FILM NEWS
"She's rude, and eccentric and odd," said Blunt of the character.
Fans at D23 got a magical first look at Mary Poppins Returns.
Director:
Rob MarshallStars:
In Depression-era London, a now-grown Jane and Michael Banks, along with
Michael's three children, are visited by the enigmatic Mary Poppins
following a personal loss. Through her unique magical skills, and with
the aid of her friend Jack, she helps the family rediscover the joy and
wonder missing in their lives.
The film takes place 25 years after the 1964 original. The children
of Michael and Jane Banks are now adults, and have just experienced a
personal loss. Poppins (Emily Blunt) and her lamplighter pal Jack
(Lin-Manuel Miranda) must step in to help.
Director Rob Marshall and Blunt came out to show off the first teaser
for the film, whch is both a sequel to the Julie Andrews classic and
draws on the books of P.L. Travers' as well. The Disney Orchestra was
onhand to play music from the film, leading into a teaser for the film.
"A place we hold dear, where laughter once dwelled, but soon from up
above comes a new story to tell," read text in the trailer as we see
shots of the family looking sad.
We see Jack flying a kite with one of the children, and then suddenly
up in the clouds, there's Mary Poppins coming down with an umbrella
(big applause from the D23 crowd).
At one point in the teaser, we see the film's stars acting in front
of a cartoon background, as in the original, as well as a look at a big
chimney sweep dance number. And most impressively: Original star Dick
Van Dyke even had a little dancing to do.
Earlier in the panel, Marshall said he believes the original was the first film he ever saw.
"I think it was many of our first films as kids, even if we weren't
alive in 1964, which I was," said Marshall. "There's something
so amazing about it that lived with me my whole life. The wonder, the
joy, the music in it."
Blunt described taking on the role originated by Andrews as "daunting."
"The idea of this magical, mysterious person whisking into their
lives and making everything right again, was really comforting," said
Blunt of the original. "Children respond to the lack of sentimentality
that he has. She's rude, and eccentric and odd."
Blunt said she had to learn to make Poppins her own. She said she
watched 15 minutes of the original, but then stopped. She "needed to pay
homage to what Julie Andrews did," but also "carve out space" for
herself.
"I just had to do my version of her," said Blunt. "We were loyal to
the books. I think she's a little more acerbic and vein and weird in the
books and we went that direction a little more in the books."
Of his star Marshall said, “She was born to play the part.”
Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Angela Lansbury, Emily Mortimer and Julie Walters are also featured in the film.
When Dick Van Dyke said "it feels exactly the same" when he visited
the set, Marshall said, calling it "the highest compliment."
Mary Poppins Returns hits theaters Dec. 25, 2018.
Guy Ritchie will direct the movie musical, which will see Will Smith as the Genie.
Relative newcomer Mena Massoud and Power Rangers star Naomi Scott have booked a flight on a magic-carpet ride.
Massoud has secured the coveted role of Aladdin, while Scott will be playing Jasmine in the Guy Ritchie-directed Aladdin movie.
The announcement came at D23 on Saturday. The duo join the only other
talent cast for the Disney musical: Will Smith, who will be playing the
Genie.
While there was interest in names like Dev Patel and Riz Ahmed, Disney ultimately went with an unknown to play its Prince Ali.
Dan Lin, who worked with Ritchie on Sherlock Holmes, is
producing via his Lin Pictures banner, with Jonathan Eirich acting as
executive producer. Producer Marc Platt, who worked on Disney’s upcoming
Mary Poppins Returns, and Chris Montan, a longtime executive music producer for Disney’s animated projects, from Pocahontas to Frozen, are both consulting on the ambitious project.
With luck, news leaking out that Quentin Tarantino is quietly putting together his next cine-project won't put him off the idea the way the script leak for The Hateful Eight delayed that film.
The 1969 case saw Charles Manson order four of his followers to
attack the inhabitants of a house in Los Angeles he believed owned by a
record producer who rejected him. The resulting home invasion left
actress Sharon Tate (then married to Roman Polanski,
and pregnant) dead, along with four others. Quite what angle Tarantino
is intending to take is still a mystery, if indeed this is his latest
film.
It would be an outlier in his work since the subject matter, even more than Basterds
alt-history story, would dramatise real events, and would require a
certain level of sensitivity given the tragic nature of the incident.
But he has said previously that he'd been researching 1960s/1970s
history, so perhaps it was all for this?
I have heard that Tarantino is still writing the script and that Basterds' Brad Pitt and possibly Jennifer Lawrence have already been approached, with studios expected to see the screenplay later this summer.
Deadline's sources, meanwhile, have been saying that Margot Robbie is a potential Sharon Tate, and that QT regular Samuel L. Jackson might be involved. If it does indeed come together, the director is apparently hoping to kick off production next year.
Christopher McQuarrie and his Mission: Impossible 6 cast have been busy globe-trotting as they gather the required footage for the new movie. To celebrate the end of their New Zealand stint, Tom Cruise posted an image of his Ethan Hunt and some of the team to Twitter.
Pictured with him are two of the veterans, Simon Pegg's Benji Dunn and Ving Rhames' Luther Stickell, along with Rebecca Ferguson's Isla Faust, who first encountered the team on their last madcap adventure in Rogue Nation and is back for this one.
The sixth film (no word on whether it really will be known as M:I6
just to piss off James Bond) has been shooting in Paris and now NZ,
with the usual assortment of other places planned and some promised big
stunts for Cruise in particular. Come on, as if they can stop him at
this point...
With McQuarrie once again also on script duty, the movie features returning villain Solomon Lane (played by Sean Harris), familiar faces Julia (Michelle Monaghan), and Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin) plus new franchise faces Henry Cavill, Angela Bassett and Vanessa Kirby. This sixth Mission lights the fuse starting 27 July next year.
And the last but not the least news is the box office chart from last week:
Thanks for reading and have fun watching movies.
