Director Rob Marshall is taking on the project and ran into Andrews herself in the Hamptons recently where he told her that Blunt was ascending to the role.
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While Blunt played a supporting part in doing justice to Stephen Sondheim’s musical, she will soon have the leading burden of doing justice to Julie Andrews’ legendary Mary Poppins from 1964.
Blunt is set to introduce the magical English nanny to a new generation of youngsters when the Rob Marshall-helmed “Mary Poppins Returns” hits theaters December 2018.
“I felt like I wanted to cry”, Blunt says.
Yes, whew! Andrews’ blessing is key, since, as Blunt noted, “It’s such an important character in people’s childhood”.
Thankfully, Andrews herself – who was practically ideal in the role over 50 years ago – seems to have lent her full support to Blunt’s casting in a sequel to the 1964 film. “And she went, ‘Oh, wonderful!'” “It was lovely to get her stamp of approval”.
But it doesn’t sound like Mary Poppins Returns will merely imitate the original, as the British actress also divulged that the new film will be pretty different from it in tone.
While stage and screen star Andrews offered a version of the nanny who had a sweeter edge, Blunt – seen as the Baker’s Wife in the film of Into the Woods – has gone back to the original P.L. Travers book series. That took the edge off it, for sure, ‘ she added.
Especially when it comes to a beloved character like Mary Poppins.
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But Blunt’s nerves were immediately quashed when she learnt that Julie Andrews had given her seal of approval to her casting. As well as Blunt, it will also start “Hamilton’ hot-shot Lin-Manuel Miranda and, allegedly Meryl Streep, while it will be released in the United States on December 25, 2018”.
