Lin-Manuel Miranda Has a Jolly Holiday with Mary
Friday, February 26, 2016 at 7:33AM 
The news of a Rob Marshall rehashing of Mary Poppins was met here with both patient fear and complete revulsion. Emily Blunt is our new Mary, which will please some of us at least. However, here's a bit of casting news worthy of outright cheers: Hamilton mastermind Lin-Manuel Miranda is joining the film.
Miranda will be filling the massive shoes of Dick Van Dyke in a new character that will still be reminiscent of Dyke's Bert. That is quite an undertaking that the multi-hyphenate star and his unflappable charisma are fully equipped to take on. Even if his Hamilton success is truly unprecedented, kudos to Disney for signing over a significant role to an actual Broadway star. He's gotten close to a musical adaptation before, with Universal getting thisclose to filming his first musical In the Heights with Miranda intact.
It's worth noting that here's another step Disney is taking to put diversity on the screen in a big project post-Star Wars. The new Poppins iteration draws from P.L. Travers novels and won't be stuck to the original's plot, so perhaps we'll see further exciting casting? The reboot overload is something we'll continue to bemoan, but this one gets increasingly more interesting.
If nothing else, Lin-Manuel Miranda's absense from Hamilton might mean we plebians can score a ticket.
Reader Comments (7)
but is he going to do the accent?
Why, but, oh why do they have to do this! Mary Poppins is perfection.
They're also remaking Ben-Hur. That's another fool's errand.
When will man learn from his disastrous brush with hubris. That's how we got Titanic. Sigh.
To be fair they aren't doing a remake of the story but more of a sequel, which Mad Max was this year. I'm hoping they do this with quality and fresh creativity. At least they picked Emily Blunt which gives me hope.
I haven't seen Hamilton but Miranda is hugely talented and may help with the songs.
But Lin-Manuel better get a dialogue coach for the accent - I want to hear something better than Dick Van Dyke's cockney.
I cringed when I heard about the remake.. Emily Blunt should be great ... but still ...Why?
Also, besides Chicago ( which I loved ) Rob Marshall is not that good of a director ( IMO )
YAS. If all these RUMORS (key word here, babes), then this should be a fun time!
Fortunately, not a remake though. This one is coming from the later novels and will be set after the first film.
I was hoping Lin-Manuel would direct it instead.