If you’ve managed to catch Mary Poppins Returns in theatres in recent weeks, your mind is no doubt filled with the film’s catchy songs and dazzling dance numbers. But, one other thing might be playing on your mind: how did Disney pull off some of those magic-filled scenes?
One scene, in particular, filled fans with glee, as Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) and the Banks children seemingly disappeared in to a bathtub, and resurfaced in a magical oceanic world.
Was this some CGI trick? Were the actors just hiding under the water until director Rob Marshall yelled cut? Nope! A new behind-the-scenes clip has revealed the scene was not the work of CGI, but rather a feat of engineering by the set design department.
In a new video shared by Disney, it is revealed that the crew cut a hole in the bottom of the bath tub and connected the tub to a slide for the actors to glide down – under the stage – as they entered the tub.
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“Everyone involved was very insistent that, as much as possible, we build practical sets that we could very much interact with,” Emily explains, adding that the kids thought it was “the best thing ever.”
“It was a drop,” Emily says in an interview. “It was fast and steep! [The kids] must have done it 20 times, they were like ‘can we do it again?'”
However, Emily, who had to go down the slide backwards, wasn’t quite as keen on the slide.
“So, the kids did theirs 20 times and I think I did it twice,” she says. “I was quite scared, actually.”
The process looks so fun we’re jealous WE didn’t get to be part of this scene… who are we kidding, we wish we could have been extras in the entire film.
See the full video clip Go Behind The Scenes: Making The Impossible Possible on Disney’s website here.
Marry Poppins Returns is in cinemas now.
