Disney making a film about Walt Disney is either a perfect fit or too close to home. It may be happening though as Deadline reports the studio is close to picking up Saving Mr. Banks, Kelly Marcel’s script that landed on the 2011 Black List. It already has high-profile talent interested in it, with Tom Hanks reportedly sniffing around to play Walt Disney, with Meryl Streep as author PL Travers.
The fact-based script follows Disney’s 14-year odyssey to get Travers to sell him the screen rights to her novel, Mary Poppins. The book was highly personal for Travers, and reflected hardships in her own life and her relationship with her father, who died when she was seven. As a result she was extremely reluctant to let go of it.
Eventually Disney persuaded her, but while the film became an instant classic, Travers had difficulty with it to the end. She hated the animated sequences in the film so much that she refused to sell any of her other works to Disney.
Nothing’s been signed yet and Hanks and Streep are only rumours at the moment, but expect to hear more when and if Disney buys the script.
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