Opens February 20
In cinemas everywhere
Photos courtesy of Walt Disney
Saving Mr. Banks is a comedy-drama directed by John Lee Hancock, based on the true story of Walt Disney’s effort to bring Mary Poppins to the big screen.
When Walt Disney’s (Tom Hanks) daughters begged him to make a movie of their favourite book, P.L. Travers’ (Emma Thompson) Mary Poppins, he made them a promise that would take 20 years to keep.
In his quest to obtain the rights to the story, Walt comes up against a bad-tempered, uncompromising writer who has no intention of letting her beloved magical nanny get mauled by the Hollywood machine. But, as the books stop selling and money grows short, Travers reluctantly agrees to go to Los Angeles to hear Disney’s plans for the adaptation.
For those two short weeks in 1961, Walt Disney pulls out all the stops. Armed with imaginative storyboards and chirpy songs from the talented Sherman brothers, Walt launches an all-out onslaught on Travers, but the prickly author doesn’t budge. He soon begins to watch helplessly as Travers becomes increasingly immovable and the rights begin to move further away from his grasp.
It is only when he reaches into his own childhood that Walt discovers the truth about the ghosts that haunt Travers, and together they set Mary Poppins free to ultimately make one of the most endearing films in cinematic history.
Catch the humour and heart-warming drama when Saving Mr. Banks hits local cinemas on February 20.
