10 FACTS ABOUT OUR NEW MARY POPPINS AKA EMILY BLUNT

Above: Julie Andrews and Emily Blunt

Fans can expect from Mary Poppins Returns. Production has commenced at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England, the studio announced Friday. The film—scheduled for release December 25, 2018—stars Emily Blunt in the title role.

Directed by Rob Marshall, Marry Poppins Returns features an all-star cast that includes Colin Firth, Lin Manuel-Miranda, Emily Mortimer, Meryl Streep, Julie Walters and Ben Whishaw. Additionally, Pixie Davies, Joel Dawson and Nathanael Saleh star as three new Banks children. Best of all, Dick Van Dyke—who played Bert in 1964’s Mary Poppins—stars as Mr. Dawes Jr., the chairman of Fidelity Fiduciary Bank, which is now run by William Weatherall Wilkins (Firth).

Below we take a look at Emily Blunt aka Mary Poppins with 10 facts about the actress.

1: Born Emily Olivia Leah Blunt on February 23, 1983, she suffered with a stammer between the ages of seven and 14 but overcame it, partly by being encouraged to speak in different accents by a teacher. She was later invited to become a board member by the American Institute for Stuttering.

2:At the age of 16 she attended Hurtwood House, a private sixth form college near Dorking in Surrey known for its strong creative arts programme. At first she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be an actress or a musician; a singer-songwriter, she was offered a record deal while still a teenager.

3:‘Talent spotted’ at Hurtwood House by her first UK agent Ken McReddie, in 2001 she was cast in Sir Peter Hall’s production of The Royal Family at The Theatre Royal Haymarket alongside Dame Judi Dench, Julia McKenzie and Toby Stephens. She was named Best Newcomer at The Evening Standard Awards for her performance.

4:Her first film was the award-winning 2004 movie My Summer of Love. This won her an Evening Standard British Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer – shared with her co-star Natalie Press (below, with Blunt) – and brought her to the attention of Susan Sarandon, who then had her successfully audition for the film Irresistible.

5:She won a Golden Globe for her role in the 2006 BBC drama Gideon’s Daughter, in which she co-starred with Bill Nighy and Miranda Richardson. She is also nominated for a BAFTA for her performance in The Girl on the Train.

6:She met Canadian crooner Michael Buble in 2005 and the two became a couple, Blunt even making a guest vocal appearance on his 2007 album Call Me Irresponsible, but they split up the following year.

7:In November 2008, Blunt started dating American actor John Krasinski, best known to UK audiences from the American version of The Office. The couple were married in July 2010 in Como, Italy. They now have two daughters, Hazel and Violet.

8:Blunt’s brother-in-law is the Oscar-nominated American actor Stanley Tucci, her co-star in The Devil Wears Prada. At her wedding to Krasinski she introduced Tucci to her sister Felicity, a literary agent. The couple were married in 2012.

9:Last year Blunt became an American citizen. Later she joked to an interviewer that after she had watched the Republican Presidential candidates’ debate, she thought, “this was a terrible mistake. What have I done?’’ The joke got her into hot water with both TV news shows and the American public on twitter.

10:Blunt will play the title role in the film Mary Poppins Returns, to be released in 2018.  The sequel is set twenty years after the original, and will focus on a fully-grown Michael Banks and his three children. According to the film’s director Rob Marshall, when he told Julie Andrews that Blunt was cast in the role, she said: “Oh, wonderful!”

Mary Poppins Returns—a sequel to the Oscar-winning classic starring Julie Andrews—is set in 1930s depression-era London. In a press release, the studio shared key details for the first time.

“Michael (Whishaw) and Jane (Mortimer) are now grown up, with Michael, his three children and their housekeeper, Ellen (Walters), living on Cherry Tree Lane,” Walt Disney Studios said. “After Michael suffers a personal loss, the enigmatic nanny Mary Poppins re-enters the lives of the Banks family, and, along with the optimistic street lamplighter Jack (Miranda), uses her unique magical skills to help the family rediscover the joy and wonder missing in their lives.”

Along the way, Blunt’s character will also introduce the Banks children “to a new assortment of colourful and whimsical characters, including her eccentric cousin, Topsy (Streep).”

Can’t wait for a much loved classic to return to our cinema screens, or should Hollywood stop remaking some of our most precious and perfect films?