Will Emily Blunt be Supercalifragilistic?
[dropcap size=small]E[/dropcap]veryone’s heard of Mary Poppins. Disney’s 1964 film based on P.L. Travers children’s books was a massive success in its day, and quickly cemented itself as one of Disney’s classics.
The original film starred Julia Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, and followed the adventures of a magical nanny in merry old England.
Mary Poppins can fly around with an umbrella, administer medicine with a spoon full of sugar, and reunite unhappy families; as any good nanny can. Dancing with chimney sweeps and having tea with animated penguins was also part of her repertoire.
According to Variety, news has recently emerged that a sequel to the film is in pre-production, and Edge of Tomorrow star, Emily Blunt, is reportedly in talks with Disney about taking on the seminal lead role of Mary Poppins.
Apparently the film will be set in depression era England, 20 years after the original time period (pre-WWI) of the first film. The sequel is said to draw from various different story-lines from Travers’ books, and will continue to follow Mary’s goings-on with the Banks family.
Emily Blunt has been in many actions films of late, like the aforementioned Edge of Tomorrow, but she also has comedies (Sunshine Cleaning) and Drama’s (The Young Victoria) under her belt too, making her a true all-rounder.
It’s tough to fill in the same shoes Julia Andrews once donned back in the 60’s, but surely Blunt can pull off a Disney musical about a magical nanny, too.
Nothing has been confirmed as of yet, and with news that Blunt is expecting her second child, plans may change. We have no other potential actors in the casting bill, but Rob Marshall – of Memoirs of a Geisha and Into the Woods fame – is set to direct.
As long as we don’t have any more chimney sweeps with atrocious ‘cockney’ accents in the sequel, everything will be fine. I’m looking at you, Dick Van Dyke.
Mary Poppins is in pre-production, with no release date as of yet.
