| Director | John Lee Hancock |
|---|---|
| Budget | $35 million |
| Box office | $117.9 million |
In London 1961, literary agent Diarmuid Russell urges financially strapped author Pamela "P. L." Travers to travel to Los Angeles and meet with Walt Disney, who has pursued the film rights to her Mary Poppins stories for 20 years after having promised his daughters to produce a film based on the books. Travers has steadfastly resisted Disney's efforts, fearing what he will do to her character. Having written nothing new and her book royalties having dried up, she risks losing her house. Russell reminds her that Disney has agreed to two major stipulations (no animation and unprecedented script approval) before she finally agrees to go.
Flashbacks depict Travers's difficult childhood in Allora, Queensland, Australia in 1906, which became the inspiration for much of Mary Poppins. Travers idolized her loving, imaginative father, Travers Robert Goff, but his chronic alcoholism resulted in his repeated dismissals, strained her parents' marriage and caused her distressed mother's attempted suicide. Goff died from tuberculosis when Travers was eight years old. Prior to his death, her mother's stern, practical sister came to live with the family and later served as Travers's main inspiration for the Mary Poppins character.
In Los Angeles, Travers is shocked by the city's nature and the overly perky inhabitants, personified by her friendly limousine driver, Ralph. At the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, Travers meets the creative team who are developing Mary Poppins for the screen: screenwriter Don DaGradi and songwriters Richard and Robert Sherman. She finds their presumptions and casual manners highly improper, a view that she also holds of the jocular Disney.
Travers's working relationship with Disney and his team is difficult from the outset, with her insistence that Mary Poppins is the enemy of sentiment and whimsy. Disney and his people are puzzled by Travers's disdain for whimsy, given the nature of the Mary Poppins story, as well as Travers's own rich imagination. She particularly objects to how the character George Banks, the children's estranged father, is depicted, insisting that he is neither cold nor cruel. Gradually, the team grasp how deeply personal the Mary Poppins stories are to Travers and how many of the characters were inspired by her past.
The team acknowledges that Travers has valid criticisms and make changes, although she becomes increasingly disengaged as painful childhood memories resurface. Seeking to understand what troubles her, Disney invites Travers to Disneyland, which, along with her developing friendship with Ralph, the creative team's revisions to the George Banks character, the addition of a new song and a different ending, help dissolve Travers's opposition. Her creativity reawakens, and she begins collaborating with the team. Soon afterward, however, Travers discovers an animation sequence with dancing penguins has been added without her permission. Travers confronts Disney over this and returns to London in a huff without signing the agreement.
Disney learns that "P. L. Travers" is a pen name, taken from Travers's father's given name; her real name is Helen Goff, and she is Australian, not British. This gives Disney new insight into Travers, and he follows her to London. Arriving unexpectedly at her home, Disney, who had begun to realise that Travers's father has played a vital role in her books and the film, shares his own less-than-ideal childhood but stresses the healing value of his art. He urges Travers not to let deeply rooted past disappointments dictate the present. That night, after Disney has left, Travers finally relents and grants the film rights to him.
Three years later, in 1964, Travers has begun writing another Mary Poppins story, while the film Mary Poppins itself is to have its world premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Disney has not invited Travers, fearing how she might react with the press watching. Prompted by Russell, Travers shows up unannounced at Disney's office; he reluctantly issues her an invitation. Initially, she watches Mary Poppins with a lack of enthusiasm, particularly with the animated penguins. Travers gradually warms to the rest of the film, however, becoming deeply moved by the depiction of George Banks's personal crisis and redemption.