Saving Mr. Banks is a 2013 biographical drama film directed by John Lee Hancock and written by Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith.

Deriving its title from the father in Travers's story, Saving Mr. Banks depicts the author's tragic childhood in rural Queensland in 1906 and the two weeks of meetings during 1961 in Los Angeles, during which Disney attempts to obtain the film rights to her novels.

[6] Essential Media Entertainment and BBC Films initially developed Saving Mr. Banks as an independent production until 2011, when producer Alison Owen approached Walt Disney Pictures for permission to use copyrighted elements.

[8][9] Saving Mr. Banks premiered at the London Film Festival on October 20, 2013, and was distributed theatrically by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures that same year in the United Kingdom on November 29 and in North America on December 13.

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.

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.

During the documentary's production, Collie noticed that there was "an obvious biopic there" and convinced Essential Media and Entertainment to develop a feature film with Sue Smith writing the screenplay.

[14][15] In July 2011, while attending the Ischia Film Festival, Owen met with Corky Hale, who offered to present the screenplay to Richard M.

[17] In November 2011, Walt Disney Pictures' president of production, Sean Bailey, was informed by executive Tendo Nagenda of Marcel's existing script.

[25] In April 2012, Emma Thompson entered final negotiations to star as P. L. Travers, after the studio was unable to secure Meryl Streep for the part.

"[28] Colin Farrell, Paul Giamatti, Jason Schwartzman, Bradley Whitford, B. J. Novak, and Ruth Wilson were cast in July 2012.

[39] Although some scenes were originally planned to be shot in Queensland, Australia,[40] all filming, except for two establishing shots in London, took place in the Southern California area, including the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, Disneyland Park in Anaheim, Big Sky Ranch in Simi Valley, the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden in Arcadia, Heritage Square Museum in Montecito Heights, Ontario International Airport in San Bernardino, Courthouse Square at Universal Studios, and the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

[39][41] The largest set built for the film was the interior of the Walt Disney Studios' Animation Building, which production designer Michael Corenblith referred to as "a character in the story".

[45] In order for the park to be portrayed accurately in the story's time period, Corenblith had the Main Street storefronts redressed to reflect their 1961 appearance; post-1961 attractions were kept obstructed so they would not show up on camera, although Pinocchio's Daring Journey which didn't open until 1983, 22 years after which the film's time is set can be spotted vaguely and blurred out in the background during the sequence on King Arthur's Carousel.

[43] After scheduled filming in Australia had been scrapped, cinematographer John Schwartzman compared the landscape of Queensland with that of rural Southern California, and realized that both had similar traits in natural lighting.

[56] In regards to incorporating his own musical style to the film's period setting, Newman stated that "there was room for a real tune-based score here that could reflect the basic joy in that kind of writing that the Sherman Brothers brought to Mary Poppins.

[61] The film's score was recorded at the Newman Scoring Stage in Los Angeles, while the cast recorded several of the Shermans' songs at Capitol Studios for use as playback during the film's diegetic music scenes, including "Chim Chim Cher-ee", "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious", "A Spoonful of Sugar", "Fidelity Fiduciary Bank", "Feed the Birds", and "Let's Go Fly a Kite".

[63] The premise of the script, that Walt Disney had to convince P. L. Travers to hand over the film rights, including the scene in which he finally persuades her, is fictionalized.

[66] In real life, Disney story editor Bill Dover was assigned as Travers' guide and companion during her time in Los Angeles.

[33] According to the Chicago Tribune, Disney was "indulging in a little revisionist history with an upbeat spin," adding, "the truth was always complicated" and that Travers subsequently viewed the film multiple times.

[74] English writer Brian Sibley found Travers still gun-shy from her experiences with Disney when he was hired in the 1980s to write a possible Mary Poppins sequel.

[79] Saving Mr. Banks held its world premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square as the closing gala of the London Film Festival on October 20, 2013.

The site's critical consensus reads, "Aggressively likable and sentimental to a fault, Saving Mr. Banks pays tribute to the Disney legacy with excellent performances and sweet, high-spirited charm.

"[99] The Washington Post's Ann Hornaday rated the film three out of four stars, writing: "Saving Mr. Banks doesn't always straddle its stories and time periods with the utmost grace.

But the film — which John Lee Hancock directed from a script by Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith — more than makes up for its occasionally unwieldy structure in telling a fascinating and ultimately deeply affecting story, along the way giving viewers tantalizing glimpses of the beloved 1964 movie musical, in both its creation and final form.

"[100] The New York Times' A. O. Scott gave a positive review, declaring the film as "an embellished, tidied-up but nonetheless reasonably authentic glimpse of the Disney entertainment machine at work.

[104] Alonso Duralde of TheWrap described the film as a "whimsical, moving and occasionally insightful tale ... director John Lee Hancock luxuriates in the period detail of early-'60s Disney-ana".

"[106] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film "does not strictly hew to the historical record where the eventual resolution of this conflict is concerned," but admitted that it "is easy to accept this fictionalizing as part of the price to be paid for Thompson's engaging performance.

[110] IndieWire's Ashley Clark wrote that the film "is witty, well-crafted and well-performed mainstream entertainment which, perhaps unavoidably, cleaves to a well-worn Disney template stating that all problems—however psychologically deep-rooted—can be overcome.

"[111] Another staff writer labeled Thompson's performance as her best since Sense and Sensibility, and stated that "she makes the Australian-born British transplant a curmudgeonly delight.