| TranscriptVideo Title: EXCLUSIVE Lin-Manuel Miranda Interview | Mary Poppins Returns
Video Duration: 3:39
- Hi, I'm Allison with FlickDirect,
and I'm speaking with Lin-Manuel Miranda
about Mary Poppins Returns.
Hello, how are you?
- Hi.
Good, how are you?
- I'm good.
Please tell me your fondest memory
of the original Mary Poppins.
♪ Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious ♪
(laughing)
- I mean, you know, both
as a kid, because that word
was such a meal,
- Yeah.
- And as an adult who is a lyricist now,
what a gamble that is.
I'm gonna make up a
word, and that's gonna be
the catchiest word in
the history of music.
It's an incredibly audacious act
for songwriters to create,
and they pulled it off.
I mean, we all know it.
- Yes, yes.
As a matter of fact,
I was doing a giveaway
and I asked somebody in
the audience to spell it.
- [Lin-Manuel] Really?
- Yeah. They can't.
- You know what, that's not in the books.
That is a Sherman Brothers creation,
which makes it all the more extraordinary.
- Fantastic.
I know that you are not
playing the same part
as Dick Van Dyke, but
were you concerned at all
about being compared to him?
- Not really, you know, it's funny.
I didn't realize how
concerned everyone was
until I started the press
tour for Mary Poppins Returns.
Because Rob Marshall's the
biggest fan of Mary Poppins.
He would do anything to protect the legacy
of that first film.
So any concerns, or
pressures, I feel like he
absorbed them for us.
He just had us so engrossed in the making
of this new adventure that that's what we
sort of put everything into.
- And he is an amazing filmmaker,
especially for this type of genre.
- Yeah.
- Musical movie type things.
- [Lin-Manuel] He's one of the best, yeah.
- Yeah, what did you learn from him?
- The greatest thing I
learned was that the things
I love best about theater
also apply to film.
Collaboration, you
know, when you're making
an original musical, which I have done,
it's not just one art form.
It's lots of art forms smashed together.
When you're making a
movie of this complexity,
it's even more art forms.
Add animation to that mix.
- Yes.
- Add, you know, the incredible
sequences to that mix.
And so, he really comes
from the old school
theatrical principles of the best idea
in the room wins, while always having his
own meticulous vision.
And just really, like,
made me believe even more
in the power of collaboration.
- Talk to me a little bit
about, Covers Not the Book.
What a great, great musical number.
What was that like to film?
- Oh, it was such a dream.
I mean, from the moment we got the song
from Mark Sherman and Scott Wittman,
we knew it was gonna be really special.
And so, the first day of
rehearsal for the whole movie,
they handed us each a hat and cane,
and we got to work.
So, to go from that first day of, like,
you want us to do what,
to seeing the final
sequence on screen,
surrounded by that menagerie
of animated animals, it's a dream.
- You recently got a star on
the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Congratulations, by the way.
- Thank you.
- Is there an EGOT in your future?
- I don't know.
I mean, that sounds great.
I am a fan of everyone who has an EGOT.
I've, Rita Moreno forever!
- [Alison] Ah, love her.
- But I also, I have a Pulitzer Prize,
and I have a Kennedy Center Honor,
so I kinda already have
a thing no-one else has,
and I'm very proud of that.
- It's impressive, yeah.
- Yeah.
- Tell me how you managed
to balance on a bicycle,
with a ladder and a pole,
going over cobblestones,
while singing, 'cause that was impressive.
- Same way I got to
Carnegie Hall, practice.
(laughing)
- Didja fall a lot?
- I didn't fall a lot,
but I did probably throw
some apples at some unexpected passers-by.
- Well, the movie was wonderful.
- Thank you.
- Thank you so much,
I really appreciate you
talking to me today.
- Thanks so much, have a good day.
- Thanks.
(techno music)
