Plot. The scene is set in London, during the Great Depression. Michael Banks lives in his childhood home with his three children, John, Annabel and Georgie, after the death of his wife, Kate, a year earlier.
David Tomlinson as George Banks, Mary Poppins' employer and strict father of Jane and Michael. He works at the Dawes Tomes Mousley Grubbs Fidelity Fiduciary Bank in London. He is a driven and disciplined man. Glynis Johns as Winifred Banks, the easily distracted wife of George Banks and the mother of Jane and Michael.
Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw) and his sister Jane (Emily Mortimer) are now adults. Michael has three young children, Anabel (Pixie Davies), John (Nathaniel Saleh) and Georgie (Joel Dawson).
What happened to Michael's wife in Mary Poppins Returns?
The film achieves that shift primarily through one of its plot points: Mary Poppins Returns is set in the year after Michael's wife, the children's mother, died. It finds the whole Banks family in mourning—every member in his or her own way.
Travers' original eight-book series, Michael and Jane Banks had twin baby siblings, John and Barbara, who were a major part of the story from as early as Travers' first book; a year later, Travers' second book Mary Poppins Comes Back introduced another Banks infant named Annabel.
As Topsy is stated to be Mary's cousin, it's unclear if she is the daughter of Uncle Albert (another relative of Mary seen in the first film) or if she is the daughter of another unseen relative. She speaks with an Eastern European/Slavic accent.
Lin-Manuel Miranda as Jack, with a chorus of lamplighters, in Mary Poppins Returns. 4. Jack the Lamplighter and Bert the Chimney Sweep are connected in the great circle of Disney. Bert the Chimney Sweep, played by Dick Van Dyke in the original, does not appear in Mary Poppins Returns — he's out traveling the world.
We realize that Mary Poppins came not to fix the children, nor was this their journey, but to fix Mr. Banks, a character, dragged down by conflicting loyalties. The wind changes and Mary Poppins must now leave the Banks children, presumably to help assist another family.
"Jack is a lamplighter. He apprenticed under Bert from the original films so he knows all about Mary," said Miranda. "So it's really nice to play the Bert position in this film. You kind of get to go on all the fun adventures with the Banks family."
Travers portrays the relationship between Mary Poppins and Bert. In the first story the romantic aspect is clear: “Mary!” he cried, and you could see by the way he cried it that he loved her.
Mary Poppins Returns 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.
Karen Dotrice, who played Jane Banks in "Mary Poppins," has a cameo role in the newly-released "Mary Poppins Returns"! Dotrice, 63, is shown briefly walking down Cherry Tree Lane.
It was in 1924, while Travers worked as a journalist at a London newspaper, that she came up with the idea for a novel about a whimsical-yet-stern nanny called Mary Poppins. The name, Travers told the BBC, came from the inscription "M. Poppins" written in the flyleaf of one of her favorite books as a child.
Were any of the original cast in Mary Poppins Returns?
In Mary Poppins Returns, Dick Van Dyke makes a cameo as Mr. Dawes—but as Jr. this time. Fun fact: Van Dyke is the only actor from the original film who also appears in the sequel.
Bert: Male, Age: 30s. The narrator of the story, is a good friend to Mary Poppins. An everyman, Bert has many occupations, including hurdy-gurdy player, sidewalk artist and chimney sweep.
Garber next received a bigger role as the character Michael Banks in "Mary Poppins" (1964), one of the two charges of the protagonist nanny. Jane Banks, Michael's sister, was played by Karen Dotrice. The film was the greatest hit of Garber's career and is the role for which he is most remembered.
This is also why Mary Poppins knows him as Uncle Albert! He's not her uncle. If he was, why would Bert just be at the house waiting for her when Mary gets there? She calls him Uncle Albert because that's what she's used to calling him when she saw him often during her time as Bert's nanny.
Banks is a 2013 biographical drama film directed by John Lee Hancock from a screenplay written by Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith. Centered on the development of the 1964 film Mary Poppins, the film stars Emma Thompson as author P. L.
She visits to the Banks to fix family heirloom and sings the jazzy "Turning Turtle." Streep took the role solely to work with Rob Marshall, who directed her in 2014's Into the Woods. "Rob knew that I wanted in on whatever it was he did next.
