Emma Thompson led a spirited singalong to “Mary Poppins” tunes at a Peggy Siegal lunch for the movie “Saving Mr. Banks” Tuesday at The Four Seasons restaurant.
Thompson belted out “Poppins” hits including “A Spoonful of Sugar” with Christopher Mason at the piano and was joined by British Consul General Danny Lopez, Paul Haggis, Bob Balaban, Joy Behar, Amanda Foreman and the film’s producer Alison Owen.
Despite all the fun, Thompson, who plays high-strung “Poppins” author P.L. Travers, loved getting nasty. “We’re all so bloody well brought up,” she told reporters. “There is something authentic about her irritability, which I loved.”
Thompson recalled her first visit to LA when she was 14: “There didn’t seem to be any people. No one walked . . . and then, can you really buy bacon and mascara in the same shop in the middle of the night?”
Tony Walton, Julie Andrews’ ex-husband and the original film’s costume designer, told us his greatest contribution was to “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” While Andrews was rehearsing, he told her to try the word backward, rattled off the syllables and it was added to the film.
Thompson also said the last time she had to be so cheerful was during her West End show “Me and My Girl,” which she joked, “After three months left me clinically depressed.”