Ben Whishaw as a grown-up Jane and Michael Banks, Nathanael Sale and Joel Dawson as Michael's children John and Georgie Banks, and Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins. One of his favorites-'Polishing the keyhole?'-is Mary's reaction to the Banks family's maid spying through the front door.

'I like that about the books too.' While reading them, he kept a running list of Poppins quips. (The Golden Globes nominators were enchanted enough to put the film up for four awards, including best musical or comedy and best actress for Blunt.) The actress, best known for her work in grittier adult fare, like A Quiet Place and Sicario-was a fan of the books' Mary, who is 'a little more of a taskmaster, a little more willing to deny was happening,' says Mary Poppins Returns screenwriter David Magee. While it's impossible to say if Travers would approve this time, she'd likely find this Mary, played by Emily Blunt, more appealing.

At 54 years, it's the longest gap between sequels for a live-action, theatrical release on record. With the family's approval, the celebrated nanny-hat on, umbrella in hand-will blow into London again, this time at the end of a kite, in Mary Poppins Returns. 'As far as I am aware, the rights passed to her son, Camillus, and after his death, to his wife and children.' It was never produced: Julie Andrews wouldn't commit, and there were department changes at the studio, so 'the project foundered,' Sibley tells Newsweek. Emily Blunt, who embodies Mary Poppins 54 years after Julie Andrews debuted the magical nanny on screen, plays a character closer to the one in P.T Travers’s novels-“a little more of a taskmaster.” courtesy of Disneyĭisney pestered Travers for a sequel, and the author did eventually cave, writing a second film in the late '80s, with writer Brian Sibley.

Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers