The D23 expo previewed many upcoming titles for Disney, including Thor, Captain America 2, etc. Angelina Jolie showed up to help hype Malecifent. But the real catch of the day were the clips from Saving Mr. Banks, as USA Today reports:
Perhaps no footage shown was as enchanting as the scenes debuted from this December’s Saving Mr. Banks. The biopic stars Tom Hanks as Walt Disney opposite Emma Thompson as English author P.L. Travers, who took over 20 years to be persuaded to give up the rights to her book, Mary Poppins. “We will finally see Walt come to life in a medium he loved and embraced,” said Sean Bailey, president of Walt Disney Studios motion picture production.
Scenes included the dour Travers’ horrified reaction at Poppins being made into a musical. (“Mary Poppins does not sing,” she tells Disney firmly.) Although Hanks and Thompson were not present, B.J. Novak and Jason Schwartzman (who play Mary Poppins composers) took the stage with famed composer Richard Sherman to sing a confetti-strewn version of Let’s Go Fly a Kite. “What’s so interesting and fun about the movie is dramatizing that process,” said Novak. “The songs that feel so easy to us now came with such difficulty.”
David Poland then tweeted:
After seeing more footage, still feel Saving Mr Banks is an Oscar frontrunner. Just can’t get too Disneyfied in marketing. #d23
— David Poland (@DavidPoland) August 10, 2013
With all due respect to Mr. Poland, and Jeff Wells (who read the script and is basing his own enthusiasm on that) a film must be seen in its entirety to make a claim like that. Beyond that, even when everything goes right there is still no telling what strange things can come out of the woodwork to derail a film’s reception and momentum. Either way, it looks as promising as it has from the beginning.
But Oscar contenders do not become frontrunners because their previews look great (War Horse) or because their script is fantastic (Charlie Wilson’s War). They happen because the final movie is a winner. There are no shortcuts.
another one clip http://tiny.pl/hb6kp
I am unsure about my thoughts on it being in the Oscar race. I’ve only seen the commercial, so I don’t know what script people read or what extra clips were seen. So for now I am ambivalent on it’s oscar chances. That said, Tom Hanks playing Walt Disney opposite Emma Thompson with Mary Poppins as the backdrop? I’ll be there opening night and could care less about the Oscar prospects as I watch.
The trailer really moved me. I got misty-eyed watching it. This does NOT happen very often. Of course, it helps if one is a cinephile who knows Mary Poppins and Disney.
If a piece of generic dreck like The Blind Side managed to be nominated by AMPAS, I don’t see why this more movie people-friendly biopic would not.
I’m amazed David Poland saying this film is an oscar frontrunner, is he insane? I agree with Sasha Stone it’s not a frontrunner.
Having read the screenplay myself, I have a few observations:
1. It’s the type of script that needs to be directed VERY well to avoid sappiness or oversentimentality (nothing wrong with some sentimentality, but you can’t go overboard on it). I’m glad it seems as if John Lee Hancock might have pulled it off.
2. Assuming he HAS pulled it off, the biggest obstacle the movie will face on the way to the Oscars will be from outside sources complaining about its “historical accuracy”. You can bet your bippy that, like “Lincoln” last year, there will be a bunch of articles complaining about little things they got wrong, “whitewashing”, etc. without even considering that there was a strategy behind the use of artistic license.
3. Why are they hiding Colin Farrell? He has the second-juiciest male role in the picture (playing Travers’ alcoholic father in flashbacks), and he hasn’t been seen at all in the marketing. Poor guy just can’t get a break.
What happened to Cate Blanchett for lead oscar in the OSCAR CONTENDER TRACKER?
She went back to SF to live with her sister.
I believe Saving Mr Banks already in nomination best picture. I say the same for Mrs Thompson, actress in a leading role, and Mr Hanks, actor in a supporting role.
It’s overrated, Thompson will not be even nomimated.
http://tiny.pl/hb6k9 another clips
Scenes included the dour Travers’ horrified reaction at Poppins being made into a musical. (“Mary Poppins does not sing,” she tells Disney firmly.)
WOW. wow. I’m not sure how in the hell any scene like that could be any good. Unless subsequently Disney introduces Travers to songwriter ED 209 so he can greet -like only he can- that lady nag.
Charlie Wilsons War is a very good, entartaining, well written and well acted film. In weak years like 2005 (Crash) or 2011 (The Artist), it would have a much better luck when in terms of awards. It was just unlucky to come out in a very strong awards season.
Even if it gets War Horse or Benjamin Button or Les Mis kind of reviews, Disney will spend a lot of money in the awards campaign for SMB. It took decades for them to make a live-action tribute to Walt Disney. The awards are a matter of honor for the company. And no big studio knows marketing better than Disney.
In the end, I think I will like this film. But if I had to make a prediction on the BP winner right now, without having seen virtually none of the possível contenders, it would definitely be American Hustle, with August Osage, Saving Mr. Banis and 12 Years a Slave as spoilers.
Is it this year’s THE ARTIST?
I hope so.
sigh… I was hoping we could actually see the previews online but I guess we’ll have to wait. still it’s good to know everything’s going well so far.
For the record, I’ve seen other movies in advance screenings this year that I loved/liked/disliked to various degrees, but this is the only one I walked out of thinking it had a real shot at awards hardware.
It seems another overrated movie, some people on IMDB saw it and they didn’t like it!
“They happen because the final movie is a winner.”
Couldn’t agree more, and this one is definitely a winner. Emma Thompson absolutely nails it with this one. I’ve been wanting to see it again ever since the screening I attended, but haven’t had the opportunity. I really, really liked it, despite my trepidation about Hancock (not being a fan of The Blind Side and all).
Yeah, the praise that’s gone into Saving Mr banks’ script has me very hopeful indeed. Having Thompson and Hanks in the cast is just a cherry on top of the cake. Sure, the trailer wasn’t that great, but that was marketing trying to get bums in seats.
By the way, because Sasha mentioned it, what are people’s thoughts on CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR? I think it’s a really entertaining movie with hilarious turns by Hanks and Hoffman (every time PSH opened his mouth he had me in stitches) and there’s no denying how much chemistry Roberts and Hanks have. My one big problem with the movie was its opening scene and its final scene. They felt completely out of context and apparently Sorkin’s original ending was Charlie Wilson in 9/11 as the first plane hits the towers, a reference to how the US’s support of Afghan rebel fighters turned out to be an indirect contribution to the rise of Al-Qaeda. Still, the final film did include a scene where Hoffman warns that much still needs to be done and a scene where it is shown that the US Congress pulls the plug on financing and that closing quote: “These things happened. They were glorious and they changed the world… and then we fucked up the end game.”
Anyway, what do people think of the movie?