Have you ever wondered about the creative process behind one of your favorite films? There are so many pieces that have to come together in the making of any film, including the personalities behind each function. There are films that we love so much, that are a part of our heritage, of our existence, but do you ever stop to think about what went on behind the scenes?
Let’s pick a film like Mary Poppins…a film that we all grew up with and urge our children to watch…a film with a powerful message, a brilliant cast and the music, ahhh, the swoon-worthy music. It’s a Disney film that made when Walt Disney himself was alive. It’s a movie that he hand selected from a series of books by a British author named P.L Travers. Supposedly, it took him 20 years to acquire the rights after promising his kids he would bring Mary Poppins alive on the big screen. He was so committed to getting it made that he put up with her serious shenanigans and tight control over her story for a very long time before production ever began. She was broke. Her manager warned her that she was financially bankrupt and that she had to sell Mary Poppins to Walt Disney. Wanting to keep her house, she set out for Los Angeles to work with Disney and his writers on pre-production. As they worked to get the screenplay finished, the Disney team made tapes of their conversations. These real-life conversations inspired the new film Saving Mr. Banks.
Once there, she is thrust into Disney-fied land for two weeks, arriving to her hotel to be greeted by a room full of Disney merchandise, which she instantly throws in the closet. This is our first taste of her disdain for the Disney culture. Interspersed with the scenes of her working with the Disney writers are scenes from her troubled childhood in Australia. As the daughter of an alcoholic father and depressed father, she remains plagued with memories of guilt and remorse as an adult. The back story helps not only us, but Disney himself who seems to read between the lines of her abhorrent behavior with her odd demands (like taking the color “red” out of the film, for example, and not allowing Dick Van Dyke in the movie – both get over-rided). Obviously, the film got made, but oy…what a trip to the finish line.
Emma Thompson plays Travers with such skill and grace. She is so believable and has her character down to a tee, including that perm the directors forced her to get to play the part. Never married, she is a bit of a spinster at the start and it becomes clear that the creative process has a profound effect on her by the film’s end. I hope she is nominated for an Oscar. Tom Hanks plays Walt Disney. Come on, who else would you cast in the role? The two actors have the necessary chemistry that starts out as a clash and ends up a friendship. He’s got the whole happy clappy part down, and he makes it obvious how he got everyone to do everything he wanted for him.
There’s also a tremendous supporting cast including Bradley Whitford, Paul Giamatti, Jason Schwartzman, Colin Farrell, Kathy Baker and B.J. Novak. The scenes with Whitford, Schwartzman, Novack and Thompson in the writing room are as memorable as it gets as they come up with the words to some of the most famous songs ever made.
At the film premiere at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood, we see Travers crying with relief or utter delight at the fact that her beautiful story is turned into something so powerful and she even laughs at one scene she wanted taken out: the infamous scene with the dancing penguins. One needs to wonder if this was true, as history claims that she actually hated the movie.
Whatever the case – truth or not, this is a powerful film told with eloquence by director John Lee Hancock.
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