New MARY POPPINS RETURNS Featurette and Lin-Manuel Miranda Defends His Rapping In The Film

Disney has released a great behind-the-scenes look at the making of the highly-anticipated sequel to the 1964 classic, Mary Poppins Returns. It features stars Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda discussing the story for the sequel and how it continues the story of the original film.

Watch how the new story came to life in this behind-the-scenes look at #MaryPoppinsReturns. See the film in theatres December 19! pic.twitter.com/bON9VR13nh

— Walt Disney Studios (@DisneyStudios) November 29, 2018

Also, as you may have heard a lot of critics are speaking out against Lin-Manuel Miranda rapping in the film. Some people just didn’t like it and felt it didn’t fit in. So, Miranda came to the defense of the use of rap and appropriately pointed out that Dick Van Dyke’s Bert actually raps in the original 1964 film!

When asked about the rapping at a recent press conference for the film, the actor said:

“Everyone that was like 'wow there's rapping in Mary Poppins Returns' forgets that Bert had a 30-second rap about all the women he dated before Mary Poppins, you've all forgotten it. The Jolly Holiday is one big flirt between Mary and Bert.”

He then posted the following on Twitter demonstrating his point:

Rapping in Mary Poppins, well I never *clutches pearls* pic.twitter.com/oCKGIYxM4Q

— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) November 29, 2018

Here’s the synopsis:

The film is set in 1930s depression-era London (the time period of the original novels) and is drawn from the wealth of material in PL Travers’ additional seven books. In the story, Michael (Ben Whishaw) and Jane (Emily Mortimer) are now grown up, with Michael, his three children and their housekeeper, Ellen (Julie Walters), living on Cherry Tree Lane. After Michael suffers a personal loss, the enigmatic nanny Mary Poppins (Blunt) re-enters the lives of the Banks family, and, along with the optimistic street lamplighter Jack (Miranda), uses her unique magical skills to help the family rediscover the joy and wonder missing in their lives. Mary Poppins also introduces the children to a new assortment of colorful and whimsical characters, including her eccentric cousin, Topsy (Meryl Streep).

Mary Poppins Returns is being directed by Rob Marshall and it also stars Colin Firth, Angela Lansbury as the Balloon Lady, a treasured character from the PL Travers books and Dick Van Dyke plays Mr. Dawes, Jr., the retired chairman of the bank now run by Firth’s character.

Mary Poppins Returns is slated for release December 25, 2018.