‘Mary Poppins Returns’ director Rob Marshall has revealed that Julie Andrews was offered a cameo in the upcoming Disney sequel, but turned it down as she didn’t want to steal focus.
In the first ‘Mary Poppins’ film, Julie famously starred as the practically perfect nanny, winning Best Actress at the Academy Awards and helping make songs like ‘A Spoonful Of Sugar’ and ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ famous all over the world.
However, with Emily Blunt about to take over the role in a new follow-up film, Julie has no desire to put in an appearance, as she wouldn’t want to take the shine off anyone else.
The sequel’s director told Entertainment Weekly: “Julie was incredibly gracious, and we talked about it in a very general way but she made it clear right up front. She said, ‘This is Emily’s show, and I really want it to be Emily’s show. I don’t want it to be, “Oh, here comes that Mary Poppins.” I don’t want that. I really want her to take this and run with it, because she will be brilliant.’
Although Julie chose not to take up the offer of a cameo appearance, her former co-star Dick Van Dyke, will be back more than 50 years after the original.
Dick will be appearing as Mr Dawes Jr, the son of the bank director he briefly played in the first ‘Mary Poppins’ film, as well as his more famous character, Bert.
Also among the cast are ‘Hamilton’ creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, Meryl Streep and Dame Angela Lansbury, all of whom have worked with Disney on past projects.
‘Mary Poppins Returns’ takes place 25 years after the events of the first film, and sees Mary Poppins paying the Banks family a visit, following a personal tragedy.