A few people have noted that while Saving Mr. Banks is all about Walt Disney and Mary Poppins author PL Travers, the movie doesn’t really talk about the latter’s possible bisexuality, or her close and possibly intimate relationship with friend Madge Burnand.
Although some have accused the movie of airbrushing history, Emma Thompson, who play Travers, has a different take on it. Talking the gay mag The Advocate, she says, “She [Travers] was what I would call a real searcher. I don’t know whether they were lovers or not, but she did live with Madge for a long, long time, and she certainly had very complex, passionate relationships with both women and men. She was an explorer of her own condition, and very possibly her own sexuality…
‘You can’t fit everything about a person’s life into two hours… Saving Mr. Banks’ is about a woman’s creative, artistic life. It’s a relief, quite frankly, because when is a movie about a woman not about her love life?”
As for why she’s never played a lesbian in a film herself – despite always being very supportive of LGBT people – Thompson says, “Nobody’s come up with a really interesting one for me yet, but I’m sure they will.”
She also adds that she feels a connection to the LGBT community, “I always have, perhaps because I’ve always felt like an outsider”. As for der gay following, “It’s a source of great pride and happiness. That support is very supportive, and my support in return is so profound and real.”
Thompson also mentions that in another life she could have been one half of the ultimate lesbian Hollywood power couple, saying, “Well, I met Sandy Bullock at an awards thing a couple years ago, and she said to me, ‘If I were gay, you’d be the one.’ I said, ‘I’m there!'”
Leave a Reply (if comment does not appear immediately, it may have been held for moderation)