Aussie producer on the long journey to make Saving Mr Banks

Producer Ian Collie is well known in Australia for his work on hit series including Rake and Jack Irish, but he is also the brains behind Disney’s Oscar hopeful Saving Mr Banks which opens in Australian cinemas today. He tells Brooke Hemphill about the eight-year road to getting the film up.

Based on the true story of P.L. Travers  and her relationship with Walt Disney who sought the rights of her famous book Mary Poppins for more than 20 years, the Disney feature Saving Mr Banks stemmed from the 2002 documentary The Shadow of Mary Poppins produced by Essential Media.

During an interview in Los Angeles prior to the American premiere of Saving Mr Banks, producer Ian Collie told Mumbrella: “It started in late 2005. I’d had the idea for a few years but because I hadn’t done film and I was only just getting launched in TV drama, I didn’t rush headlong into it.”

Watch the trailer: