A Spoonful of Annie? Perhaps...
Wednesday, September 16, 2015 at 4:59PM Kieran here. In the age of remakes, re-imaginings and two Spiderman reboots in less than five years, the announcement that Disney is developing a new musical featuring Mary Poppins actually feels kind of refreshing. Revisiting a character from a live-action musical? And a female character at that? I say "kind of refreshing" because it still feels like a very strange project this far out. It's supposedly set twenty years after the events of Mary Poppins, which immediately had me imagining something darker in tone, not unlike Return to Oz. How does the Banks family fare two decades after the wind changed and Mary bid them adieu? This is all speculative of course. No plot details have been released and only a few key crew members have been announced. Rob Marshall is slated to direct and the script is being penned by David Magee (Finding Neverland and Life of Pi).
How do I put this diplomatically...Can we stop giving every live-action musical (unfortunately few and far between at this point) to Rob Marshall? It seems knee-jerk and lazy every time a musical is announced with Marshall at the helm. I liked Chicago quite a bit, but it's been a pretty steep decline since then. He seems to direct screen musicals with the desire to make them palatable for modern audiences rather than leaning into the medium and truly working well within it. Remember that odd "Musical for People who Hate Musicals" campaign during Chicago's Oscar run? Or that first Into the Woods trailer where no one was singing? Or how over half of the musical numbers were cut out of Nine and the rest were sung on a stage for no reason? It's time to give another director a chance. Perhaps someone with a little less internalized musical self-hatred (Yes, I just made that term up). Musicals are a tough medium with a specific audience. They need a director who will embrace their heightened theatrics and overt sentimentality without pandering to 21st century audiences who aren't accustomed.
For the role of Mary herself, no one is officially attached as of yet, though Anne Hathaway's name is certainly being thrown around. A lot. I think she'd be a fine, more than worthy choice. I was relieved, as someone who likes Anne Hathaway and doesn't understand why I'm not supposed to, when it seemed that she wouldn't be doing that Judy Garland biopic that was in development a while back. Should she play Mary, I do worry about the inexplicably pilloried actress having an even larger target on her back by stepping into such an iconic part. Other names being tossed around are pretty much the ones you'd expect. Any young actress who's been in a musical or shown vocal talent.
Who would you like to see in the role of the magical singing nanny? Discuss in the comments.
Reader Comments (37)
If Poppins ages.... My vote is for Streep! 😀 Fill an iconic role with an icon.
Dammit. I would have voted for Sutton Foster since no one else did.
I also just realized that as a POC, POC castings are the only way to make remakes interesting.
Idina?
Kristen Bell
Emily Blunt.... but really I'd prefer Julie Andrews to come back. Make it about Poppins in her 70s, why not?
You'd say Burton almost got it, but he didn't commit to actors who could sing, right?
volgavia--if Sweeney Todd is anything to go off of, I totally believe that.
Sutton Foster, Sutton Foster, Sutton Foster!!!! Hathaway would be trying to hard to make us like her but vocally she could do it. I don't get the appeal of Anna Kendrick so most definitely not her. AND NO ROB MARSHALL!!!!!!!!!!! I don't understand why he's the go to director, he is not good at them.
My initial reaction was one of horror, and remains so, but... Gugu is the second idea I've seen, after Hayley Atwell, that has made me mildly curious. But still, no. It's completely unnecessary in every way.
There is only one Mary Poppins. And only one Julie Andrews. Ask Carrie Underwood.
As far as having a target on her back from taking on an iconic role, remember that she played Catwoman, and wound up one of the only actors to come out of Dark Knight Forever unscathed. Anne manages.
Oh gawd, KILL IT WITH FIRE!
My hatred of Mary bloody Poppins is already known, but this is a world of no. Please, this is not going to be RETURN TO OZ.
Directors Matthew Warchus (Pride, Matilda(musical)) and Joe Wright come to mind...
No, but I am fine with all of these women being cast in ORIGINAL musicals immediately. Where is that petition?
Mary Poppins must be played by someone who can sing-- not "sing well enough for a movie" a la Hathaway, Blunt, or Mbatha-Raw, but actually sing. As such, these suggestions other than Sutton Foster are a disaster.
Moreover, if they do this (which they most definitely should NOT), the star has to be able to fade into the role. Any big star who takes it on would only draw attention to herself, accentuating the fact that someone who is not Julie Andrews is playing Poppins.
I think this is actually not a terrible idea, by Disney's standards. There genuinely are plenty of Poppins books left unadapted, and it could make for a fine film as long as they are willing to move things along rather than getting bogged down in references to the first movie. Better this than a straight remake.
I think Kristen Bell would be great (and has Disney history). But given the brand, the studio will probably want as A-List as they can get.
They shouldn't touch this but if they do, Laura Benanti would be great, but they so would not cast her. So, Anne Hathaway is the best second choice.
I ain't going to see it> Rob Marshall sucks.
It's not a remake but sequel- of course who are they going to get to fill Julie Andrews shoes- not too mention Dick Van Dykle- and there is that perfect score. I did see the Broadway musical adaptation and thought that was very good. Get somebody a bit more imaginative that Rob Marshall whose only trick seems to be to sexed it up ( and yes I loved "Chicago" )
If this has to happen, then I vote Anna Kendrick. If Mary has aged, then the role will probably go to Emma Thompson, unless Disney is saving her for the inevitable Bedknobs and Broomsticks remake. Rob Marshall, though? Gross. Give him a superhero movie.
Divine or John Travolta in drag
Whoever. I'm in the "there's no way in hell I'm bothering to watch this" camp.
Dusty: NO! If Pirates 4 is anything to go on, dude's even WORSE at making well flowing action movies than he is at making well flowing musicals.
I'm seeing Streep's name being throw around for the role at other sites. This could be a tricky sequel but maybe enough time has passed.
Emily Blunt is the clear choice. But also yes, I agree... Marshall? Why?
Someone already mentioned it, but his talents will be so wasted if Joe Wright never does a musical film. Please sir, do one now.
What about no one? I am going to pretend they don't want to "refresh" a cult classic.
I don't see the point of discussing whether it should be Hathaway, Blunt or Kendrick. It's supposed to take place 20 years later! Hello! The actress should be at least 45. Hathaway is too young and Streep is too old.
First off - they must choose an English actress capable of handling the musical demands of the role. (sorry but Hathaway doesn't cut it when it comes to the accent)
So either they choose Emily Blunt or some fantastic person we haven't heard of from the West End. After all, Julie Andrews was a relative unknown to most of the public.
Also I agree that Rob Marshall isn't the ideal person.
@Joel V. - Joe Wright or Matthew Warchus - Matilda(musical) would be far more interesting choices.
Kieran, you hit the nail on the head with your description of Marshall's work. But he wasn't the only one infected. Look at Dreamgirls, where they cut all the music except onstage numbers and "And I Am Telling You..."! And the Phantom of the Opera and Sweeney Todd movies, where they decided no one needs to be able to sing in a musical. "Musical self-hatred" is, by the way, totally a thing!
Kate Winslet. Disclaimer : Since Kate walked the red carpet at TIFF, I've wanted Kate for every role ever.
Did I miss the national vote to anoint Marshall the de facto choice for every big-screen musical adaptation? Does anyone think he's earned that kind of goodwill? At any rate, I won't engage in the game of casting this because I'd rather the project not exist, but I hope we've called a moratorium on hating Hathaway, or is that still a thing?
Furthermore, I agree with vladdy about the way musicals have been made for the last decade and a half, i.e. for people who generally dislike them. One never hears of a "western for people who hate westerns" or "war film for those who hate war films" (both of which I despise). Why is it musicals, especially the ones that are through-composed or mostly sung-through, have to be so accommodating to their haters? Make films for audiences who enjoy those films!
Brilliant next move for Emily Blunt.
Marcos - I'm just assuming Poppins is an ageless, supernatural being. But if they insist on following up with the Banks family, that does make for a weird dynamic. Better to sidestep the issue by moving on to a new family at an indeterminate time.
ANYBODY BUT AMANDA SERYFRIED AND ANNA KENDRICK. The movies could do without them!!!
Mary Poppins is ageless - if Disney could find a way to digitized Andrews in the new movie they would do it.
The selection of Marshall is nothing more than what they do in other genres. You make a hit, you get a choice of what you do next. Marshall turned a dark Sondheim musical into a worldwide hit. He got that movie because he earned Disney a billion dollars on Pirates 4. I'm not sure why we're surprised he got chosen for a big name musical given the last one was such a hit (quality be damned - lord knows it doesn't matter for action/sci-fi/etc).
Mary Poppins sucks. It's a saccharine, trite, obnoxious, poorly structured mess with one bad message after another. The books sucked for a different reason. And nothing Rob Marshall has done has made me think of him as anything more than an incompetent hack who takes all the comedy out of musical comedy. This will be even worse than the dreadful bastardization that was MALEFICENT.