'Saving Mr. Banks' Trailer: Disney Follows 'Mary Poppins's' Rocky Path To Film

There's a certain kind of stress that comes with watching a favorite book get adapted into movies, and I can only imagine that the process must be even more nerve-wracking for the authors of those books. It can't be easy for them to see their work chopped up and rearranged, or to find that what soars on the page drops with a thud on the screen.

In Saving Mr. Banks, writer P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) tries to save herself that grief by refusing to hand over the film rights to her Mary Poppins books. But Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) doesn't give up easily, and, well, if you've ever tried to wrap your mouth around the nonsense word "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," you can probably guess how that goes. Watch the first trailer for the fact-based drama after the jump.

Saving Mr. Banks – Trailer No. 1Saving Mr. Banks attracted positive buzz even before Disney got on board, thanks to Kelly Marcel's Black List script. Based on the new promo, it's easy to see why. The combination of humor and drama should be a crowd-pleaser, and the plot provides ample opportunity to work in the 1964 film's memorable tunes.

Plus, director John Lee Hancock is working with a great cast. Hanks looks utterly charming (if still pretty Hanks-ian) as Disney, while Thompson gives Travers enough texture to keep her from becoming an uptight British caricature. Paul Giamatti, Bradley Whitford, Ruth Wilson, Rachel Griffiths, Colin Farrell, Jason Schwartzman, and B.J. Novak fill out the supporting roles.

I'll be curious to see how the film ends, however. (Potential spoilers ahead, for stuff that happened like fifty years ago in real life.) The trailer paves the way for a big, happy, Disney-style finale, but in reality the outcome wasn't so uplifting. While Disney's Mary Poppins proved a big commercial and critical success, Travers herself despised the film and refused to work with the studio again.

Saving Mr. Banks opens December 13.