‘Mary Poppins Returns’ Cast On Bringing Classic Character Back To Theaters
Dec 21, 2018, 3:30 PM
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – “Mary Poppins Returns” hit theaters this week, and film critic Jimmy Martin chatted with the cast and shared his thoughts on the movie.
“It’s one of those films where in the first 30 seconds you’re like, ‘This is Mary Poppins,'” he said. “This is classic Disney.”
Martin asked Emily Mortimer, who plays Jane, and Ben Whishaw, who plays Michael, what prop they’d take from the movie if they could.
“I did have a fondness for the new carpet bag, which I think is an improvement on the original,” Whishaw said. “It’s a very good design.”
“If he’s got the carpet bag, then I’ll take the parrot umbrella,” Mortimer said.
Director Rob Marshall said the original “Mary Poppins” was the first film he saw — he was four years old.
“It’s the magic of the world,” he said. “… The joy, maybe? The music, the dance, the wonder, the fantasy of it all. It sort of lived so deep inside me for so many years.”
He said if anybody was going to bring Mary Poppins back, he wanted it to be him.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, who plays Jack, said he knew the project was going to be amazing because of Marshall.
“I think the first conversation with Rob, I knew,” he said. “Because I realized, ‘Oh, this guy is actually the biggest fan of the original.’ That’s the smartest thing Disney could have done: hire the biggest fan.”
“It’s such a love letter to the first one,” he added.
Martin asked star Emily Blunt which role she found more intimidating: Mary Poppins or her character in “The Quiet Place.”
“I realized with ‘Mary Poppins Returns,’ it requires you to be like a triple threat,” she said. “Being able to act and sing and dance and sort of combine all of them and make it look like nothing.”
Martin said the movie is fantastic.
“The one complaint I keep hearing people say is the songs aren’t as memorable (as the first film’s),” he said. “I’m like, ‘Yeah, that one has a 54-year head start.’ Let’s give this one some time.”
He said Blunt will be the Mary Poppins for a new generation.
