Well, back in February of 2012, when The Walt Disney Company first acquired Kelly Marcel's screenplay for "Saving Mr. Banks," who were the three actresses on Disney Studio's short list for P L Travers? Emma Thompson, Meryl Streep and Judi Dench.
Mind you, Dame Judi (because she already physically resembled Pamela) was initially thought to have the inside track. But then someone at the Studio supposedly pointed out that Dench was only 5 foot 1 whereas Tom Hanks was 6 foot even. And given these performers' differences in height ... Well, if Walt were towering over Pamela, it might then seem as though the Company's founder was using his physical advantage over this troublesome author to bully her into signing away the screen rights to "Mary Poppins." Which is why Walt Disney Pictures supposedly opted to go with Emma Thompson. Who -- given that she's 5 foot 7 -- would then be a better physical match for Mr. Hanks.
Anyway, that's the story as I was told by studio insiders earlier this year.
There is a lot of misinformation and hearsay in that article, regarding the Julie and Audrey affair. For one, Julie was never offered and never made a screentest for Warner-- the infamous screentest was made in the 1940s for MGM when she was a child. Also, Julie made her "Mr. Jack Warner" speech at the Golden Globes, not the Academy Awards. And I'd like to know who exactly Julie's "Hollywood buddies" were in a town that wouldn't give her a break based on a twenty year old screentest. The article exists to perpetuate the Julie/Audrey feud that never happened between the two ladies and was only created by the tabloids of the time.
UmbrellaFish wrote:There is a lot of misinformation and hearsay in that article, regarding the Julie and Audrey affair. For one, Julie was never offered and never made a screentest for Warner-- the infamous screentest was made in the 1940s for MGM when she was a child. Also, Julie made her "Mr. Jack Warner" speech at the Golden Globes, not the Academy Awards. And I'd like to know who exactly Julie's "Hollywood buddies" were in a town that wouldn't give her a break based on a twenty year old screentest. The article exists to perpetuate the Julie/Audrey feud that never happened between the two ladies and was only created by the tabloids of the time.
That's right, if anything, Julie and Audrey were actually very good friends.
Disney, Pixar, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Cinema fan
went to see this with mum today. i was amazed by how much i enjoyed it. there was a small audience of maybe 10, including one really scruffy young guy with a decent beard... the last person id have expected to see this film without being dragged along by his girlfriend, lol. everyone seemed to enjoy it, with much outloud laughing [rather than the stifled laughter people usually do in a cinema] i was surprised that it was shown in the same room as frozen rather than the smallest. was hoping that dick and julie would cameo, even a quick "walk past the camera" would have been neat.
i was on the edge of my seat most of time, trying to absorb every detail of the rides, the train, everything. i have decided i will read the books and see how much disney did change it. i thought everyone was very well played, from her driver to the shermans to mr disney himself. a very well done film which i think will be undervalued here in nz.
i was really hoping this would be released in a pack with mary poppins, will take it anyway i can get but not on release day. will wait for the price to drop.
Funny that you bumped this thread, since the recent Ask Dave article on D23 site has a bunch of questions in relation to the movie, including this one, which is about a point brought up earlier-
Q: I just saw Saving Mr. Banks, and loved it. But one thing plagued my mind during the whole movie. How could there have been a Pooh stuffed bear in Mrs. Travers room when the rights to Pooh were only signed over in 1961? The Disney version of Pooh isn’t released until after Mary Poppins. My understanding of Disney marketing is that it didn’t truly explode pre-movie release until the 1990s. I have searched the Internet and cannot find a date when licensed Winnie the Pooh items were released for sale?
Lori, Rochester, Michigan
A: Disney’s first Winnie the Pooh film was Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree in 1966. There would not have been Disney Pooh merchandise before that year. Our earliest Pooh merchandise was sold as an exclusive through Sears for several years.
So I was wrong earlier, as the Pooh bear was definitely an anarchism. So why not replace him with Tink or the Cheshire Cat? You could keep the line in with a more appropriate twist, and be historically accurate.
To my regret I didn't catch the film in theatre -I certainly will on dvd- but I know there's a scene in it with a stuffed Pooh bear, and II also wondered if that wasn't an anachronism. Avaitor just confirmed this for me.
i never noticed the pooh bear being wrong, having avoided this thread to avoid spoilers. lol. i did notice, however, when the young girl of mrs travers was on the back of the train, her hair wasnt moving much. having stood on the verandah of a moving train, her hair should have been a birds nest, and she should have been filthy from the smoke. but thats my only complaint, lol. if i wasnt a train nut, i wouldnt have noticed that either.
Just saw it for the first time. Awesome film, though not entirely accurate. There are several parts that are fictionalized. However, kudos to Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson!
As for her character of P.L. Travers... OMG! I wanted to slap her so many times!!! I can imagine what a nightmare it must have been to work with her! Why are some authors so enamored of their creations that they make absurd demands like she did when adaptations of their work are being made? She was just too much!!!
“All the horses were white in ’61. You can’t repaint all the horses, of course, but they did take Mrs. Disney’s favorite horse, Jingles, and repaint it,” she says. “I just remember the guy who painted it was so excited! You make so many people happy when you do these projects.”