Tom Hanks to Play Walt Disney in SAVING MR. BANKS
A couple of months ago it was reported that Disney would be developing a movie called Saving Mr. Banks, which follows the true story of Walt Disney's 14-year journey to landing the rights to P.L. Travers classic book Mary Poppins so he could adapt it into a big screen feature film. The story came from a Black List script written by Kelly Marcel, who helped develop Terra Nova. The Blind Side director Lee Hancock, will be bringing the story to life.
At the time it was rumored that Tom Hanks was in the running to play Walt Disney in the film. Today Deadline reports that Hanks is almost set to take on that role, which would be awesome! Hanks is such a great actor that I have no doubt he'll do an amazing job in the role of Disney. If things end up working out it looks like he'll end up playing opposite Emma Thompson who would be playing the author of the book.
Not only am I a fan of Hanks, but I'm a fan of Mary Poppin's. Who doesn't like the 1964 classic that starred Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke? I grew up watching that movie, and it will be cool to see the story behind how it actually came to be. I had no idea it took Disney 14-years to land the rights to the book. It's incredible that he believed in the property so much that he never gave up.
The report goes on to explain the story in a little more detail saying, "The heart of this script comes from how close Travers felt to her story of a nanny with magical powers. Mary Poppins was highly personal, and reflected hardships in her own life and her relationship with her father, who died when she was 7. Disney finally persuaded her to let him make the film, but she was prickly all the way to the end. While Mary Poppins was lauded immediately, she hated the animated sequences in the film so much that she refused to sell any of her other works to Disney."
What do you think of this story, and of Hanks possibly taking on the role of Walt Disney?