MARY POPPINS RETURNS January 18th, 2019 by Karen Burg
Banks family home,
17 Cherry Tree Lane, London, 1930s…
Mary Poppins [Emily Blunt] suddenly returns to once again care for the Banks children...two generations of them! The now grown and widowed Michael [Ben Whishaw], his sister Jane [Emily Mortimer] and Michael’s three young children...
Screen image courtesy Disney ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Practically perfect in every way, Mary Poppins is back, to help the next generation of the Banks family find the joy and wonder missing in their lives...and to remind us as well!
Michael Banks was just a child when the practically-perfect nanny Mary Poppins first visited the Banks home, but he is now a grown man with children of his own. A struggling artist temporarily employed by Fidelity Fiduciary Bank—the same financial institution where his father and grandfather worked before him—Michael lives at 17 Cherry Tree Lane with his children: Annabel, John and Georgie. Times are tough in Depression-era London. It’s the 1930s, and the city is in the midst of the “Great Slump,” so money is tight, people are anxious and the future is uncertain.
The family is struggling to cope with the recent death of Michael’s wife, the children’s mother, and the house is rundown and in a constant state of chaos, despite the best efforts of their inefficient yet well-meaning and warmhearted housekeeper, Ellen. With the harsh reality of the times and the burden of their loss weighing heavily on the family, the children find themselves taking on additional responsibilities around the house…and growing up much too fast in the process.
Michael’s sister Jane has inherited her mother’s enthusiasm for good causes, and, while busy herself promoting workers’ rights, tries to help Michael and his family every chance she gets. The chairman of the bank, Mr. Wilkins—who appears to be a congenial and altruistic mentor to Michael but is actually duplicitous and shrewd—is in the process of foreclosing on the Banks home, sending the already frazzled Michael into a further tailspin.
Fortunately, the winds begin to change, and the enigmatic governess whose unique magical skills can turn any ordinary task into a fantastic adventure, enters the lives of the Banks family once again, having not aged a single day.
Teaming up with an old friend, Jack, a charming and eternally optimistic street lamplighter, they take the Banks children on a series of whimsical adventures and introduce them to colorful characters like Mary’s eccentric Cousin Topsy and Jack’s lovable band of leeries, bringing life, love and laughter back into their lives. –Walt Disney Films
“We tried to keep the essence of PL Travers’ work by embracing the classic nature and beauty of the books and continuing the legacy of the beautiful worlds she created,” Producer John DeLuca notes. “We live in a time when people need some hope. Everyone could use a Mary Poppins in their own lives right now.”
Director Rob Marshall explains, “It’s essential to see things from a different angle. Mary Poppins understands that and helps the children understand that as well.” He adds, “This is probably the most personal film I’ve ever done because of the profound nature of what it says about finding the child inside and keeping hope alive in a very dark time. It also feels especially timely to me because of the current world climate that we are in.”
The mulit-hyphenate/multi-talented/multi-award winning Director turned to his long-time collaborators, the Oscar-winning team [CHICAGO] Production Designer John Myhre and Set Decorator Gordon Sim SDSA International, to help him bring alive his dream of creating an original film musical...an homage to the classic movie musicals and a touchstone for our times.
“This is clearly a delicate time for the world,” the director says. “People feel unsure and vulnerable, so it’s important to have something that can lift us out of our day-to-day existence and remind us that there is still hope and wonder in the world.”
Banks family home…
Director Rob Marshall asked his CHICAGO Oscar-winning team* Production Designer John Myhre and Set Decorator Gordon Sim SDSA International to help bring the world of Mary Poppins to life in the new original musical MARY POPPINS RETURNS. As the sequel to the 1964 MARY POPPINS takes audiences on an entirely new adventure, Sim graciously takes us behind the scenes!
*Myhre & Sim were also Oscar nominees for Marshall’s provocative musical NINE
Emily Mortimer, Ben Whishaw), Nathanael Saleh, Joel Dawson, Emily Blunt
Photo by Jay Maidment ©2017 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Banks family home…
“The two most daunting items to deal with were Mary's bag & her Parrot umbrella. Early one morning we set off in search of period carpets at a local Antique Market. We literally walked in and immediately came across a carpet dealer. On the ground in front of me was a not so large art deco carpet in greens, golds and rusts. It was very interesting & surprising, which is something Sandy Powell our costume designer had verbalized about Mary.
I bought the carpet. Sandy was thrilled with the look, and we worked out how we would use the pattern and cut the shape of the bag. It became quite clear that real carpet wouldn't be easy to work with, so we made very good photos of the carpet and had the pattern printed on velvet. It worked beautifully.”
Screen image courtesy Disney ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Banks family home…
“We all wanted the Parrot Umbrella to be more elegant than the original...to be made of exotic woods with inlaid metal and stones. After only a few preliminary sketches Rob approved the design, and then our wonderful props team built this beautiful piece...”
Screen image courtesy Disney ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Banks family home…
“The Banks House was a daunting project to undertake. So many people have very fond clear memories of the original so we didn't want to disappoint them.
Our story takes place 30 yrs. later after Michael's wife Kate had died. Our feeling was that it had been a happy, warm family home that now was a bit neglected without her touch. I chose warm deep toned fabrics to help with this and we aged all of the furniture to have a feeling that the house had been well lived in...”
Ben Whishaw. Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Banks family home…
“Rob asked that we use the same console table that appeared in the foyer of the original film. Disney generously sent the piece over to London, and we placed it in our Hallway.
John designed the house to be a little less grand than the original. Rob wanted to be more realistic about their social status, and I tried to reflect this in the decorations and the choice of furnishings. Its always lovely creating period sets but this really was a special one to bring to life...”
Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Banks family home…
Dining room details...
Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Banks family home…
The house is in a constant state of chaos, despite the best efforts of their inefficient yet well-meaning and warmhearted housekeeper Ellen [Julie Walters]. With the harsh reality of the times and the burden of their loss weighing heavily on the family, the children find themselves taking on additional responsibilities around the house…and growing up much too fast in the process.
Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Banks family home…
Depression-era kitchen...
Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Banks family home, attic…
“The Attic of the Banks house was a very special set to put together. We wanted the feeling that in happier times, artist Michael had used it as his painting studio, so there are many elements of his previous work there. We had original artwork created and then filled the room with memories of his and Jane's childhood. I had an exact replica of the lovely 'Feed the Birds' snow globe commissioned, we built the wooden 'Mary Poppins' blocks from the original movie and, of course, we created the original kite. Michael sings a heartbreaking song while surrounded by his wife's things and the ghosts of his childhood. John Myhre’s confined 'womb' of a set built in warm woods and Dion Bebe's sensitive lighting all enhance the mood of this scene...”
Ben Whishaw. Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Banks family home…
Fortunately, the winds begin to change, and the enigmatic governess whose unique magical skills can turn any ordinary task into a fantastic adventure, enters the lives of the Banks family once again, having not aged a single day.
Emily Blunt. Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Banks family home…
Marshall imparts, “This is probably the most personal film I’ve ever done because of the profound nature of what it says about finding the child inside and keeping hope alive in a very dark time. It also feels especially timely to me because of the current world climate that we are in.”
Joel Dawson, Emily Blunt. Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Banks family home…
Sim adds, “Rob was clear from the beginning that he wanted to be very respectful of what had come before us in the original picture but that he very much wanted to make it our own movie. The Nursery is a good example of this. We looked carefully at the original floor plan and furniture layout as well as the furnishing, fabric & toys. Both John and I liked the idea of a pale yellow for the room's walls. We chose a very simple period pattern from a wonderful business in London that specializes in recreating period papers. The lavender in Mary's room was a surprise find when we were looking through old sample of period papers.
Finding beds is always a challenge, particularly when we wanted a pair and a single. I found two different single period beds at an Antique fair. Our wonderful props team made a second of one of them so that John and Annabelle would have matching beds. We kept to simple stripes for fabrics & let the artwork, toys and clothes bring color.”
Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
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Banks family home…
“We found a number of the fabrics for this set from a supplier in Italy. One, in particular, was used for the quilts on John and Annabelle's beds. I had our drapery team cut away certain parts of the fabric, rejoin them and then quilt it...a complicated process, but it made them look very special.
We asked the manufacturer if they could weave the same fabric with some of the detail left out to use for our draperies. It made a lovely complementary fabric in the end.
All of the wonderful Welsh blankets were found at Antique markets. All the toys are original.”
Emily Blunt. Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Banks family home…
“I found the artwork that hangs over the mantel and knew instantly it would work. I liked the idea of using bird and animal images, so they appear in artwork and things around the Nursery. The Royal Dalton Bowl was created by our prop making team.”
Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Banks family home…
“John had a very good idea that the Children's bathroom should be completely neutral, as it leads into a spectacularly colorful underwater musical sequence. Hence, all the soft neutral tiles with only a hint of color in the border. The costume for Mary that Sandy Powell created, of course, stands out in the neutrality of the set.”
Emily Blunt, Nathanael Saleh. Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Banks family home…
“The Bathtub had to be quite large as at the end of the musical number all of the Children and Mary are sailing in it. I found a tub (actually it was the very first one) in a used plumbing place outside London. It worked very well, as it was quite large and had a rather large lip that became seating for the children.”
Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Banks family home…
“As well as the traditional bath elements, there were all sorts of crazy props needed for the sequence when Mary pulls them from her bag. We made all of them specifically to match references that I'd found. The Beach Umbrella that is pulled from the sink was actually constructed from double-sided printed fabric that I had printed based on a lovely period reference photo...”
Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Banks family home…
“The shape of the Royal Dalton Bowl was developed after many meetings with Rob, and the artwork was inspired by real Royal Dalton pieces. Created in several iterations by our prop making team, the artwork was meticulously hand painted on each of the bowls.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Joel Dawson, Emily Blunt, Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh
Screen image courtesy Disney ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Royal Dalton adventure…
Collaboration was paramount throughout. Prop carriage and costumes were handpainted to enhance the 2-d aspect of the accompanying hand-drawn animation.
Emily Blunt, Joel Dawson, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh
Screen image courtesy Disney ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Cousin Topsy’s Fix-It Shop…
Mary Poppins’ eccentric cousin Topsy [Meryl Streep] can fix anything, except on the Second Wednesday of every month, when her shop turns topsy-turvy...upside down!
Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Topsy’s Fix-It Shop…
“Topsy’s atelier was probably the most difficult set for us to tackle. We shopped for 6 months in antique markets all over southwest England to acquire enough things to fill the space that John had designed...”
According to the studio, “more than 538 pieces”!
Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Topsy’s Fix-It Shop…
“We built a full scale mock up of the set in the prop room, and then dressed the set right-side-up as it was the only way to begin to understand what we needed to be in the set. I spent many hours lying on my back high on a scaffold with my head hanging over the edge looking at the set upside down! It goes without saying that it was a very, very difficult set for everyone to get their head around!
Eventually we settled on what was needed. For the next 3-4 months, everything was molded and cast in lightweight material, then hand painted. All of these props were then mounted upside down on the set...”
Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Topsy’s Fix-It Shop…
“Furniture was stripped to make it lighter...such as hollowing out a grand piano and a 14-foot marble statue...and items were built so that actors could walk on them. It was a crazy thing to achieve but I think in the end we were all pleased...”
Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt
Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Fidelity Fiduciary Bank…
“John and the Location team found a wonderful location in London in which to build the Bank set. We had great refresh of what and how banks looked and operated in the 1930s. The challenge here was finding multiples of everything, enough to dress all of the teller stations. Another interesting project was creating the large reflective lamp that Mary uses as a mirror. Settling on the right size to capture on film what was needed, and also getting the right metal color was super important, too.
The children run up 3 floors in the bank. John wanted the bank to be threatening, so he had black carpet woven with a kind of knife blade motive on it. Rob also liked the idea of green being representative of money and greed, so all the teller lamps (which came from America) were green-shaded. We carried this idea into the office of the Bank Chairman....”
Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Fidelity Fiduciary Bank,
Chairman’s office…
The current Chairman of the Bank, William Weatherall Wilkins [Colin Firth] appears to be a congenial and altruistic mentor to Michael and Jane [Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer], but is actually duplicitous and shrewd. While seemingly trying to help, he is in the process of foreclosing on the Banks home and hindering any solution they may find.
Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Fidelity Fiduciary Bank,
Chairman’s office…
“Dick Van Dyke was just incredible. It was so exciting the day his scene was being shot in the Bank Chairman’s office.
John created this huge wood paneled office trimmed in gold and marble. It was very grand and opulent. I had elaborate drapes made, and the huge floor carpet was designed with our Graphics team, then printed in Germany. The office was sparsely but richly furnished, hopefully intensifying the feeling of power. The set required portraits of all the previous Bank Presidents. We staged an elaborate photo shoot very early in preproduction...hired extras, dressed them in costumes, hair and makeup, used period furniture and backdrops... From these staged photos, the ‘portraits’ were painted.”
Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Admiral Boom…
“The rooftop set for Admiral Boom took a lot of liberties with reality.
The Old Admiral rules his world from a mocked up ship’s deck. We had some fun and mixed up different nautical time periods. We used 18th Century sails and rigging, then put in a more modern air funnel and binnacle. John had a great idea to add encrusted seashells to the door and trims as though doors and window were salvaged from the sea.
We made the upper level into a lounge deck for tea imagining that the Admiral spent most of his waking time looking out at the horizon waiting to correct the mistaken timing of Big Ben. We built the cannon so it could be a specific size and our props team sculpted and cast the wonderful lighting stick. The Admiral’s wheel chair was a very lucky find hidden in one of the many prop rental houses in London. It just needed a few Nautical additions for the Admiral’s sword and we were ready to go.”
David Warner, Jim Norton. Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Big Ben…
The world’s most famous clock was re-created at London’s Shepperton Studios as a major part of the storyline and a huge musical number!
Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Lamplighters…
In the 1930s, lamplighters like Jack were responsible for dimming the gaslights in the morning and turning them back on in the evening, all across London. These lamplighters, or leeries, as they were referred to at the time, traveled by bicycle with ladders for use when climbing the lampposts and poles to reach the gas igniters. As of 2016, when the film was in production, there were still over 2,500 gas lamplights in service in London.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Emily Blunt, Nathanael Saleh, Joel Dawson, Pixie Davies.
Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Street lamps…
Sim points out,
“Street Lamps played a major roll in our film. All of our Lamps were cast by a company that has been supplying London with gas lamps for the past hundred years.
We placed our lamps on real streets in London and on our street sets. All of the lamps were developed to be 'hybrid', meaning both electrical & gas. SFX and Lighting created very specialized workings to make sure the lamps had the right shape of gas light but also had enough light output for filming.”
Emily Blunt. Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Abandoned Park…
“This wonderland Abandoned Park set that John created for the film’s biggest production number ‘Trip a Little Light Fantastic’ had the complications of very intricate choreography created by Rob Marshall and John DeLuca, which involved a lot of interaction with the lamps themselves. Special spinning platforms had to be designed and mounted onto the posts as well as foot grips & hand holds. All of these had to look as if they were part of the Lamppost design. The 28 bespoke lamps also required very secure mounting through the 'Stone' dance floor and into the concrete stage floor!”
Emily Blunt smiles,
“It’s a real homage to large-scale musical production numbers of the golden age. It’s basically Mary and the children getting lost in the fog and the leeries help light our way home, which is such a wonderful metaphor....”
Abandoned Park…
The Abandoned Park set took 26 weeks to complete. The dance sequences alone, which featured up to 50 dancing leeries on screen at one time, took two weeks to film. The set featured five different levels, an ornate, three-tiered fountain, bridge and greenhouse, all of which were constructed at Shepperton, and decorated with the hybrid electric/gas lamplights. Five cameras captured the breadth and scope of the action.
Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Lamplighter…
Marshall reveals,
“Jack the lamplighter literally—and metaphorically—lights up London in a dark time. He is an optimistic guy who sees light, even in darkness, and he holds onto that wonderful child-like spirit.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda. Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Spring Fair…
“The Spring Fair is very near the end of our film. It's a joyous scene and at this point in our story the Banks family's troubles have been all resolved,” Sim notes...
“John and I wanted it to be visually joyous as well. I designed tents with very charming shapes, and we built them in pretty pink & white stripes. Our wonderful Drapes team sewed the stripes together & made the tents.”
Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Spring Fair…
“The ideas for the games and activities all came from lots of research. We built all of the game pieces & prizes. The Ferris wheel was completely painted to match the visual theme, and we used wonderful spring flowers for bouquets on the bandstand. John designed the beautiful Bandstand, and all of the gravel paths and low iron fencing were added to the park at Pinewood Studios.”
Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Spring Fair…
“This was the Tea Tent at the Spring Fair...only one of many different tents that had a variety of activities. We had a wonderful food stylist create all the cakes after doing a lot of research. It's a challenge keep these kind of props looking beautiful in the British climate so we made triples of everything!”
Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Spring Fair…
“The Balloon Lady's organ was a very rough piece that we hand painted and added custom leaded & quilted glass.”
Angela Lansbury plays the magical Balloon Lady, a treasured character from the PL Travers MARY POPPINS books who reminds us to keep the child within alive...
Photo by Jay Maidment ©2018 Disney Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.