Paul Giamatti & Jason Schwartzman Join Saving Mr. Banks

Paul Giamatti, Jason Schwartzman, and Ruth Wilson have joined Disney’s Saving Mr. Banks for director John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side), bolstering a cast that already includes Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks.

The movie is about Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson), who was courted for 14 years by Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) for the screen rights to her beloved novel, before she reluctantly agreed. After she didn’t approve of the 1964 classic’s animated sequences, she refused to sell another book to the studio.

Paul Giamatti is playing Ralph, P.L. Travers’ chauffeur when she spends time in Los Angeles. Jason Schwartzman will be Richard Sherman, the songwriter who wrote a number of tunes for Disney classics such as Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Ruth Wilson is the author’s mother in flashback scenes, along with Colin Farrell as P.L. Travers’ father, who inspired the Poppins character of Mr, Banks. (Source: Variety)