Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1062194
www.postmagazine.com 15 POST DECEMBER 2018 MARY POPPINS RETURNS D isney released one of its most iconic films in 1964, introducing audiences to Mary Poppins, a story of a charmed nanny who, through music and magic, helped repair a strained relationship between two children and their father. Relying on some of the period's most cutting-edge techniques, the studio mixed animation with live-action performances, as well as some practical gags, and took audiences on an adventure with dancing penguins, carousel horses and singing farm animals. The next year, the film went on to win five Academy Awards, including one for outstanding visual effects. Fast forward 54 years and Disney is hoping to make movie magic once again with a long-await- ed sequel, Mary Poppins Returns, staring Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Colin Firth, Meryl Streep and Dick Van Dyke. At the helm is Academy Award-winning director Rob Marshall (Chicago, Into the Woods) (see our interview, page 12) and a stellar team of creatives that in- cludes Academy Award-winning DP Dion Beebe (Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha), editor Wyatt Smith (Into the Woods, Doctor Strange) and VFX supervisor Matt Johnson (Into the Woods, World War Z), who all had some very large shoes to fill. "It's funny, it's Mary Poppins and Disney is hand- ing you the crown jewels going, 'Here, take these. And don't screw it up,'" laughs Johnson. "It's one of the most iconic films every made and everyone is going to be looking at the visual effects because they are really important. I mean, she does magic and magic tends to be visual effects, which were spectacular in Mary Poppins!" NO PLACE LIKE HOME Production on Mary Poppins Returns began in Feb- ruary 2017 and was shot on Arri Alexa Mini and SXT cameras at various locations throughout England. According to Johnson, there were visual effects requirements throughout the film, but there were certainly key areas that demanded a great deal of focus, including a brand new ani- mated/live-action sequence, an underwater seg- ment, Cherry Tree Lane where the Banks family lives and, of course, Mary Poppins' magic itself. "We really run the gamut, in terms of the visual effects for this film," says Johnson. The creation of Cherry Tree Lane, for instance, is a partial set built at Surrey, England's Shepperton Studios with a full CG London behind it. "There were a lot of CG environments, a sort-of CG park and a lot of digital extension work in the film," explains Johnson. "We had to take contemporary London and make it look like it was 1934." To that end, there was a great deal of "invisible" visual effects work. "Instances where the audience is just look- ing at the performance of the actors and unaware that what they are looking at is a big CG creation behind them," he explains. "That's sort of the first level and a very important part of the movie. There is a lot of that going on that you are not supposed to be aware of." EVERY LITTLE THING SHE DOES IS MAGIC Johnson points out that there's naturally a lot of "fantastical stuff" going on in the film since Mary Poppins is, well, magic. "There are various Mary's magic was a big VFX factor.