Tom Hanks, one of our day’s beloved actors, spoke recently about his upcoming movie “Saving Mr. Banks” where he has the honor of portraying an even more beloved man, Walt Disney. “Saving Mr. Banks” is a movie about all the behind-the-scenes handling and wrangling it took to produce the classic, “Mary Poppins”.
“It’s like another version of Mary Poppins by way of the relationships between P.L. Travers, who wrote it, and everybody that made the movie cause it was a very contentious experience,” said Hanks.
“Saving Mr. Banks” focuses on the struggle between the author, who wrote the beloved novel in 1934, and Walt Disney who made a promise to his daughters in the 1940s to turn the book into a movie.
From the beginning to it’s 1964 release, Disney and Travers argued over most everything, Arguments ensued over script, tone and casting, with Travers even complaining that her character, as depicted by Julie Andrews in her Hollywood debut, was too pretty and too nice.
To make Hanks more comfortable with the role and learn more about the man he was playing, Hanks made two trips to the Disney Family Museum in San Francisco’s Presidio.
“It’s like a trip to Disneyland itself,” he laughed. “It’s the third happiest place on the planet, behind Disneyland and Disneyworld.”
Disney died of lung cancer in 1966 after smoking up to three packs a day for years and Hanks said he would chain smoke his way through the movie, but that’s about as close as the production will get to any controversy about Walt Disney.
When asked if he would be a “warts and all” portrayal, Hanks responded, “He wasn’t a warty guy. There was the labor issues that were in the forties and stuff like that. But by and large, no.”
Also starring in the movie and playing the role of Travers is Emma Thompson, along with Colin Farrell, Paul Giamatti, Bradley Whitford and Jason Schwartzman. “Saving Mr. Banks” will be released sometime in 2014.
Related articles
- Disney Family Movies One Month Free Offer – Magic Plays Here (chipandco.com)
- Saving Mr. Banks Begins Production In Los Angeles (chipandco.com)
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