When Walt Disney’s daughters begged him to make a movie of their favorite book, P.L. Travers’ “Mary Poppins,” he made them a promise – one that he didn’t realize would take 20 years to keep. In his quest to obtain the rights, Walt faced the curmudgeonly, uncompromising writer who had absolutely no intention of letting her beloved magical nanny get mauled by the Hollywood machine. But, as the books stopped selling and money grew short, Travers reluctantly agreed to go to Los Angeles to hear Disney’s plans for the adaptation.
For two short weeks in 1961, Walt Disney pulled out all the stops. Armed with imaginative storyboards and chirpy songs from the talented Sherman brothers, Walt launched an all-out onslaught on P.L. Travers, but the prickly author didn’t budge and so began the laden genesis of the famous Mary Poppins adaptation. Saving Mr. Banks is a heart-warming (check out our review here) and inspiring untold backstory of how Disney’s classic “Mary Poppins” made it to the screen.
So before you head to theaters, enjoy this small collection of featurettes (one on the story, one on the Sherman brothers’ endearing music and a final one behind-the-scenes) for Disney’s Saving Mr. Banks…
Directed by John Lee Hancock, Saving Mr. Banks opens in theaters limited on December 13, 2013 and opens wide on December 20, 2013.