MARY POPPINS RETURNS (2018) Production Notes

It has always been a dream of Rob Marshall's to conceive an original musical specifically for film. The Oscar-nominated ("Chicago"), Emmy and DGA Award-winning director, who began his career on the Broadway stage as a choreographer and director, is responsible for the successful screen adaptations of "Chicago," "Nine" and "Into the Woods" and knows how to construct a musical. He understands the world of film and the world of Broadway musicals in a unique and personal way, and "Mary Poppins Returns" was a chance for him to create an homage to the classic movie musicals of his youth.

PRODUCTION INFORMATION

A New Story to Tell - Michael Banks was just a child when the practically-perfect nanny Mary Poppins first visited the Banks home, but he is now a grown man with children of his own. A struggling artist temporarily employed by Fidelity Fiduciary Bank-the same financial institution where his father and grandfather worked before him-Michael lives at 17 Cherry Tree Lane with his children: Annabel, John and Georgie. Times are tough in Depression-era London. It's the 1930s, and the city is in the midst of the "Great Slump," so money is tight, people are anxious and the future is uncertain.

The family is struggling to cope with the recent death of Michael's wife, and the house is rundown and in a constant state of chaos, despite the best efforts of their inefficient yet well-meaning and warmhearted housekeeper, Ellen. With the harsh reality of the times and the burden of their loss weighing heavily on the family, the children find themselves taking on additional responsibilities around the house...and growing up much too fast in the process.

His sister Jane has inherited her mother's enthusiasm for good causes, and, while busy herself promoting workers' rights, finds time to help Michael and his family every chance she gets. As it becomes more and more difficult for Michael to connect with his children while processing his own sorrow, the chairman of the bank, Mr. Wilkins-who appears to be a congenial and altruistic mentor to Michael but is actually duplicitous and shrewd-is in the process of foreclosing on the Banks home, sending the already frazzled Michael into a further tailspin.

Fortunately, the winds begin to change, and the enigmatic governess whose unique magical skills can turn any ordinary task into a fantastic adventure, enters the lives of the Banks family once again, having not aged a single day. Teaming up with an old friend, Jack, a charming and eternally optimistic street lamplighter, they take the Banks children on a series of whimsical adventures and introduce them to colorful characters like Mary's eccentric Cousin Topsy and Jack's lovable band of leeries, bringing life, love and laughter back into the home.

Off We Go

It has always been a dream of Rob Marshall's to conceive an original musical specifically for film. The Oscar-nominated ("Chicago"), Emmy and DGA Award-winning director, who began his career on the Broadway stage as a choreographer and director, is responsible for the successful screen adaptations of "Chicago," "Nine" and "Into the Woods" and knows how to construct a musical. He understands the world of film and the world of Broadway musicals in a unique and personal way, and "Mary Poppins Returns" was a chance for him to create an homage to the classic movie musicals of his youth.

Following the successful collaboration with Marshall, his producing partner John DeLuca and producer Marc Platt on "Into the Woods," Disney was eager to partner with the filmmakers on another project and suggested a sequel to one of its most treasured titles, "Mary Poppins," a film that turned out to have a deep personal connection for each of them.

"'Mary Poppins' was the first film I saw as a child, and it opened up my mind to movies and to the love of musicals, adventure and fantasy in film," says Marshall. "But when they came to me it was quite daunting, because how do you follow that iconic film? But I was thrilled at the same time and excited about the idea of taking on something like this...I'd never had the chance to create an original musical for film before."

Marshall continues, "This is probably the most personal film I've ever done because of the profound nature of what it says about finding the child inside and keeping hope alive in a very dark time. It also feels especially timely to me because of the current world climate that we are in."

Author PL Travers first introduced the no-nonsense nanny to the world in 1934 with her children's book "Mary Poppins," and over the next 50 years wrote seven more books featuring a myriad of magical adventures with the beloved governess ("Mary Poppins Comes Back," "Mary Poppins Opens the Door" and "Mary Poppins in the Park," among others). In the books, the umbrella-carrying governess with a penchant for witty retorts, surreptitiously imparts wisdom in a way that only Mary Poppins can.

For the film's narrative, Marshall envisioned an original story that would have something emotional and meaningful to impart, yet still deliver the wonder and exuberance of the magical escapades. "It was obvious there were many more stories to be told," says Marshall, "and once we read all the books we were able to combine elements from a number of them that emphasized Travers' recurring theme that, as we become adults, we become disillusioned and cynical and forget how to look at life through a child's eyes."

David Magee, two-time Academy Award-nominated screenwriter ("Finding Neverland," "Life of Pi"), came on board to draft the screenplay. Working closely with Marshall and DeLuca, they developed a completely original storyline set in Depression-era London of the mid-'30s (the actual time period of PL Travers' books), and 25 years after the events that transpired in the first film. While Jane and Michael Banks are children in all of Travers' books, they chose to create a new narrative that would revolve around Michael and Jane as adults.

Says Magee, "When we first sat down and started talking about it with John DeLuca and Rob Marshall and myself, we were all instantly speaking the same language. We all remembered the same film from our childhood with the same fondness, and we found ourselves completing each other's sentences and adding to each other's ideas. So by the end of our first meeting it was obvious that we would work well together."

"The interesting thing about the PL Travers books is that virtually every chapter is a stand-alone adventure that starts with Mary Poppins and the children at the beginning of the day," continues Magee. "They go off on an adventure, and by the end of the day she denies the experience ever happened. And the very next day it happens again. We wanted to build a story that incorporated those elements into an original narrative."

Included in the books were little sayings of Mary Poppins-comments she made on the nature of wonder and belief in the impossible-and Magee, Marshall and DeLuca went through every page of Travers' books to find the best ones. "We called them Mary Poppisms," says Magee, "things that she said that could only have come from her. 'Everything is possible, even the impossible,' is classic PL Travers, and it became an important line in our film."

"The film itself is about moving out of a very difficult situation and finding joy and wonder in a dark time, and Mary Poppins is the key to that," says two-time Oscar-nominated and Emmy and Tony- winning producer Platt ("La La Land," "Bridge of Spies"). "The Banks children are living in a home without a Mother, so there's a loneliness in the house, a sadness, just as there is in the world outside their home, so the possibility of joy and magic in worrisome times felt very contemporary to us." Adds Marshall, "It's essential to see things from a different angle, and Mary Poppins understands that and helps the children understand that as well."

"We tried to keep the essence of Travers' work by embracing the classic nature and beauty of the books and continuing the legacy of the beautiful worlds she created," says Golden Globe-nominated and Emmy-winning producer DeLuca. "We live in a time when people need some hope. Everyone could use a Mary Poppins in their own lives right now."

Putting the Cast in Place

"There is a classic nature to the telling of 'Mary Poppins.' It requires the essence of classical musical filmmaking, but at the same time is very contemporary and feels very alive and very in the moment," says producer Marc Platt. "Rob is a master at coordinating all of that. His approach is precise, and he never settles. He finds the magic in every frame, in every scene, in every musical number."

But without the right actors to bring that magic to life, the work would be in vain. For the role of the proper, peculiar and enigmatic nanny, the filmmakers had only one person in mind: Emily Blunt.

"Emily is a brilliant actress who is funny, warm, quick-witted and deeply-feeling. She can also really sing and dance," says Rob Marshall. "Mary Poppins is actually a very layered character, stern and reserved on the outside, yet warm-hearted and child-like on the inside. Emily was able to play all of those layers with such a specificity and sophistication."

Having just worked with Blunt at the time on "Into the Woods," the director understands her. "I get what she does, I get her humor...we're very simpatico," he explains. "She created her own version of the character in a very distinctive and special way, which focused more on the eccentric Mary Poppins from the books. I don't know who else could have played the role besides her, to be quite honest."

Blunt, whose most recent credits include "A Quiet Place" and "The Girl on the Train," worked with Marshall, John DeLuca and Marc Platt on "Into the Woods" and with Platt on "The Girl on the Train." The actress was flattered to be considered for the titular character, and knew it would be challenging, which is one of her key prerequisites when choosing a role. "Rob pitched the character to me in a really exciting way, with Mary Poppins having this enigmatic master plan and being stylish and vain, but funny as well," she says.

"She's the most empathetic character I've ever played," says the Golden Globe-winning actress. "There's nothing manipulative about her generosity. She expects nothing in return; she makes it completely a voyage of self-discovery for you, for [the Banks] family. And then she leaves. I think that's probably the ultimate form of empathy, to recognize what people need and give it to them and not expect anything in return."

As a director, Marshall also knows what people need...especially actors. He knows how to bring actors and their performances to life and gives them confidence in themselves, creating an environment in which they are able to do their best work. "Rob has a way of reaching people and bringing out the best in themselves," explains DeLuca. "He has a rapport with his actors and always knows what's going to make them flourish."

"Rob is meticulous in every aspect of the production. He is so collaborative, and he really listens and really cares. He understands human beings on a sort of molecular level," says Blunt. "He understands the material with such depth that you don't really have to think about anything and work too hard, because he's already thought of everything."

A new character in "Mary Poppins Returns" is one of Mary's old cohorts. "We created this character of Jack the lamplighter, who literally-and metaphorically-lights up London in a dark time," says Marshall. "He is an optimistic guy who sees light, even in darkness, and he holds onto that wonderful child-like spirit."

"One of the most exciting things for us was casting Lin-Manuel Miranda in the role of Jack," Marshall continues. "He brings such an exciting, contemporary sensibility to the film. Everyone knows he's a brilliant composer and writer, but he's also a great actor and a wonderful singer and dancer with an authentic and pure spirit that is very rare."

Best known for his multi-hyphenate roles on stage ("Hamilton," "In the Heights"), the Pulitzer Prize Tony Award- and GRAMMY-winning actor was thrilled by the opportunity to create a role on screen.

"There's something very magical about this character," says Miranda. "Jack takes care of the lights in London, but he also goes on these incredible adventures with Mary Poppins and brings light to all those around him, especially children."

In the '30s, lamplighters like Jack were responsible for dimming the gaslights in the morning and turning them back on in the evening, all across London. These lamplighters, or "leeries" as they were referred to at the time, traveled by bicycle with ladders for use when climbing the lampposts and poles to reach the gas igniters. As of 2016 when the film was in production, there were still over 2,500 gas lamplights in service in London.

Miranda quickly found himself becoming immersed in the world of PL Travers. His character once served as an apprentice to Bert, Dick Van Dyke's character from the first film, and Jack, like Bert, has been able to retain a child-like sense of imagination.

"Lin is awesome," says Blunt. "He is incredibly confident and has an infectious personality that is a joy to be around, and he throws himself head first into any situation he's given. Whether it's sliding down ladders or climbing Big Ben or hanging upside down, he's just very gung-ho about everything, and we needed that for a character like this, who has a sense of magic to him."

She continues, "Jack and Mary Poppins are sort of in cahoots with each other. Even though he's not quite of her world, he gets it and understands it, and he's great at cajoling the kids to come along with her, so it's a great chemistry to play because there's not anything romantic-they're just sort of kindred spirits."

One of the best actors of his generation, Ben Whishaw ("SPECTRE," "A Very English Scandal"), was cast as the adult Michael Banks. Mary Poppins comes back to help Michael, who has lost his way, and while there she realizes how much the children need her as well. Michael and Jane remember Mary Poppins from their childhood; however, they have convinced themselves that their magical adventures with the nanny were just imagined.

The first film had an enormous impact on Whishaw as a child. "I was transfixed by it and watched it a million times and knew every word of every song and even dressed up as the characters and acted it out for my family, so it has a profound place in my memory," he explains. "I was excited and curious and intrigued about the idea of a sequel, and when I met with Rob was just so charmed by him and won over by what he wanted to do with the story...it was just irresistible to me."

"Michael has lost his wife, and the children their mother, and she hasn't been replaced," says Platt. "Michael is adrift, and we find the children, particularly the older two children, having to almost parent the father as it were."

According to DeLuca, Michael is the beating heart of the film, and Whishaw's ability to convey his character's struggle and transformation was nothing short of extraordinary. "He is brilliant and has such depth that you can't help but feel for him," he says.

Jane Banks is played by accomplished actress Emily Mortimer ("Hugo," "The Newsroom"). While she had some initial questions about playing the adult version of a beloved character, it was her own children who helped her put the role in perspective. "In the end, I just focused on the spirit of that young girl from the first film who gave such an amazing performance, and tried not to get hung up on any of her physical characteristics or particular quirks. I looked at video footage of my own children from just a few years ago and realized they're completely different people now physically."

Mortimer had the chance to meet and discuss her character with the actress who played the young Jane Banks in the first film, Karen Dotrice. Dotrice visited the set to film a cameo (where she delivers a line sure to make fans of the first film smile). "When we walked onto the Cherry Tree Lane set together for the first time, it literally took her breath away," says Mortimer. "She was speechless, which was just so sweet and incredibly touching."

Julie Walters ("Mamma Mia!" the "Harry Potter" films) plays Ellen the housekeeper, who is basically part of the Banks family, having worked at 17 Cherry Tree Lane since Jane and Michael were children. Colin Firth ("The King's Speech," "Kingsman: The Secret Service") is Fidelity Fiduciary Bank's William Weatherall Wilkins, the bank executive more concerned with his own ambition than the predicament of the Banks family. Meryl Streep ("The Post," "Into the Woods") is Topsy, Mary Poppins' eccentric cousin of vaguely Eastern European descent who has an amusingly contentious relationship with Mary, and whose fix-it shop turns upside down the "Second Wednesday" of every month.

Pixie Davies ("Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children," AMC's "Humans") plays Annabel, the bright and strong-willed daughter of Michael Banks; Nathanael Saleh ("Game of Thrones") is John, Michael's perceptive and thoughtful elder son; and newcomer Joel Dawson is Georgie, his spirited 8- year-old son. "We searched all over the world for these children," says Marshall. "I wanted to find real kids-not showbiz kids-who have the skills to act and sing and dance, but can also bring a freshness and a truth to their roles, and we really lucked out."

Of all the characters, these three were the most challenging to cast. "We wanted the children to have distinct personalities," says DeLuca, "and it was a long search, but these characters are so crucial to our story, and the actors we found bring so much to the film."

Also cast in the film were Disney legends Angela Lansbury and Dick Van Dyke. The illustrious Lansbury, who starred in "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" and the animated "Beauty and the Beast" for the studio, plays the magical Balloon Lady, a treasured character from the PL Travers books. Dick Van Dyke, from "Mary Poppins," "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," "Bye Bye Birdie" and countless other films, plays Mr. Dawes, Jr., the retired chairman of the bank now run by Firth's character, and the son of the character he played in the first film.

At 92, Van Dyke had more energy than most of the cast and crew. "Watching him work was like a Master Class in performing," says Miranda, "and in between takes I would barrage him with questions, and he told the best stories. Those were some of the most emotional days we had shooting the film."

The Unforgettable New Music

New film musicals are rare these days, and a musical on a scale like "Mary Poppins Returns" even more so. "The event movies growing up for me were films like 'The Sound of Music,' 'My Fair Lady,' 'Oliver!'...movies that you would go to see with your entire family and would literally have programs and intermissions," says Rob Marshall.

According to producer Marc Platt, "Rob always visualized the film as having a grand scope to it...that's what we set out to create, and I believe that's what we achieved."

Lin-Manuel Miranda is convinced the director was born in the wrong decade. "If Rob had been born during the MGM era he would have made 50 musicals by now," he explains. "One of the hardest things to do is to make a successful film musical. I don't mean financially successful, I mean artistically, where all the art forms-the choreography, the music, the dancing, the sets, the songs-build toward these moments. When they're all working in tandem, there isn't a more thrilling art form, full stop."

Tony Award and GRAMMY winner Marc Shaiman ("Hairspray," "South Park") and Tony winner and three-time Emmy nominee Scott Wittman ("Hairspray," "Smash") are big fans of the genre and huge fans of Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman's music from the first film. When Shaiman was given the opportunity to compose an all-new original score and the music for new songs and, together with Wittman, write the lyrics, it was a dream come true.

It's hard for Shaiman to put into words the profound impact the Sherman brothers have had on his career as both a composer and songwriter. "The movie and the soundtrack were everything to me as a child and taught me everything I know about film scoring," he says. "The songs from 'Mary Poppins' are, in a word, perfect. The music and the lyrics are perfectly joined and have such a wonderful, sparkling yet emotional feeling to them, so it's quite a bar to even aspire to come close to."

Because the script is an integral part of any musical, the duo was brought on board to write the music and lyrics when the script was being written, allowing the score to function dramatically from its inception. "What was really exciting is that we were making a live-action original musical, and it was wonderful to see the new songs take shape, to learn the music, to see the echoes of the first film in Marc and Scott's incredible work," says Miranda, "and as someone who's been a part of the process of making new musicals, it was really exciting to be there as an actor and be a part of it all."

Says Wittman, "The collaboration with the director and screenwriter is so important, because these things only work if everyone has the same vision. Rob is really wonderful in the way that he can construct something and let you see what's in his head, which in turn helps you to create the musical aspects."

"There are elements of the very best of the Sherman brothers, but it's all Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman," says Platt. "You feel that you are in the world of Mary Poppins, yet it feels new and fresh at the same time. There are tuneful melodies. There is wit. There is charm, and there is beautiful poetry in some of the ballads."

Shaiman and Wittman crafted nine original songs, each one with a soulful quality that helps advance the plot and enhance the characters. "We didn't stray too far from the tone of the first movie," adds Shaiman. "We wanted it to feel like we were picking up where the last film ended."

The new songs include: the film's central ballad, "The Place Where Lost Things Go," a lullaby performed by Mary Poppins; the boisterous music hall number with Mary Poppins and Jack, "A Cover is Not the Book"; "Underneath the Lovely London Sky," the opening number performed by Jack, and a love letter to the city itself; "Turning Turtle," a show-stopping musical sequence performed by Mary's eccentric Cousin Topsy; "A Conversation," a bittersweet song performed by Michael in which he tries to come to terms with his grief; and the buoyant finale "Nowhere to Go But Up."

The vocabulary of the characters is key when developing a musical, and as songwriters, Shaiman and Wittman were able to create songs that feel authentic to the '30s, yet modern at the same time. In the big song-and-dance production number, "Trip a Little Light Fantastic," the lamplighters, who call themselves 'leeries,' were given their own unique language. "We called it leerie speak," says Wittman.

"It's a Cockney rhyming slang that, of course, Mary Poppins speaks quite well, as does Jack." "The musical element of this film was an utter joy," says Emily Blunt. "I was a part of the process from early on, and we all felt it was such a collaboration. Rob is so very attentive to your needs as an actor and acknowledges your vision for the part."

Shaiman and Wittman were quite impressed with Blunt's talent and dedication to her character. Says Wittman, "Emily was fantastic to work with, and she worked very hard, too. She would come from her voice lesson straight to work with us, so we saw her range grow as the weeks went on."

As with all of Marshall's musical films, the production schedule required a lengthy amount of rehearsal time. Song and dance rehearsals for the cast took place on stages at Shepperton Studios from October, 2015 through January 2016. Marshall explains, "Marc and Scott wrote multiple versions of songs, exactly what you do when you take a Broadway show out of town. We were given the time to experiment and work and change, tailor-making the musical numbers and building an original musical from the ground up."

"Coming from the theater world, I felt so spoiled," says Miranda. "When you make a movie you never get as much rehearsal time as we had, and it was more than most Broadway shows, too."

The frequency and intensity of the dance rehearsals were especially crucial, as choreographers Marshall and DeLuca wanted the choreography to feel spontaneous, as if it had grown organically from the story and the characters. "It takes a lot of hard work to make something feel natural," says Miranda, "but that was our process and it was truly joyous."

Adds Blunt, "There's a big musical number with Lin and myself called 'A Cover is Not the Book," and that was probably the most dancing I had to do. We started to dance on day one of rehearsals and ran that thing for eight weeks over and over and over again because, as Rob and John said, you need it in your body. It's got to be in your body so that on the day when the cameras are rolling and there's all that crew and you're in costume, you won't have to think about it, you'll just feel safe...and that's a dancer's mentality. That's where Rob and John come from. They understand that, when creating a spectacle like this, you need an intense amount of rehearsal."

Marshall brought on Mike Higham ("Into the Woods," "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street") as executive music producer and music supervisor, to work closely with Shaiman and Wittman and oversee all the music rehearsals and recording sessions for the songs and score. The orchestral tracks and cast vocals were prerecorded with an 82-piece full symphony orchestra conducted by music supervisor Paul Gemignani ("Into the Woods," "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street") at AIR Lyndhurst Studios in Hampstead.

Marshall wanted to make sure the film's vocals were integrated seamlessly into the film, so cast vocals were recorded again, this time live on set so as to capture the energy of live vocals. "Rob understands music," says Higham. "He's got a great ear, which made my job that much easier, because I could speak to him on the same level, musically. So when we were in the recording sessions, he was able to dictate his comments to the musicians in the proper Italian terms (forte, pianissimo, etc.), which is so invaluable and is actually really hard to do."

The many worlds of Poppins-from the real London of the '30s, to Mary's stylized adventures- were enhanced by talented artists behind the camera like award-winning sound designers Renee Tondelli (Oscar nominee for "Deepwater Horizon") and Eugene Gearty (Oscar winner for "Hugo"). Their roles on "Mary Poppins Returns" were even more challenging due to the many musical aspects of the original film musical. In addition to combining dialogue, live and prerecorded songs, they layered in period sounds and created an entire new "sound language" for the animation sequence set inside a Royal Doulton china bowl.

Equally as daunting were the tasks facing Marshall's long-time collaborator, editor Wyatt Smith, ACE ("Into the Woods," "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides"). The challenges involved seamlessly integrating intimate scene work with large scale musical sequences, supervising complicated visual effects and coordinating live action and key frame animation, all the while creating a consistent visual flow and strong pace to the film.

"People love music...music has no filter...it transcends language. Music makes us feel things," says Platt. "There's great joy in musical storytelling, as it allows us to go where real life often can't take us, and music is very much 'Mary Poppins Returns.'"

Visually Bringing the Story to Life

Crafting an original musical is challenging for any filmmaker, but Rob Marshall is a classic director who brings a modern sensibility to the table. His background as a choreographer has had a profound impact on his work as a filmmaker, something Oscar-winning cinematographer Dion Beebe, ACS, ASC ("Memoirs of a Geisha," "Into the Woods"), has observed working with him over the past decade. "With Rob it is all about movement, interaction and character and story enhancement," Beebe says.

Two-time Oscar-winning production designer John Myhre ("Chicago," "Memoirs of a Geisha") agreed, saying, "The opening musical number starts out with Jack on the embankment of the Thames, just as dawn is breaking, with the clock tower, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament coming into view that then proceeds throughout London to Cherry Tree Lane. But with Rob it's never Jack just riding down the street in a straight line, but moving in a musical way that's also telling a story, enhancing the richness of the setting and telling us more about the nature of the character."

Looking to provide a wide-screen movie experience, Beebe chose digital capture over film and shot with Alexa XT and Alexa Mini cameras and Panavision Anamorphic G Series lenses and in 2:4.0 aspect ratio. "Rob is so detail-orientated that the large, high-definition screens became an important part of his ability to direct action, choreography and monitor the details within the frame," says Beebe.

Emily Blunt was thrilled with the scope of the production but appreciated Marshall's ability to not let it overshadow the story. She explains, "It felt like a very big film cinematically, from the sets to filming outside Buckingham Palace to shutting down the Strand to shoot this massive scene outside the Royal Exchange...it was a huge film with big stunts and big sets, so you felt the largesse of it, but at the same time it still felt quite intimate to me."

To execute his vision on screen, Marshall enlisted the support of some of the most talented artisans working today. They include: Beebe; Myhre; Smith; three-time Academy Award winner Sandy Powell ("The Young Victoria," "Shakespeare in Love," "The Aviator") as costume designer; Matt Johnson ("Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit," "World War Z") as visual effects supervisor; and Oscar winner Peter Swords King ("The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," "Star Wars: The Last Jedi") as make-up and hair designer.

As production designer, Myhre worked closely with Marshall and Beebe to create the visual world audiences see on screen. From locations to backgrounds and practical sets, his department of art directors, draftsmen, concept artists and model makers, helped to support the story and the story of the characters from a visual standpoint.

Myhre first worked with Marshall in 2003 on the Oscar-winning "Chicago." Since then they have reteamed on numerous projects and developed a mutual appreciation for each other's craft and a shorthand of communication. Because this film is not a remake but an entirely new film, Marshall suggested early on that Myhre not dwell too much on the look of the first film and focus on the eight books by PL Travers instead. It was from those books that the visual look for the film came about, with the story's setting and the '30s time period having a strong influence as well.

Myhre explains, "The theatrical designs by Tony Walton and Peter Ellenshaw's beautiful glass matte paintings, which we both love and think are so beautiful, gave the first film a heightened sense of fantasy and a painterly look, but Rob wanted to make this film more tangible and real and grittier. Instead of just a beautiful storybook London, Rob wanted it to be a real London with real problems and hardships."

The filmmakers chose to shoot on locations throughout London to give the film a more grounded sense of realism,so that the wonder, color and fantasy that comes when Mary Poppins arrives, are the perfect departure from the real-world issues taking place at the time.

Locations included: St. Paul's Cathedral, Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, Cowley Street, Queen Anne's Gate, the Royal Exchange, Cornhill, Middle Temple and King Charles Street, many of which required detailed set dressing to obscure any modern additions. And each was carefully lit and shot so as to best showcase the city's true beauty. In fact, the opening musical number, "Underneath the Lovely London Sky," while visually establishing the darker times of London, is "a love letter to London," which eventually became Myhre's design philosophy.

Myhre did extensive research to ensure the London on screen was authentic to the London from the '30s, but at the same time showed an enormous amount of creativity and imagination when designing the numerous environments constructed on soundstages. "John's mind took us to places you could never have imagined," says producer John DeLuca.

Eight soundstages at Shepperton Studios were used to build and house the astounding practical sets for Cherry Tree Lane, Topsy's Fix-It Shop, Big Ben, the interiors of the Banks home and the enormous abandoned park.

The Cherry Tree Lane set on H Stage was the largest, taking 18 weeks to complete. It was designed to take audiences back to the first film and create a feeling of having been there before, but at the same time needed to visually tell a story taking place in Depression-era London.

As a result, the homes were scaled back, and the height of the ceilings was reduced so they would appear in camera range and make the homes appear less grand. Interiors of the Banks home, including those for the nursery, bathroom, living room, hallway and attic, were constructed on D Stage, and fans of the first film may recognize some familiar props and set decoration, including the white marble-topped table in the entry hallway (on loan from Club 33, a members-only club in Disneyland).

The set for Topsy's Fix-It Shop-which took seven months to complete-was the most difficult and time-consuming to construct and decorate. Oscar-winning set decorator Gordon Sim ("Chicago," "Nine") and his team began shopping at antique markets throughout England for items to decorate the set, ending up with more than 538 in total. The next several months were spent hollowing out the heavier items purchased-including a grand piano and 14-foot marble statue-and making plastic duplicates of the fragile items-including Staffordshire figurines and china serving ware.

From there, all the items were bolted and secured to the ceiling of an actual upside-down set on C Stage, which was then flipped. "When you were looking up at the front door, we had Mary Poppins walking on the ceiling, climbing 12 feet down to the bottom of the shelves and across the arms of an upside down statue," says Myhre. "Welcome to the crazy, wonderful world of Topsy."

Scenes requiring green and blue screens for visual effects were first filmed on J and K Stages with physical set pieces for the cast to interact with, called proxies, which were then replaced with animation in post-production. This included the Royal Doulton Music Hall sequence, where, following the carriage ride, Mary Poppins' two-foot parasol turns into an 800-foot tent that houses a giant, turn-of-the-century vaudeville music hall.

That's where she and Jack are invited on stage and perform the musical number "A Cover Is Not the Book." The stage was decorated with Victorian books of all sizes and each verse of the song featured a different set, which would appear from a Victorian pop-up book on the stage, all of which were based on different moments from the PL Travers books.

The abandoned park set used to shoot portions of the film's biggest production number, "Trip a Little Light Fantastic," took 26 weeks to complete. The dance sequences alone, which featured up to 50 dancing leeries on screen at one time, took two weeks to film. Exteriors for the massive, eight-minute production number were filmed at Middle Temple in London, taking advantage of its famed cobblestone streets, archways and tunnels.

Marshall and DeLuca always knew they wanted a big, rousing, masculine dance number for Jack and all the lamplighters, and it was decided early on that lighting the way for Mary Poppins and the children, both literally and symbolically, would be the motivation behind the song. Marshall says, "John and I were so excited to start work on this massive production number because it's really in our DNA."

"It's a real homage to large-scale musical production numbers of the golden age," says Blunt. "It's basically Mary and the children getting lost in the fog and the leeries help light our way home, which is such a wonderful metaphor. But then, of course, in the midst of the walk home, there's a big dance number!"

The set featured five different levels, an ornate, three-tiered fountain, bridge and greenhouse, all of which were constructed on A Stage, and decorated with: 25 hybrid electric/gas lamplights. Five cameras captured the breadth and scope of the action, including a stationary camera, two cranes, an aerial camera and a dolly.

The choreography incorporated tools of the lamplighter trade, including lampposts, bikes, light poles and ladders, which all became elements of the number. Twenty-eight bespoke lampposts, featuring spinning foot plates and post sections to help facilitate the spinning moves, were created especially for the production number, as were 18 leerie ladders made of metal, rubber and/or balsa wood.

In addition to the complex and physical choreography performed by the dancers, there is a multitude of stunts taking place simultaneously, for which 100 modern BMX stunt bikes were purchased and aged as appropriate for use by park our stunt bike riders (a freestyle form of biking that incorporates gymnastics-like moves performed in mid-air and required the construction of multiple stunt ramps). "The BMX bikes were especially exciting because they feel so contemporary," says Marshall.

The film presented numerous challenges for visual effects supervisor Matt Johnson. He and his team used a combination of many styles of VFX work and created beautiful effects that look and feel fresh to contemporary audiences. Having worked with Marshall on "Into the Woods," he was familiar with his work style. "Rob comes from a background in Broadway and very much likes everything to happen on set in real time with the cast to music, so he can make sure he's completely happy with every aspect of the performances," Johnson says. "This meant we had to limit the use of technical toys like digi doubles, Robomoco and multi-pass photography and come up with ways to achieve much of the effects work while filming live."

Portions of the Spring Fair scene, where the cast floats into the sky with magic balloons (over 600 16- inch balloons filled with helium), were shot both on location and on soundstages with the actors wearing harnesses that could be hoisted upwards via enormous cranes set against backdrops of actual period locations and blue screens.

Upon completion of principal photography, visual effects companies Framestore, Cinesite and Luma Pictures got to work, doing everything from digitally erasing any modern structures visible in the background of the London exterior shots to digitally creating period London landscapes and extending Cherry Tree Lane.

Fashioning New Looks for the Characters

Sandy Powell assembled a team to design and build the costumes, which included: textile artists (both printers and painters), milliners, jewelry makers, shoemakers, dressers, cleaners, administrators, supervisors and crew members assisting with props and overseeing continuity.

The acclaimed costume designer began working on the film in September 2016, studying vintage street photography and fashion advertisements for inspiration. She would go on to create 448 original costumes over the next nine months.

"There's nobody quite like Sandy Powell, says producer Marc Platt. "She understands character, she understands narrative, she has an amazing intuitive sense with color and she has a wild imagination, and when you combine all those together you get singular, distinctive costumes."

Because the story takes place in London during the "Great Slump," director Rob Marshall wanted the world depicted on screen to reflect the setting and period, or in Powell's words, look "really wintery and dark and gray and foggy, which is basically London in the winter." With cinematographer Dion Beebe planning to light the interior sets with mostly warm tones and exterior sets with more cool colors and lots of blues, Powell devised a color palette consisting of dark tones and colors for the bulk of the film. Closer to the end of the story when spring arrives, the color palette grew to include pastels and fresher, floral colors.

Powell tries to link specific colors and silhouettes to individual characters to make them easily recognizable, citing the iconic arrival look of Mary Poppins from the first film as an example. "I specifically remember the silhouette of her in a hat and a coat with a narrow waist that came down just above her ankles so her little feet were sticking out."

That look, which was, in turn, inspired by Mary Shepard's illustrations from the original PL Travers books, was, in fact, a conservative style for nannies from that time period. With "Mary Poppins Returns," Powell wanted to design something similar-but more relevant to the later '30s setting- and quickly set out to create a more modern look for the eccentric nanny that would still honor the essence of the character from the first film.

"Her arrival look is probably the most important costume in the entire film because it is what everyone will remember," says Powell. "Mary Poppins is a governess and, while there is something a little bit strict about her, she is kind at heart. There is a sharpness to Mary Poppins in her practically-perfect fashions, so I needed her to look both sensible and stylish and sophisticated, but not frivolous." She continues, "Soft and floral colors aren't right for her character, so I went with quite strong, bold, geometric shapes and patterns within the fabrics-lots of zigzags, chevrons and polka dots-which were popular at the time."

Blunt makes her entrance as Mary Poppins in a white cotton blouse with polka dots, a red bow tie, a blue wool skirt and a narrow, high-waisted, belted, blue wool coat with a cape. The style and shape of the coat is not that different from the Edwardian style of the coat in the first film, but has a longer hemline and features 1930s-style buttons created especially for the outfit.

The coat and skirt are a brighter blue which has more depth and strength and actually shows up like a real color in the daylight but still looks dark in silhouette against the sky. Powell gave the coat some interesting textures, and while the coat initially had a small cape, it was switched to a double cape to create some additional movement and to enhance her silhouette and accentuate her small waist. "It made this nice shape, and since I knew we would be seeing this silhouette quite often, I wanted to get it just right," she says.

As for her accessories, they were quite minimal. "Mary Poppins is not over-accessorized," explains Powell. "She doesn't have any jewelry, which goes back to that practical quality about her, but a lady from that period would always be wearing a hat and gloves and matching shoes, so we knew she had to have a hat. Rob Marshall wanted some sort of little eccentricity like the funny little daisies from the first film."

She chose a traditional 1930s straw hat dyed red to match the shoes, which was adorned with a small robin (another homage, this one to the animatronic bird from the first film). The robin, which was carved from cork and had a bead eye and embroidered feathers made from silk thread, is attached to a hatpin so it can be removed and used with other hats (and Mary Poppins does, in fact, wear it on a different hat later on in the story). The embellishment turned out to be the smallest and most intricate piece of work created by the costume department.

When it came to dressing the live-action characters in the Royal Doulton bowl fantasy sequence, Powell decided to literally paint the costumes, so the live-action characters would look like characters in the 2D, hand-drawn animated world. The challenge was making the actors appear as if they truly belonged in this hand-drawn world and not out of place when interacting with the animated characters.

Over the next few months, Powell experimented with different materials, textures and paint to determine which surfaces worked best with the paint and which paints worked best on those surfaces. Fortunately, the film was still in the pre-production design stage, so there was time to experiment, and she was able to create 19th-century fashions made out of canvas (similar to the painted characters on the Royal Doulton bowl), which eight textile artists painted with fabric paint, so that, even though they were flat, they looked three dimensional on screen.

For the Royal Doulton Music Hall scene when Mary Poppins and Jack perform "A Cover is Not the Book" on stage, they are both dressed in pink and purple painted costumes in a slightly masculine cut and style. Blunt wears a men's-styled jacket and tie with a long skirt and layers and layers of petticoats. Both wore matching bowler hats and accompanying canes.

The costume Emily Blunt wears for the majority of her screen time, as well as for the "Trip a Little Light Fantatstic," dance-heavy number, however, is red with a blue hat. "It's not actually a coat, but a two-piece, red wool suit with a full skirt that was made specifically for the dancing," Powell says. Blunt wears the suit with a cotton blouse, silk bow, blue straw hat, blue dance shoes and blue gloves.

Lamplighters from the 1930s didn't have uniforms or any kind of customary work wear; they simply wore their old, grubby suits and hats. Powell and team designed, built and styled original outfits from scratch for each of the lamplighters, and their doubles...120 in total. But with Jack, she needed Lin Manuel Miranda's character to stand out from the sea of other lamplighters. His signature look, the outfit he wears for the aforementioned scenes with Blunt, is a red wool mix waistcoat and neckerchief with a blue striped T-shirt underneath the shirt. "I just gave him the clothes and he brought them to life all on his own," laughs Powell.

Topsy, the eccentric cousin of Mary Poppins played by Meryl Streep, works from a messy and chaotic shop where she fixes things and which turns upside down the "Second Wednesday" of every month. Powell wanted her wardrobe to convey her job and the unusual environment and make it as colorful, fun and stylish as possible. "I looked at photographs of eccentric ladies of a certain age for reference, she says. "British women like Edith Sitwell and Nancy Cunard and American women like Iris Apfel and other ladies who dressed really colorfully and bold with tons of makeup and an 'I don't care' attitude." She based her look on a 1920's art deco pajama suit and created an oriental-styled top with baggy pants made of silk velvet and silk crepe. This particular costume took the most amount of time for the department to build. Eight people spent five weeks printing and hand-painting the pattern onto the fabric before creating six identical versions.

In terms of accessories, Topsy is the polar opposite of Mary Poppins. She wears 12 bracelets composed of clock and watch faces and a necklace made from items she would have had lying around her shop, like pencils, paint brushes and sewing machine bobbins.

The Classic Animation

When Mary Poppins takes the Banks children on a series of out-of-this-world adventures, director Rob

Marshall decided to use the traditional style of hand-drawn animation to create the fantasy sequences, as he wanted people to retain the nostalgia from the first film. Classic 2D animation is today considered somewhat of a lost art, so this was a unique opportunity for the production to bring a classic art form back to life while paying homage to the first film.

Over 70 animators were recruited to design and create the animated live-action sequences, which included some of the top animators in 2D animation from Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar, many who came out of retirement for the chance to work on a sequel to such a classic Disney title. Working out of Duncan Studio in Pasadena, the animators spent 16 months working to complete all the animation.

"Some of the artists were in their 70's and had been so influenced and inspired by the classic hand drawn animation that they couldn't pass up this kind of opportunity," says animation sequence supervisor Jim Capobianco, "but then we also had these young kids who were relatively new to the industry, so it was this wonderful pool of animators working together to create this throwback to old school animation."

He continues, "You can really feel the magic and the artistry on screen, and it's the same magic you felt so viscerally in the first film, but there were still a number of challenges we faced with the 2D animation. Nobody really does the level of 2D animation that we did on this film, and you're bringing this three dimensional world together with a two-dimensional world and trying to make that believable, which is quite hard to do."

"What we did was create a world right out of PL Travers' books, with real-life animals who have personalities and voices and are very distinctive from this world," says producer Marc Platt. "There is a Royal Doulton china bowl that is a Banks family heirloom with a drawing on it and the kids and Mary literally launch into this bowl, directly into this magical animated world."

Recent advances in technology did offer the filmmakers a chance to blend traditional animation with 3D modern tools and allowed the camera to move all throughout the hand-drawn and digital CG environments.

As with the previous screen musicals he has directed, Marshall covered the animated sequences just as he would any film. First, the live action was shot against a green background, with the principal cast interacting with actors and dancers dressed in green suits from head to toe.

In the Royal Doulton bowl scenes, all the characters Mary Poppins, Jack and the children interact with are animals. So, life-size standees, including a 20-foot giraffe, were used during filming to give the actors-the children, in particular-a point of reference. Everything the talent came into contact with had to be represented in some manner on the set. The animated background environments, which were more dynamic with greater depth, were inserted later in post-production.

These sequences also presented Marshall and DeLuca the rare opportunity to do a big, Broadway-style musical number in a fully animated world, which they did with "A Cover is Not the Book," performed by Jack and Mary Poppins on the stage of the Royal Doulton Music Hall. All the lighting for the sequence is practical, as it would be for any theatrical production, which then was replicated in the 2D animation. Says Platt, "I think all of us felt, almost every day we were on set, that we were a part of something special. We loved the work we were doing, and everybody worked so hard, yet there was a tremendous joy in the work, and I think most of that came from being under the guidance of Rob Marshall."

Nowhere to Go But Up

Bringing "Mary Poppins Returns," an original film musical, to the big screen was a massive undertaking.

From developing a new story about the next generation of the Banks family to creating new music that feels fresh but with nostalgic elements, Rob Marshall and his team faced numerous challenges.

Author PL Travers created a world where magical things could happen in ordinary life more than 80 years ago, and Rob Marshall firmly believes that right now is the perfect time for audiences to enter that world again. "This is clearly a delicate time for the world," the director says. "People feel unsure and vulnerable, so it's important to have something that can lift us out of our day-to-day existence and remind us that there is still hope and wonder in the world."

"The magic, the optimism, the emotion, the hope and the joy that Mary Poppins brings are the same things we're looking for in our lives today," says producer Marc Platt. "We want to be uplifted and transported and entertained. We want to be moved. We want to laugh and we want to cry. And 'Mary Poppins Returns' delivers all that...and more."