When the entirety of Post-Oscar Monday passed without my having written about Lin-Manuel Miranda, I have to admit I felt a bit bad about it. But there wasn’t really a story to tell about him at the Oscars, because even though he’s charming, his red carpet appearances were fairly straightforward. Sure, there was an anecdote about his wife going into labour, but not a lot else – other than a whole host of posts where Lin geeks out in selfies with some of his faves. 

It’s fine – it can’t always be your night. Lin was there to present with Emily Blunt, which was all tied to the fact that the trailer for Mary Poppins Returns made its premiere Sunday night. 

 

Let’s be real – the teaser was fun, but ‘tease’ is the operative word here. There’s not a whole lot of revelation about what the movie’s going to give us, beyond the realization that we may be more sophisticated viewers than we were back in 1964, but it is still absolutely charming when someone’s reflection walks off without them.  Also, how long do you think Lin-Manuel Miranda had to practice riding that souped-up chimney-sweep bike so that he didn’t bail into the camera? I feel like those poles would be very alarming to try to balance around. 

What I hoped we’d get was some hint of the music that will be such an important aspect of the film, but they want to keep us thirsty for that so nothing hummable yet. That shouldn’t worry us, though, because it’s apparently great. That’s not just me stanning for LMM, either…

I was casually reading an Oscar wrap-up and was stunned to read that Disney fully expects to campaign for Mary Poppins Returns to get a nod for Best Picture at NEXT YEAR'S Oscars!  Seriously, this is how confident they are in this movie and specifically in Emily Blunt’s performance! The air in the Kodak theatre was still humid with the nervous sweat of this year’s nominees and they’re already thinking about next year? 

This tells me the music is great. That this is a movie that will be worth all the advance hype. And you could maybe think it was just some executive, emboldened by champagne at an afterparty – but they mention the other film they’re pretty sure of a nomination for is a little pic called Black Panther. So yeah. It’s not egotistical when you can back it up. 

And it means that there are 363 days until the 91st Academy Awards, and the race is already seriously underway. If you’re Lin-Manuel Miranda and already a preposterously busy and prolific person, I think you buckle up and hire another assistant, because Mary Poppins Returns is poised to give him another very, very busy year.