Mary Poppins Returns

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D82
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Re: Mary Poppins Returns

Post by D82 »

^Thanks! The poster has perhaps too many elements in it, but at least offers us new images.

By the way, have you guys heard about Julie Andrews' secret voice role in Aquaman? How curious, right? She doesn’t appear in Mary Poppins Returns, but is in the movie that opens in theaters against it.
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Re: Mary Poppins Returns

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D82 wrote:So the ninth song is titled "A Conversation". I wonder who sings it and why it's the only one that wasn't revealed to the press.
I think that might be LMM's rap song.
Rob Marshall wrote:At the beginning of the film, he's rapping like he’s a one-man band, which just felt so right for him.
Source: https://nerdist.com/lin-manuel-miranda- ... s-returns/
Again, Shaiman is trying too hard to convince us how much he loves the music of the original, how the new songs carry the same feeling, how he's the Sherman Brothers' biggest fan. It comes off as insincere. If he really was their fan, he would want Richard to score the sequel and continue that legacy instead of wanting to take his job. Just saying.

It was interesting how parts of the songs were pre-recorded while others were recorded live. Apparently, Rob Marshall believes that this way a fluid and seamless blend between vocals and visuals for the musical numbers can be achieved.
And we've obviously come a long way in terms of animation. Most of it is computer-generated now, but what's lost with that is that sense of artistry, this beautiful and extraordinary work. Everyone agreed it felt fresh again, when you see them speaking to these animated characters that are drawn that way and you feel that artistry.
Rob Marshall knows what's up. :thumb:
Today’s scene is the song “Trip a Little Light Fantastic,” a complicated musical number featuring Lin-Manuel Miranda as Jack, a lamplighter who was a protégé to Mary’s now-departed friend Bert.
Bert is supposed to be dead in Mary Poppins Returns? :shock: Couldn't they have explained his absence in some other way?
The final parrot head – and yes, there are many copies of the umbrella, as well—is made both to look as much like a parrot as possible and (in some versions) to contain the mechanics necessary to have it speak. The team discussed using computer effects to create the talking parrot “in post,” after the filming was complete, Myhre says, but decided to stick to animatronics because “the kids are going to have a much better time talking to a parrot head umbrella that can actually talk to them” during the filming.
I'm glad they went with animatronics as opposed to CG for the parrot handle of Mary Poppins' umbrella.
D82 wrote:Photos of the D23 Magazine article: https://twitter.com/m1nwa/status/1065235092447133696
The D23 article was very interesting and detailed. It covers elements of the production that haven't been mentioned elsewhere in the press. Some tidbits that made an impression on me were the following:

• Mary Poppins Returns is the second film ever to have received permission to shoot in front of the Buckingham Palace. The first one was Die Another Day.
• The are are two musical numbers taking place in the animated world. I previously thought it was just one.
• The costume designer hand-painted the fabric of the actors' outfits to create a "watercolor on paper" effect so as to make them blend more with the animation.
• The costume designer fought to keep Mary Poppins in a dress during the Royal Doulton Music Hall number. Rob Marshall wanted to give her pants for that sequence.
• The illustrations of Peter Ellenshaw, who worked on the original film, were used during the opening credits of the sequel.
D82 wrote:The poster has perhaps too many elements in it, but at least offers us new images.
I like the poster's color palette and Emily's pose but I agree with you; it's too busy and crowded. Less is more when it comes to poster art, in my opinion.
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Re: Mary Poppins Returns

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I am still very much looking forward to this movie but...

I am absolutely fascinated that Julie has signed on to Aquaman. I predicted she’d turn down the role in MPR, but I didn’t expect she’d do something so... well, shady. The only movie she’s made since 2010 was Despicable Me 3, reprising the character she played in the original. So the choice of this movie, another tent pole movie, which will be released at the same time as MPR (albeit for a slightly different demographic) just seems so deliberate to me. So who called who? Did Warner Brothers say they needed Julie Andrews for the Aquaman movie, or did Julie’s agent call the big studios to try and find an appropriate role for her this year.

I guess Mary Poppins still has some tricks in that carpet bag of her’s.
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Re: Mary Poppins Returns

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UmbrellaFish wrote:I am absolutely fascinated that Julie has signed on to Aquaman. I predicted she’d turn down the role in MPR, but I didn’t expect she’d do something so... well, shady. The only movie she’s made since 2010 was Despicable Me 3, reprising the character she played in the original. So the choice of this movie, another tent pole movie, which will be released at the same time as MPR (albeit for a slightly different demographic) just seems so deliberate to me.
I think it's just a coincidence. She wouldn't do something like that out of spite. She's not that kind of person. Besides, if she wanted to be in Mary Poppins Returns she could have. It's not like she wasn't offered a part. There's no reason for her to hold any sort of animosity towards the film.
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Re: Mary Poppins Returns

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No, it really isn’t a coincidence. This is her first non-Despicable Me movie since 2010. Since Blake’s death she’s basically been in semi-retirement, only choosing passion projects she wants to work on like her Netflix series and directing an Australian production of My Fair Lady. She wanted to do Aquaman, and I don’t think it’s because of the script.

Obviously, she didn’t want to be in Mary Poppins Returns and she’s been very classy and gracious towards the film and casting of Emily Blunt. But perhaps, as she did with her 1981 movie “S.O.B.,” a raunchy comedy that absolutely skewered the industry and specific Hollywood figures, this is Julie’s way of using her craft to let us know what she thinks of the Hollywood industry... maybe this is her way of reminding us that 1964’s Mary Poppins is still out here, that she is still out here. She’s still here, she’s saying.

Because you’re right that Julie Andrews isn’t a spiteful person, but this isn’t a coincidence.
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Re: Mary Poppins Returns

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The special was wonderful. Really interesting stuff they showed with the hand-drawn sequence, making the songs (which sounded wonderful on the piano), costumes, Dick Van Dyke's cameo role etc. Plus with everyone on social media praising the movie after watching it through screenings, this is shaping up to be a special movie indeed. :D
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Re: Mary Poppins Returns

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UmbrellaFish wrote:No, it really isn’t a coincidence. This is her first non-Despicable Me movie since 2010. Since Blake’s death she’s basically been in semi-retirement, only choosing passion projects she wants to work on like her Netflix series and directing an Australian production of My Fair Lady. She wanted to do Aquaman, and I don’t think it’s because of the script.
Maybe she had some other reason for wanting to work on Aquaman we're not privy to. Maybe she thought it would be fun to voice a giant monster. :shrug: Do we know for a fact that at the time she signed on for Aquaman she knew it would be released in the same week as Mary Poppins Returns? If not, it means Mary Poppins Returns wasn't a factor in her decision.

What you're implying makes her look somewhat calculating and underhanded which goes against everything I know about her.
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Re: Mary Poppins Returns

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I'm with Sotiris on this, I think you're reading this one a bit too deep.
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Re: Mary Poppins Returns

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It seems Aquaman was announced for a Christmas season 2018 release in March of 2017 (https://deadline.com/2017/03/aquaman-re ... 202044988/), and Mary Poppins Returns was announced for its original December 25th release date in 2016 (https://www.slashfilm.com/mary-poppins- ... ease-date/). Poppins shifted its release date to December 19th in July of this year (https://deadline.com/2018/07/indiana-jo ... 202423959/) which is ample time (I think, I concede you are a much better authority on modern animation and V/O practices than I am) for contracts to be signed and for Julie to step into a recording booth to put down what I guess will be only a few minutes of spoken word. This would also explain the late breaking nature of this “secret” casting news.

Maybe it doesn’t fit one’s perceptions of Julie Andrews, but she’s not Santa Claus, she’s an 83-year old woman in a cutthroat business that throws people to wayside as soon as lose their marketability (read: youth, attractiveness, sex appeal, etc.) and regurgitates the same product over and over again. I wouldn’t read this as some underhanded Machiavellian move— I mean, she’s not a contract player, she doesn’t owe Disney anything much like anytime Alan Menken or an animator leaves Disney to work for another studio or a different project.

But, I digress. Here’s the important thing: Julie Andrews gets to be in a big tent pole movie this Christmas, and on her own terms. And I’m happy for her.
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Re: Mary Poppins Returns

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I can believe Julie Andrews might not like that they're making a "new" Mary Poppins after the original was so iconic. I know Angela Lansbury, for example, hated that Disney was re-making the classic Beauty and the Beast (she also openly criticized the almost re-make of Murder, She Wrote with Octavia Spencer). Jeremy Irons similarly seemed disrespected in regards to the Lion King remake. I imagine a lot of these old actors that were a part of these iconic films see the re-makes (or sequels, whatever) the same way many fans do: as Disney taking a dump on great films and great works by the people involved with them all for an easy, quick buck.
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Re: Mary Poppins Returns

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UmbrellaFish wrote:I wouldn’t read this as some underhanded Machiavellian move— I mean, she’s not a contract player, she doesn’t owe Disney anything much like anytime Alan Menken or an animator leaves Disney to work for another studio or a different project. But, I digress. Here’s the important thing: Julie Andrews gets to be in a big tent pole movie this Christmas, and on her own terms. And I’m happy for her.
I'm happy for her too. In no way was I insinuating that she owes Disney anything or that she shouldn't be working with rival studios. I just have a hard time believing she would take on a role, any role, for such a petty reason. I just think something other than Aquaman's release date appealed to her and made her interested in the project.
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Re: Mary Poppins Returns

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Yeah, I think it’s just a coincidence. Julie and Rob Marshall are good friends. Trust me, if Julie wanted to be in Mary Poppins Returns, she would have been in it. What I find interesting is that she’s doing a movie with Warner Bros. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think this is her very first movie with Warner Bros. I think I read somewhere that after Jack Warner passed her over for the film version of My Fair Lady, she swore she would never make a WB film. Almost 55 years later, here we are!

The special was really good! I only caught the first 30 minutes. I would like to finish it, but it isn’t on Demand or any streaming platforms.
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Re: Mary Poppins Returns

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I don’t think it’s about Julie wanting to be in MPR. It seems pretty clear to me that the Angela Lansbury role was written for Julie Andrews and she turned it down. I think Julie is privately unhappy that the project is happening at all. Recently the author of the upcoming tie-in history book on Mary Poppins revealed that Julie’s team wouldn’t allow him to publish an essay in the book specifically about Julie’s career. She’s gracious and classy and she’ll publicly support Poppins Returns, but privately I can’t help but wonder if she has some reservations, like, as Divinity mentioned, many other actors and artists do when their iconic works are remade or reimagined.

I can’t say I’m privy to all of the Dame’s tastes in movies, TV shows, etc. but in the past when asked about the kind of things she likes to watch, it’s usually British imported PBS fare. I had half hoped I’d hear Julie was going to appear in the new Downton Abbey movie, and then Aquaman appeared *ahem* out of the blue.

I mean, maybe she’s doing it for her great grandchildren, I don’t know, and perhaps we never will... but it all smells fishy to me.
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Re: Mary Poppins Returns

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New poster. I like that they made the background into the shape of a kite.

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Re: Mary Poppins Returns

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UmbrellaFish wrote:I had half hoped I’d hear Julie was going to appear in the new Downton Abbey movie, and then Aquaman appeared *ahem* out of the blue.
Oh, that would've been lovely. I know I've read Imelda Staunton is involved. Andrews would've been a great addition to the film.

I agree that Julie Andrews is all class and would never say anything she might feel publicly out of respect to the actors in MPR. That doesn't mean even a good person isn't capable of feeling some kinda way about a re-make of a film they're known for. I don't think anyone is saying she wasn't offered a cameo in MPR, more that the existence of a MPR at all might be what's offensive.
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Re: Mary Poppins Returns

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Sotiris wrote:
D82 wrote:So the ninth song is titled "A Conversation". I wonder who sings it and why it's the only one that wasn't revealed to the press.
I think that might be LMM's rap song.
Yes, it's possible. It could also be Dick Van Dyke's song. In the D23 article it says he also sings in the movie, though his song could be one of the reprises.
Sotiris wrote:Again, Shaiman is trying too hard to convince us how much he loves the music of the original, how the new songs carry the same feeling, how he's the Sherman Brothers' biggest fan. It comes off as insincere. If he really was their fan, he would want Richard to score the sequel and continue that legacy instead of wanting to take his job. Just saying.
People always exaggerate in these kinds of interviews. In promotions for Disney films, for example, everyone says they're Disney's biggest fans. In some cases it can be true, but not always. Well, a film like this one is a big opportunity for a composer, so I understand it must be difficult to turn down the job. And, even if he had recommended Richard for the job, we don't know if Disney would've accepted that proposal either. But yes, if he was as big a fan as he says, at least he would've tried to meet him and know firsthand if he was interested in doing the music himself or if he gave them his blessing. But they didn't meet him until the movie was completely finished, as they said in an interview.
Sotiris wrote:It was interesting how parts of the songs were pre-recorded while others were recorded live. Apparently, Rob Marshall believes that this way a fluid and seamless blend between vocals and visuals for the musical numbers can be achieved.
Yes, that was also interesting. It seems Robert Marshall has his own way of doing things. I guess it probably gives better results, as he says.
Sotiris wrote:
Today’s scene is the song “Trip a Little Light Fantastic,” a complicated musical number featuring Lin-Manuel Miranda as Jack, a lamplighter who was a protégé to Mary’s now-departed friend Bert.
Bert is supposed to be dead in Mary Poppins Returns? :shock: Couldn't they have explained his absence in some other way?
I hadn't read that article yet. :o Why are they killing every character they don't want in the film? Jane and Michael's parents also seem to be dead in the sequel. One of these characters could've died, but not all of them. They wouldn't be that old yet, so they should still be alive. They should've found other excuses for their absence, as you said.
Sotiris wrote:The D23 article was very interesting and detailed. It covers elements of the production that haven't been mentioned elsewhere in the press.
Sotiris wrote:I'm glad they went with animatronics as opposed to CG for the parrot handle of Mary Poppins' umbrella.
Sotiris wrote:The illustrations of Peter Ellenshaw, who worked on the original film, were used during the opening credits of the sequel.
Yes, it's true. It was the most detailed article yet. And those are two nice tributes to the original film.
Musical Master wrote:The special was wonderful. Really interesting stuff they showed with the hand-drawn sequence, making the songs (which sounded wonderful on the piano), costumes, Dick Van Dyke's cameo role etc.
Yes, the special was quite good. They showed more than I thought they would. As I'm not from the USA, I watched it on one of these illegal live stream websites, and unfortunately, just when they began talking about the music, it stop working and I had to find another one, so I missed one or two minutes there. But at least, before it stopped working I had time to learn that the melody I liked from the trailer is from the song "Underneath the Lovely London Sky." When I caught it again the composers were talking about "Can You Imagine That" and "Trip a Little Light Fantastic". Later, we got to hear a little bit of "The Cover Is Not the Book" when they were talking about the animated scene. I didn't find it too special, but I know it was too short to judge. Were more songs previewed?
tsom wrote:The special was really good! I only caught the first 30 minutes. I would like to finish it, but it isn’t on Demand or any streaming platforms.
I've tried to find it online, but it seems nobody has uploaded it. It's a shame.
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Re: Mary Poppins Returns

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Sotiris wrote:New poster. I like that they made the background nto the shape of a kite.

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That's lovely
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Re: Mary Poppins Returns

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Disney's Divinity wrote:I can believe Julie Andrews might not like that they're making a "new" Mary Poppins after the original was so iconic.
Boy, are you wrong!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Nwz3CKll_8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMqf1Cn2o5M

As you can see, she's very supportive. And Rob and Julie are good friends. He supposedly wanted her to play Angela's role, but she thought that cameo would be distracting:
So much so, in fact, that Andrews decided not to appear in the sequel out of respect to Blunt. (Van Dyke, on the other hand, does make a cameo — but no, not as Bert.)

Marshall explains, “Julie was incredibly gracious, and we talked about it in a very general way but she made it clear right up front. She said, ‘This is Emily’s show, and I really want it to be Emily’s show. I don’t want it to be, “Oh, here comes that Mary Poppins.” I don’t want that. I really want her to take this and run with it, because she will be brilliant.’
https://ew.com/movies/2017/06/09/mary-p ... nt-appear/

And she praised Emily a lot during the 'Julie's Greenroom' press tour. I'm almost sure she's going to the world premiere next week.

Oh, and let's be real: no one's watching 'Aquaman' just because Julie Andrews is voicing a sea monster. Hehehe!
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Re: Mary Poppins Returns

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It's just a voice-over role and I assume little more than a cameo, so it likely just required Julie Andrews to go into the recording booth for a few hours, similar to her small roles in the Despicable Me films. I imagine she just thought it was easy money.

Plus, Warner Brothers hasn't exactly been heavily advertising Andrews's involvement in the marketing for Aquaman. Most people might not even be aware she's in that film.
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Re: Mary Poppins Returns

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Old Fish Tale wrote: Boy, are you wrong!
Find someone else to stalk, please. I've already read what Andrews has said about not wanting to take the spotlight from Blunt. You're embarrassing.
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