Mary Poppins Returns Junket

MARY POPPINS RETURNS arrives in theaters everywhere on December 19th! 

By Maxwell Glick

I attended the press junket for Mary Poppins Returns featuring the cast and creators. First we got to take some fun photos in a photobooth designed for Instagram. Then we saw some of the actual costumes from the movie! Finally it was time for the junket, moderated by Marc Platt, one of the producers of the film.

In attendance on the panel were Rob Marshall, Director of Mary Poppins Returns, Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Emily Mortimer, Ben Whishaw, producer John Deluca, composer Mark Shaiman, lyricist Scott Wittman and screenwriter David Magee. What was so apparent to me was how much everyone truly loved making this movie. The sense of joy from each person when talking about what went in to the production was really something special. They knew they working on something precious.

​In listening to Emily Blunt talk about her work and preparation in playing such an iconic character as Mary Poppins she said, “there is this humanity and she has to herself have such a childlike wonder in her in order to want to infuse these children’s lives with it and there must under there be a generosity of spirit to want to fix and heal in
the way that she does, you know. So I think for me and certainly for Rob when we talked about it, you know, in the year and a half we spent before we even started rehearsing, you know, we would talk about her so much and we both
wanted to find those layers and those moments of humanity and also the fact that she’s probably a bit of an adrenaline junkie, like she loves these adventures. It’s like her outlet, you know. So just finding those moments so she’s not just one thing, you know, because she is so enigmatic and it was a great, such a delicious character to play, loved it.”

Lin-Manuel Miranda talked about his favorite moment on set for him. It involved his son, actually. “I brought my son to set every time we filmed a musical number and to watch his eyes like saucers while daddy danced with, you know, what seems like 500 dancers and bikers. I’ll never forget the look on his face as long as I live.”

One of the things that really stood out to me at the press junket was when Dick Van Dyke was mentioned. You could tell how special it was for each and every person to get to work with him. Director Rob Marshall said it best when talking about Dick Van Dyke’s day on set: “I don’t think any of us could even breathe that day because we couldn’t believe that we were touching that. And he was basically playing the same old banker that he played. He grabbed my hand as we walked on to the set and he turned to me and he said something I will never forget. He said I feel the same spirit here on this set that I did on the first film. And that was, you know, that was the dream come true right there.”

Overall, I was so taken with how much everyone on the team took such care to create this movie. They knew how important it was to so many people all over the world. There was a true sense of love and heart that the team had. The junket truly gave us all the sense that the cast and creative team knew they were making something very special with Mary Poppins Returns.

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Visit the official MARY POPPINS RETURNS website: https://movies.disney.com/mary-poppins-returns

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​Maxwell Glick has been creating magic on the Internet for years! His channel “mrcheezypop” is a family friendly destination where he takes you on magical adventures in happiness. From tips and tricks at Disney Theme Parks, to trying the latest food and drink all over the world, to sharing his own life in Los Angeles, Max brings a much needed dose of positivity to viewers. He’s also an award winning actor and voice actor starring in the Emmy Award winning The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, appearing on numerous TV shows such as The Office, Castle, The Mentalist, and Timeless, has recorded voice work for major companies like Nickelodeon and Hasbro, and has recorded over 100 audiobooks, winning multiple awards for his work. For more Max, check him out on Instagram @mrcheezypop, Twitter @maxwellglick, Patreon at patreon.com/mrcheezypop, and of course YouTube at youtube.com/mrcheezypop.