For those who aren't aware, the screenplay from Kelly Marcel (she's also adapting the script for Fifty Shades of Grey) and Sue Smith deals with the creator of Mary Poppins, P.L. Travers--the "P" is for Pamela and her surname is from her father's personal name--and her bumpy relationship with Walt Disney. A healthy portion of the film involves Disney's (or Walt's) success after twenty years of pleading to persuade the guarded Londoner Travers to visit him in Los Angeles (Burbank) to discuss handing over the rights of the first edition of her series about Poppins and the Banks family to translate into a movie. Interspersed in the story is Travers' recollections of the relationship she had to her father, Travers Goff, which ultimately served as the inspiration for her book. Her childhood memories are mostly set in the town of Allora in Queensland, Australia, back when she was called "Ginty" and, additionally involved her mother Margaret, sisters Moya and Biddy, and some other special guests. I can't speak to the accuracy of this story, as I'm sure the screenwriters have taken artistic liberties, so when I discuss these people, for this post's purposes, it's as characters and not their real life inspirations. This is also based on a September 2011 version of the screenplay, and, since then, adjustments have been made, all of which I cannot speak to.
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| P.L. Travers |
The screenplay opens in idyllic Maryborough Park in Queensland, Australia, 1906. A banker, husband, and father Travers Robert Goff (Colin Farrell) sings/orates over a whimsical introduction while one of his three young daughters, Ginty (Annie Rose Buckley), builds a miniature park. Flash forward to 1959 to London, England, where Ginty has grown up to become famous author P.L. "Pamela" Travers (Emma Thompson). While she is successful and well-traveled, she tends to keep a strong guard around her emotions and personal life, and is all business and quite proper to the point of being unlikeable to those immediately around her. She is uptight, but has a cheeky, yet dark sense of humor. However, her finances are running dry, and her lawyer Diarmuid Russell (Ronan Vibert) pleads with her to meet Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) in Los Angeles to only discuss signing over the rights to the first installation of her Mary Poppins series.
Back in Queensland, Travers plays with Ginty in a way that we come to learn fostered her imagination and writing abilities. He colors her world with tale tales. Financially, for the time being, he does quite well for his family as a banker, but, as we soon see, it's not a profession he cares for, and he has a disease that will gradually take over his life. In London, having agreed to hear Disney out, Pamela boards her plane, but not without a fuss. The Goff family moves to Allora. Pamela's amiable and accommodating driver Ralph (Paul Giamatti) picks her up at LAX and she is immediately turned off by the city of Los Angeles. She's disgusted by her room at the Beverly Hills Hotel as well, which is decorated floor to ceiling in Disney memorabilia in anticipation of her arrival.
The Goff family explores their new residence in Allora, which is a few rungs below the life they previously enjoyed. Pamela familiarizes herself with her hotel room. The irony is that as she is technically "moving up," we're reminded of a period in her childhood were life was headed in an entirely different direction. Pamela's driver Ralph picks her up the next day and she is in no less a sour mood. In Burbank, she meets scriptwriter Don Di Gradi (Bradley Whitford), and the Sherman Brothers, songwriters, Robert aka Bob (B.J. Novak) and Richard aka Dick (Jason Schwartzman), before finally meeting Walt. He's especially pleased to finally be in her presence and name drops his now adult daughter, who introduced him to Mary Poppins twenty years ago when she was a young girl. He has been trying to get the rights ever since and has been eagerly awaiting this visit for a long time coming. Even though Pamela is quite curt and defensive with the mogul, Disney remains undaunted. Foremost, she insists there be no singing in the movie. And, she's also explicitly clear about her animosity towards the use of animation.
In Allora, Travers has a glass of wine for dinner while telling the story of Sid, a three-headed bureaucratic dog. Later, he plays the pipe while his family dozes off. In Burbank, the writers go over the script and songs with Pamela. She's not receptive to the casting of Dick Van Dyke, or much of anything else. In Allora, Travers takes Ginty on an enchanting horse ride on Uncle Albert. Ralph drives Pamela in the limousine to Burbank via the windy, beautiful, hilly roads of Lauren Canyon. Don and the Sherman brothers guide Pamela through a series of storyboard illustrations of the set and characters, which she's highly critical of, including a beard on the character of Mr. Banks, who represented her father. She has a flashback to him shaving, when he took care of himself. Back at her hotel, she sinks further back into the memory of him. After trying to serve Pamela cake for the thirtieth time, Disney's secretary Dolly (Melanie Paxson) updates him on the novelist's current feelings about the preproduction materials. Pamela has become far too fickle and difficult to the point of requesting the film be absent of the color red. Disney admonishes her, before relenting to her threats. She retreats to a bar to have tea.
In Allora, Ginty visits her father at the bank where he works. His drinking has worsened, and he's even missing appointments with important clients. Instead of taking her to the dentist, it's off for ice-cream instead. He likens money to a chimera. At her hotel, over the phone, Pamela confides in Russell how unhappy she is. At a preproduction meeting, she voices her concern about the central themes of the film, and questions if Disney even understands the purpose of her characters. In Allora, Travers leaves work early to be with his family where they chase around a hen. Travers and his wife Margaret (Ruth Wilson) later discuss his behavior. In Burbank, Walt shares with Dick his protectiveness of his Mickey Mouse character, before they were famous, and empathizes with Pamela: "That mouse, he's family."
At her hotel, Pamela observes a drunken man in the pool area and thinks back to Allora, as her father sunk further and further into his alcoholism. A new day brings Pamela more anguish. In Allora, the Goff family prepares for the annual fair. In Burbank, the songwriters present a number to Pamela. She recollects a moment at the fair where she pleads with her father to come watch Biddy dance, but he chooses to drink with strangers. Later, he gets up to make a speech before the crowd, on behalf of its sponsors the Australian Joint Stock Bank. The two different time eras blend with "Fidelity Fiduciary Bank," as both the songwriters and Travers perform the song. Things then take a permanent turn for the worse as Travers' behavior becomes awkward and offensive; he subsequently falls off the stage and hurts himself. Pamela argues with the songwriters for making the Banks' character so unsympathetic.
In Allora, Travers nurses his broken leg from falling, and grows desperate in his alcoholism. Not only does he attempt to use his daughters to procure him any kind of medicine available, he resorts to cruel and heartless behavior, dismissing one of Ginty's poems. In Burbank, out on a patch of grass, Pamela builds a miniature park with Ralph's unsolicited assistance. He shares that he has a special needs child at home. In Allora, Margaret instructs Ginty to watch over the family, and she leaves them all. Later, in an ethereal moment, that is not entirely imagined or real, Ginty, with her sisters, find and rescue their mother from contemplating drowning herself in a pond.
In Burbank, Disney invites Pamela to a personal excursion to Disneyland. In Allora, Aunt Ellie (Rachel Griffiths) comes for a visit, and it's quite clear that she was the inspiration for the Mary Poppins character; she helps whip the house into shape. Ralph deceptively drives Pamela to Anaheim, and Disney coaxes her to ride the King Arthur Carrousel once she's there. In Burbank, the writers present a new ending to Pamela and sing "Let's Go Fly a Kite." She melts a little to the music and lyrics and dances with Don. (It'll be interesting to see if the director will be able to pull this scene off, as it will be the turning point and rely heavily on Thompson's performance, after a convincing buildup to cracking her steel veneer). Dolly informs Disney of the good news.
In Allora, Ginty spends some tender times with her ailing father, though she doesn't know that these will be their final moments. In Burbank, the cat gets out of the bag to Pamela that the penguins in the film will be animated. She confronts Disney, tears up the contract, and informs him that her books "weren't written for the children. They were written for the promise breakers," and life "simply cannot be dunked in molasses." Ralph drives her to LAX and they part ways with him getting her one of her books to sign for his daughter, in what is a symbolic moment. In Allora, Ginty places pears she picked for her father on his deathbed and expresses disappointment in Aunt Ellie for breaking her promise of making everything alright.
In London, Disney flies all the way over the pond to surprise Pamela with a visit. Over tea, he explains to her that if he wanted to appropriate the Poppins book for just financial gain, he wouldn't have hounded her for twenty years. He shares that his own father was alcoholic, and he has grown tired of remembering things the way they actually were. "We all have our tales but don't you want to find a way to finish the story? Let it all go and have a life that isn't dictated by a past?" He admits he learned forgiveness from reading her books. The job of being a storyteller is to "restore order with imagination." She gives it some thought and finally agrees to the movie, including songs, animation, the color red, the sugar of it all, everything.
Three years later, Russell and Pamela discuss a sequel to her Poppins series, but she will not allow for any film version under any circumstances. It's suggested in that scene and then revealed in another with Disney and Carolyn that Pamela was not asked to the premiere. Pamela decides to fly over anyway to America and pays Disney a visit for an invitation. The big night for the debut of the film is spectacular, though Pamela, in attendance as a guest, ironically is not celebrated. We watch a parallel develop between the Poppins movie playing during the premiere and Allora, as Banks' life has been ruined by alcoholism, and the children beg Poppins to stay. In a funny moment, Disney and the others comfort Pamela, who has broken down in tears, but she says the fact that the penguins are animated are what's making her cry. But, we know, ultimately, she was moved. The movie ends with a final scene of the happier elements of Ginty's childhood presided over by her father.
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| Walt Disney, Tom Hanks |
Like I've already mentioned, I really liked this script. It was moving, and may even be more so, when we see it on its feet. As much as The Blind Side was TV-movie-of-the-week, it was still emotionally impactful (I cried like a bitch). Hancock is probably a good fit, but this screenplay seems more sophisticated than his last film. It's hard to compare the two, because I didn't read The Blind Side before I saw it. There are cute little nods to Poppins, like "a spoonful of sugar," Poppins herself in the form of Aunt Ellie, etc, which the film could quite benefit from more of.
The title, if a bit obvious, is about Disney giving Pamela a second chance to save her father in the form of the cinematic version of her fictional counterpart of him. On the surface, the struggle is about her granting Disney the film rights of the first edition of her book. Pamela's disagreements with Disney are at least partially rooted in her past. By being so vocal about not liking singing, sweets, and money, she obviously still feels wounded from the damage of her father's surrender to his demons. To her, the songs and animation make a circus out of who her stories were for: the promise breakers. And money and sugary treats were the problems. Her Aunt Ellie's word of rehabilitating her father was an empty offer, as he ended up expiring. Yet, she held her aunt more responsible for her father's death than her own father and his battle with alcoholism. (I was actually quite surprised by the short presence of Aunt Ellie and wonder if her character has been fleshed out since, especially considering she's being played by Rachel Griffiths.) She also feels some sense of responsibility for his ailment.
The movie explores what lies at the source of Pamela's struggle with the truth. And the two stories in her life during the 1900s and 1950s are meant to parallel each other. As Ginty watches her father deteriorate in front of her eyes, her older self learns to let go of the past and allow a stranger to turn Travers' illness into something more positive. She has been berating herself for decades for not having the tools to turn him around, even indulging his vices, but she must forgive herself, as it were virtually impossible considering her age, position, and knowledge, especially noting that he didn't want to be saved. And if one person doesn't care about something, nothing in the world will make them do so. And Pamela now had the opportunity to allow herself to save him in a way that will change her life, because that's all that matters at this point.
As curmudgeonly Pamela is, her intentions are true and instructive, mocking the production when she talks about its themes of "encouraging children to face the world unarmed. All they need is a spoon and some sugar and a brain full of fluff and they're equipped with life's tools. Wonderful!" Therein lied another unconscious conflict she had with his questionable example of parenting as it relates to her success as an author. While he was able to inspire opening up fantastical possibilities in his daughter's mind, he also stood for liberal ideals without a hint of work ethic and discipline. "One must clean one's room; it won't magically do it itself!" Her alcoholic father made her world both colorful with his storytelling, and dark with his disease and inability to prioritize the welfare of his family. He would have been better off with a career in the arts. Though, I don't believe the screenplay resolves the social (and quasi-political) issues it raises, I commend it for presenting them. And, Disney's Mary Poppins was intended as harmless fun, not a parenting guide. Eventually, Travers buckled under the pressures of having to provide for his family. Pamela had to let go of telling herself the same story in order to pay her own bills, as well as reconcile herself with the past. In the end, her decision to agree to Disney's wishes had a net-positive effect on the world, giving us another example of the charms of Julie Andrews for generations to come, as well as exposure to Travers' novels (she wrote three more for a total of eight after the movie came out) that money can't buy.
Box Office Prospects
I do wonder about the film's commercial prospects. While the movie has a huge heart and is incredibly smart, it's also a mature behind-the-scenes Hollywood movie, and I wonder who its target audience is. There's no sex, violence, or explosions. Its rating should be mild, but its subject matter doesn't stand out as being of interest to a wide young audience. Its central character is female and it's pretty rare of a film to deal with father/daughter relationships. However, it does use sugar to make the medicine go down in relaying the relationship between Disney and Travers. And, there is something appealing about the premise that I can't pinpoint that may have mainstream value. As well, it can't hurt to have Walt Disney as a character. It opens right before Christmas, and will surely be aiming for some awards traction to pull it through the ensuing months. It seems feasible for this film to make $60 - $80M domestic.
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| The real P.L. Travers, Emma Thompson |
(4/28 Note: I forgot to add that, like others have mentioned to me, I love the casting. The three leads are perfect, as well as the three writers (though, truth be told, I'm not a big Bradley Whitford fan), and Griffiths playing Aunt Ellie is kind of awesome.) I'm not sure what the category designations will be for the principals. It seems safe to say that Thompson, who should be sporting an Australian accent, will be campaigned as lead, but, as a good portion of her character is played by another actress, that leaves some ambiguity. That being said, Iris comes to mind, and had no problem getting Judi Dench in as lead, and Kate Winslet, who played her younger self, as supporting. Speaking of which, depending on her performance and direction, Annie Rose Buckley, who plays the young Pamela, Ginty, may have a shot. But, with Thompson having no other personal competition for lead, she should probably have no problem getting in. However, it should be noted, along with Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock, and Winslet (to name only a few), this is an UNUSUAL year for so many previous Best Actress winners to be in the conversation at the same time, and not just as possibilities, but holding high-probability odds.
Hanks and especially Farrell will be ripe candidates for the awards discussion. As far as screen time, they're both supporting. Hanks also has the baity Captain Phillips coming out. But, he is playing an icon here as Disney, which may carry with it some weight. Will he be competition for Farrell, or will the producers be able to justify a split? Thematically, Travers Goff is part of the central (father/daughter) relationship. His presence is often felt, and, heck, he's technically the title character. Farrell has been on a career upswing lately. After dealing with a drug addiction in 2005, which I imagine informs his performance, and then his reputation taking a hit for a sex tape, he won a lead Golden Globe a few years later for In Bruges, and got commendable reviews for his villainous turn in Horrible Bosses. He's still in demand in hero-type leads as well. Frankly, with enough distance from his extreme "bad boy" days, and an established professional good-will, this may or may not be the time for the actor who has never been nominated for an Academy Award. Being an Oscar-bait production, with Paul Giamatti having a role, there is always the possibility of him getting in also.
The crew includes cinematographer John Schwartzman (nominated for Seabiscuit, he has specialized in comic book, Michael Bay, and Ben Stiller films), film editor Mark Livolsi (The Blind Side, Cameron Crowe movies), production designer Michael Corenblith (The Blind Side, Ron Howard movies, two of which he was Oscar-nominated for), and costume designer Daniel Orlandi (The Blind Side, Ron Howard movies). It's a period film (set in two different distinct periods), so if it does well with critics, it could show up in a technical category like production design. Marcel should also be in the conversation for original screenplay (though I don't know if Fifty Shades will boost or harm her profile). And, because it's a movie that capitalizes on the success and history of another film, which happened to be a musical, I'm left wondering if there will also be an original song for this film.
Thank you for reading. Feel free to leave comments.
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