One of the last players in this year's Oscar game has finally shown their cards.
On Thursday evening, on the opening night of the 27th AFI Fest at Hollywood's historic Chinese Theatre, Walt Disney Pictures hosted the U.S. premiere of its primary live-action awards hopeful of the 2013 season, John Lee Hancock's Saving Mr. Banks, a film about the making of a beloved Disney classic from 1964. The dramedy revolves around the funny relationship between P.L. Travers (two-time Oscar winner Emma Thompson), the no-nonsense British woman who wrote the novel Mary Poppins, and Walt Disney (two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks), the all-American movie mogul who fought for 20 years to convince her to sell him its movie rights, and the things that they learned about each other during her two-week visit to Hollywood to meet with him and his collaborators as they tried to win her over.
Hancock's last film, The Blind Side (2009), was a schmaltzy but charming tearjerker -- and wound up with Oscar nominations for best picture and best actress. My strong sense is that this film, which fits the same description but has the added benefit of being a movie about movies (like the last two best picture Oscar winners, The Artist and Argo), will land the same two nods, as well as a supporting actor slot for Hanks (who could also score in the lead actor category for Captain Phillips). Colin Farrell and Paul Giamatti also have outside chances of cracking into that category, as it is rather wide-open this year. And perennial Academy favorite Thomas Newman will probably score again in the best original score category.
Like most Mouse House pictures dating back to Disney's own reign over the studio, ; who was in attendance at the premiere tonight; and who will be leading a sing-along of Saving Mr. Banks, which premiered at the same venue where Mary Poppins music from a piano at the Polo Lounge tomorrow night during a dinner for Mr. Banks. Mary Poppins was unveiled 49 years ago and where some of Banks itself was shot, is a film that the whole family can enjoy on different levels. This pic owes a great debt to a strong script by Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith, as well as the consultation of 85-year-old Richard Sherman, a lovely man who co-wrote the music for Mary Poppins with his late brother Robert; who is portrayed in the film by Jason Schwartzman (Bob is played by B.J. Novak); whom I have interviewed
Disney is smart to put Sherman, a lovely and brilliant guy, front and center as much as possible over the next few months, because he, as a Disney confidante who was one of only two songwriters ever under contract to Walt (the other being his brother), implicitly lends a stamp of credibility to the film, at a time when many of its Oscar competitors are being targeted for being less than 100% accurate. This film may not be about a subject of as great importance as some of those films, but, as one can deduce for oneself by paying attention to the images and audio that run over the film's end credits, it also looks invulnerable to those kinds of criticisms.
Worth noting: Not that long ago, (2004), another film about the story behind a story that we all love, with a focus on the tortured life of its author, scored six Oscar and five Golden Globe , including best picture mentions from both. Banks, like , will compete on the musical/comedy side at the Globes, not because it doesn't make you laugh (it does), but because it makes you cry.
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