Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. Way back when I was a young squirt I used to write for my high school newspaper, Bowie's Lone Star Dispatch. By the time I was a Senior I was Entertainment Editor, but in my Freshman year I wasn't even in newspaper class. You had to complete Journalism 101 to do that, but my Journalism 101 class shared some space with Newspaper. I got to know the editor in chief and asked if I could contribute to the newspaper.
I reviewed a George Carlin stand-up concert I attended and was able to score my first ever interview because of that, a phoner with George Carlin himself. I'll always remember that chat. Carlin was great, but he wasn't my only pre-AICN interview.
My second interview was with John Lee Hancock, at the time known mostly as the writer of A PERFECT WORLD. He's now found success as a writer/director with films like The Rookie and The Blind Side. He was incredibly nice and patient with this green-behind-the-ears kid who bugged him at the Austin Film Festival and in his small way helped shape the entertainment reporter/movie nerd I am today.
So, I couldn't help but smile when I heard he was going to be directing a flick about Walt Disney's decade-long courtship of Mary Poppins author PL Travers for the film rights to his popular book series.
Mr. Hancock played an important part in my teenage years even if neither of us really realized it (had he been a dick I don't know if I would have thought about conducting interviews anymore, which was one of the things that caught Harry's eye when I was but a wee 16 year old kid) and Disney's Mary Poppins was one of my most viewed childhood films.
So, in an odd way, this news from Mike Fleming at Deadline almost feels tailor made to make me happy.
Saving Mr. Banks is the name of the project and was a Black List script that made good. Fleming says the script is so good and Disney's so hot on making it that names like Tom Hanks (to play Disney) and Meryl Streep (to play Travers) are floating around out there.
So, that's the news. Fascinating-sounding project that sounds right up my alley. And I'm sure Disney's hoping for a big Oscar contender with those rumored cast and the Academy's love of industry-related material.
What do you folks think?
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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