By Tom Hanks, current “Most Congenial Hollywood Personality”, may be setting up to play the former holder of that title. Dashing all hopes of a Ryan Gosling-helmed Disney biopic, the company instead has announced the film, entitled Saving Mr. Banks, will be a historical romp through the making of Mary Poppins, with John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side) at the helm.
Tom is in talks to play Walt, and Emma Thompson to play P.L. Travers, author of the beloved flying nanny book. Disney spent over two decades courting Travers for the rights to the book, which she finally granted in 1961, on the condition that she be granted script approval rights.
Of course, Disney ignored her the whole way, and thankfully, because she objected to all of the songs (she wanted Edwardian period pieces) and to the entire animated sequence. So Saving Mr. Banks will have lots of strife to chew on, and it will be fun to watch Hanks and Thompson duke it out. Fingers crossed for a Mickey Mouse voice impression from Hanks.
[Via Collider]