Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks Talk “Saving Mr. Banks” With Cast, Sing “Feed the Birds”

Hi everyone!

We were invited to a press conference for Saving Mr. Banks at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Much of the main cast of the movie was there, including Tom Hanks (who played Walt Disney), Emma Thompson (P.L. Travers) and Colin Farrell (Robert Goff Travers). We had to send a reporter as we couldn’t be there, and I’m pleased to be able to share coverage with you today! What you won’t see in our video is Emma Thompson jumping over the table, which I found quite amusing. All of the actors were in great form!

The actors took questions that included why Pamela Travers was so much fun in the film, even though she was so mean. The words “irresistibly adorable” were even thrown out. Emma Thompson commented “That is the first time I’ve heard her called irresistibly adorable, but I’ll take it”. Thompson continued, “Isn’t it rather nice for all of us who’ve been well brought up – we’re all so bloody polite all the time, Americans particularly, to see someone being rude. It’s bliss, isn’t it? I think we act quite a lot of the time in sort of conflict with what we really feel”. There was quite a bit of laughter as the other actors poked fun at her.

Another question was about trying to capture the essence of P.L. Travers and Walt Disney, “following the bread crumbs” to get across who they were. Tom Hanks said it was trying to find things about Walt Disney, like his cough, to make it more realistic. Emma Thompson said that learning about Travers was like going into a maze. “Around some corners you find this terrible monster, and around another corner you’d find a beaten child…she wasn’t consistent in any way. You would not know what you’d get from one moment to the next”. Hanks then asked, “You know what you do with bread crumbs, don’t you?” He then started singing “Feed the Birds” by the Sherman Brothers, and the cast soon joined in, while the audience laughed.

Hanks was asked about what he was like as a grandfather, and if he took his two grandchildren to Disneyland. Hanks said that he has taken them, including on the day they shot Saving Mr. Banks at Disneyland. Hanks then told a funny story, “An interesting thing happens as a grandparent is that you see no reason whatsoever that your granddaughter shouldn’t be delighted to take a ride on the Winnie the Pooh Adventure. It’s Winnie the Pooh. It’s fun. It’s Pooh Bear. It’s Kanga and Roo and Owl. It’s Christopher Robin. It’s going to be a blast. She’s going to remember this for the rest of her life, her ride on Winnie the Pooh’s great adventure. My granddaughter was terrified (to much laughter)…by the noise, by the big spinning bears, she’ll now be haunted for the rest of her days (much more laughter)..by this first image of Winnie the Pooh and the loud, short, herky-jerky ride that her grandfather forced her to do (pause)…on the day he played Walt Disney in Disneyland. That is just a sample of the fantastic job I do as a grandfather”.

There are a lot of great moments in the press conference, and you can see them all here!

We have seen Saving Mr. Banks and recommend it! A full review will be posted next month. Saving Mr. Banks is rated PG-13 and will open on December 13th, 2013 to a limited audience, and wide on December 20th, 2013.

The cast includes:

Emma Thompson

Tom Hanks

Colin Farrell

Paul Giamatti

Jason Schwartzman

Bradley Whitford

Annie Rose Buckley

Ruth Wilson

B.J. Novak

Rachel Griffiths

Kathy Baker

 

Many of the actors were part of the press conference at the Beverly Hills Hotel.