From boss to cousin: Meryl Streep may reunite with her Devil Wears Prada co-star Emily Blunt in Mary Poppins Returns.
Streep is in talks to join the sequel, Variety reports. She”d play Mary Poppins” cousin, Topsy, a character who who wasn”t in the original 1964 film.
The new film takes place in Depression-era London, where a now-grown Jane and Michael Banks and Michael”s children are visited by Mary Poppins and her friend Jack (played by Hamilton star Lin-Manuel Miranda).
The project would bring Streep back together with Disney Studios, Blunt, and director Rob Marshall – all were part of 2014″s Into the Woods, which earned Streep her 19th (!!) Oscar nomination.
It”s worth noting Streep”s had an interesting history with Disney and Mary Poppins. She memorably bashed Walt Disney (the man, not the company) in a speech at the 2014 National Board of Review awards gala. There was a good deal of truth to what she said about the less savory aspects of Disney, but it was an odd time to bring them up – the speech was meant to celebrate Emma Thompson, earning the honor for Best Actress that night for her role in Saving Mr. Banks as P.L. Travers, the woman who wrote the Mary Poppins books adapted into the beloved 1964 Disney film. Some speculated that the speech hurt Thompson”s Oscar chances (either intentionally or not). Indeed, when the Oscar nominations were announced later that month, Thompson was snubbed, and Streep had a nom for August: Osage County.
And now here is Streep joining the next Disney movie adapted from P.L. Travers” books.
Hollywood”s a funny place.
Mary Poppins Returns opens in theaters December 25, 2018.