Daily Times

Here’s Emily Blunt as the new Mary Poppins again—and a lovely thing she is, too!

Disney debuted the first teaser trailer for the film during the D23 Expo on Saturday, as an orchestra played, and also unveiled a new sneak peek animated poster for its upcoming musical film “Mary Poppins Returns”, showing the actress wearing a cobalt blue coat and red hat and smiling knowingly while clutching her signature umbrella.

Unlike the image, the video was not posted online after the presentation but here’s what it shows; Kids fly their kite and Mary emerges from the clouds as the wind pinks up. She is also shown inside a house, pulling an umbrella out of a sink and appearing with flying objects. Lin-Manuel Miranda is seen dancing with a ladder as a chimney sweep.

Emily Mortimer of ‘The Newsroom’ fame plays an adult Jane Banks. In the teaser, her character says, “Those things didn’t really happen.”

The movie takes place about 25 years after the original film. The first photo of Blunt in costume was released in March.

“I needed to try to pay homage to Julie Andrews but carve out a new space for myself. And we were very loyal to the books,” said Blunt.

Emily told the crowd she was a huge fan of Mary Poppins the person growing up and found the idea of her very comforting. She said it was “eerie” stepped onto the Cherry Tree Lane set.

Director Rob Marshall said the actress is “stunning” and was “born to play this part”.

“Mary Poppins Returns” also stars Meryl Streep as Mary’s cousin, Angela Lansbury as a balloon lady and original cast member Dick Van Dyke as a banker. Streep said that “Mary Poppins Returns” was a “gift to the world”. Van Dyke said being on the set felt the same as it did in the ‘60s—the “highest level of joy”.

“Mary Poppins Returns” is set for release on Christmas Day 2018.

Published in Daily Times, July 19^th , 2017.