Don’t call it a remake: Emily Blunt is slated to fill the role of the fantastical nanny Marry Poppins in Disney’s planned followup to the 1964 classic that starred Julie Andrews in the titular role.
The sequel will be directed by Rob Marshall, who also directed Into the Woods (in which Blunt also starred) and Memoirs of a Geisha, interestingly enough. Details of the plot are scant, but it will apparently take place in Depression-era London, 20 years after the events of the first film, and will draw on author P. L. Travers’ stories of Poppins and the Banks family. Andrews won an Oscar for her role in the original film, and it earned $100 million — a pretty penny by today’s standards, let alone the standards of 1964.
Whether or not the Banks kids will be all grown up, or if, maybe, Poppins will take care of some of the children of the original Banks children, we don’t know. We also don’t know if the decision to create a followup was based on the success of Saving Mr. Banks, in which Emma Thompson’s Travers was convinced by Tom Hanks’ Walt Disney to make the original Mary Poppins film.
Either way, Blunt would be a good choice for the role, and would certainly give the project credibility, given her recent success in “serious” films like Sicario and Looper.