- SAVING MR. BANKS
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| Paul Giamatti joins Saving Mr Banks |
Saving Mr. Banks reveals the story behind how Walt Disney
(Tom Hanks) spent 14 years convincing Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers (Emma
Thompson) to give him the film rights, culminating with the 1964 Julie Andrews
musical that snagged five Oscars and today is widely regarded as a classic. The
film failed to win Travers’ affections, and so she refused to sell Walt the
rights to her sequel novels.
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| Ruth Wilson |
The project is based on a screenplay written by Kelly Marcel
(creator of the now-defunct Terra Nova), with John Lee Hancock directing.
Hancock directed The Alamo and The Rookie for Disney, though his most
successful film to date is the Best Picture-nominated The Blind Side.
Colin Farrell will be playing Traver’s father (the
inspiration for the Mr. Banks character), while The West Wing alum Bradley
Whitford is up for the role of Mary Poppins screenwriter Don DaGradi.
Variety reports that Paul Giamatti has signed on for Mr. Saving
Banks, where he’ll play Travers’ chauffeur around Hollywood, Ralph. Meanwhile,
Jason Schwartzman is onboard to portray Richard Morton Sherman, the songwriter
behind Mary Poppins and several other Disney films.
Ruth Wilson is portraying Travers’ mother in flashbacks. The
English actress is most famous for her acclaimed role as the
brilliant-but-twisted femme fatale Alice Morgan on the BBC’s Luther. She will
be playing the female lead in Disney’s Lone Ranger, and appears in Joe Wright’s
Anna Karenina this September.
Saving Mr. Banks begins production later this year, as the
film will probably release in 2013.
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