Interview with Emily Blunt for Mary Poppins Returns

Mary Poppins is one of my favorite Disney movies so when I heard they were making a sequel, I was so excited! And when I heard that Emily Blunt was playing Mary Poppins, I couldn’t imagine anyone better. I’ve now had the chance to see Mary Poppins Returns twice now and to me, Emily Blunt IS Mary Poppins. She does such an amazing job and I’m so excited to share with you my interview with Emily Blunt for Mary Poppins Returns!

Photo Credit: Jana Seitzer

Costumes in Mary Poppins Returns

The costumes in Mary Poppins Returns are all stunning! I had so many favorites and we of course ha to ask Emily Blunt what her favorite costume in the movie was. She shared, “I have to say, I really loved the red suit with the skirt that kind of flowed out when I danced with 30 Lamplighters. I remember Rob Marshall really wanted like a Ginger Rogers type of look to that and it’s not actually accurate for the time period to have a skirt that opened up like that.  So that’s where Sandy Powell, the great Sandy Powell created all those very tight pleats so that it looked very chic and sort of straight lined.  And then when I turned, the whole skirt kind of opened up. She’s just so exciting to work with, Sandy Powell. I mean all the costumes are so extraordinary but I think the red suit was pretty epic, loved it.”

Favorite Scene in Mary Poppins Returns

It’s hard to narrow down a favorite scene in Mary Poppins Returns because I have so many favorite moments. We asked Emily Blunt what her favorite scene was and she told us, “God, there were so many that I loved.  I mean, I love the poignancy of the Ballad (The Place Where Los Things Go) that I sing to the kids cause it’s sort of her revealing, her most tender side – cause she’s such a weird eccentric lady and she’s stern and shows great humanity and shows great depth because she comes into their lives to heal and to bring order to chaos and reintroduce the idea of Magic but she doesn’t let you know that, so it’s sort of exciting to play someone who’s in command of the environment and yet pretends kind of not to be and expects nothing in return. So, I would say that scene with the kids was really moving and then I loved that big, “A Cover Is Not The Book number, with Lin, it was like wild, you know.  That was really fun.”

On Being a Mom and Playing Mary Poppins

Emily was asked about the impact of playing Mary Poppins and being a mom herself to 2 girls. She shared, “I mean, I feel my whole household is full of imagination and childlike wonder cause my kids are so young and so I do feel like I’ve sort of rediscovered life through their eyes really.  I mean, Hazel is a bit disappointed that there aren’t dolphins in her bathtub so I feel like actually in a way, Mary Poppins has kind of shot me in the foot, like I know I’m only going to be less than.  So I think for everyone else, all of their friends are gonna be like, your Mum’s Mary Poppins, that’s so cool, and my own kids would be like, she is so not Mary Poppins, yeah.”

Photo Credit: Jana Seitzer

The Biggest Challenge of Filming

We asked Emily what the biggest challenge of filming Mary Poppins Returns was and she shared, “The dancing was a bit daunting because I’d never done those sort of big show stopping Hollywood numbers. We had the great Rob Marshall and his incredible Choreographers as well as incredible Director.  So we were in safe hands.  I feel like Lin Manuel and I were sort of on a par with dancing abilities so we were in it to get there, Thank God.  If I had been dancing with Justin Timberlake, that would have been really embarrassing. But then on a deeper note, I think the initial idea of taking her on because she is so iconic and Julie Andrews is so iconic and the character has this searing imprint on people’s lives. It’s often the first movie that anyone ever saw and so it was that, I needed to get over myself I think and sort of approach her as I would any other role and allow everyone’s sort of gasping reaction when I said I was gonna take on Mary Poppins.  Everyone was like [GASP] Oh My God.  There’s just so much energy coming at you that you have to allow that to be white noise and just approach her as I would any other character.  So I think it was the initial overcoming of that and then I just completely fell in love with her.  I was just so mad about her by the end.  I just loved it, loved it.”

Rob Marshall and Emily Blunt on the set of Disney’s MARY POPPINS RETURNS.

Working with Dick Van Dyke

When Dick Van Dyke came on screen, the theater went crazy! When we saw him walk into the theater during the premiere of Mary Poppins Returns, he got a standing ovation! So of course, we had to ask Emily what it was like working with Dick Van Dyke! She told us, “Oh My God.  It was so overwhelming I have to say because he’s so sprightly and cool, just what a gorgeous human and he walked on set and he just said, I feel the same spirit here that was there on the first movie, and of course, we all wanted to cry.  And we’d sit around him and just want him to tell us stories about the original and he sang “Jolly Holiday” to me.  I was just like that’s it, I could die now, that’s it.  I could die and be happy.  It’s just lights out, awesome moment. I think probably actually my other moment of Oh My God, I’m playing Mary Poppins was in the scene with him where he has that beautiful monologue that was so gorgeous to Michael Banks and we’re all crowded around him and the music starts, and he finishes the monologue and in the scene, he crosses his arms and he looks up at me like that.  And I just remember looking at those iconic blue eyes and I was like Wow, that was so wild.”

Photo Credit: Jana Seitzer

It was so much fun interviewing Emily Blunt! In my opinion, she is practically perfect in every way playing the iconic role of Mary Poppins!

Mary Poppins Returns Funko Pop! Vinyl Figures

If you love Funko Pop! vinyl figures like me, you’re going to love the Mary Poppins Returns collection!

Mary Poppins Returns in Theaters December 19th

In Disney’s MARY POPPINS RETURNS, an all-new original musical and sequel, Mary Poppins is back to help the next generation of the Banks family find the joy and wonder missing in their lives following a personal loss. Emily Blunt stars as the practically-perfect nanny with unique magical skills who can turn any ordinary task into an unforgettable, fantastic adventure and Lin-Manuel Miranda plays her friend Jack, an optimistic street lamplighter who helps bring light—and life—to the streets of London.