Is Meryl Streep ready for a spoonful of sugar?
Sources tell Variety, the Oscar-winning actress is in talks to join Emily Blunt and Lin Manuel-Miranda in Disney’s “Mary Poppins Returns.”
If a deal closes, the family film would reunite Streep with the “Into the Woods” musical team of Blunt, director Rob Marshall, and producers Marc Platt and John DeLuca. Streep and Blunt also shared the screen in “The Devil Wears Prada.” Marshall and John De Luca are also producing.
Streep is said to play the role of Poppins’ cousin, Topsy, a supporting role that wasn’t in the 1964 classic. Streep would also sing for the part, much like she did in “Into the Woods,” which earned her a record 19th Oscar nomination.
The Mary Poppins sequel hits theaters Dec. 25, 2018.
David Magee wrote the screenplay, based on the stories by P.L. Travers, with Marc Shaiman composing an all-new score and writing originals songs with Emmy nominee and Tony-winner Scott Wittman.
Blunt stars as the title character in the film with Manuel-Miranda, star of the Broadway smash “Hamilton,” playing another new character, a street lamplighter named Jack. Drawing from the wealth of material in P.L. Travers’ seven Mary Poppins novels, the story will take place in Depression-era London (when the books were originally written) and follows a now-grown Jane and Michael Banks, who, along with Michael’s three children, are visited by the enigmatic Mary Poppins following a personal loss. Through her unique magical skills, and with the aid of her friend Jack, she helps the family rediscover the joy and wonder missing in their lives.
Streep, who appeared at the Democratic Convention this week, can be seen next in the Paramount pic “Florence Foster Jenkins” which bows on Aug. 12. She is repped by CAA.
