Tom Hanks set to play Irish American Walt Disney in 'Saving Mr. Banks' bio-pic

Film will follow Disney's fight to film Mary Poppin's

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Tom Hanks set to play Irish American Walt Disney in “Saving Mr. Banks” bio-pic

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Walt Disney once endured an epic struggle to bring Mary Poppins to the big screen. First he had a fourteen year fight with the Australian author P.L. Travers, the writer behind the creation, who fought his every move to make it into a film.

Not many people know about the hard road Disney travelled to film the project, but everyone knows the outcome: mary Poppins became a money spinning classic for Disney and it turned the young Julie Andrews into a worldwide star.

Now Hollywood A-Lister Tom Hanks, who's work helped the long-running Toy Story franchise to earn almost $2 billion globally, is said to be considering playing Disney himself.

Or at least that's the hope that Disney is holding out for Hanks to play their famous founder in Saving Mr. Banks, the real-life story of the legendary animators fraught attempts to secure the rights and bring Mary Poppins to the silver screen.

According to a report in the Huffington Post director John Lee Hancock, who helmed The Blind Side, is set to direct.

It's understood that Emma Thompson in is talks to play P.L. Travers, perhaps in the hope that the Academy will enjoy her performance they way they once did Juslie Andrew's.

Andrews won an Oscar in the role and the film itself won four others. One person didn't enjoy the results though.  Travers disliked the finished product, especially all the live action and animated sequences that startled the audiences of the time.

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