Lin-Manuel Miranda didn’t want to go "full Cockney" in ‘Mary Poppins Returns’.
The 38-year-old actor portrays Jack, the former apprentice to the original movie’s Bert, and though he didn’t want to subject himself to the ridicule Dick Van Dyke received for his London accent in the first film, he still wanted to pay homage and had a lot of fun changing his US tones.
He said: "For me, the lesson was ‘Don’t go full Cockney’. I went for more of an Anthony Newley, Billy Bragg, working class East End just shy of rhyming slang. But it affects rhyme.
"I’ve got some pretty hardcore… I wouldn’t say rhyming, but patter, in this film, and that was a joy to unlock.
"And you’re filming in Shepperton Studios. You’ve got a crew that are all going to help you out so it was really fun to slip in and out of it every day.
"And by the way, no one has a better sense of humour about that accent than Dick Van Dyke himself."
The ‘Hamilton’ creator was thrilled to land his role in the Disney sequel because he never "ever thought" it was a film that would ever be made.
He told Empire magazine: "I have had some audacious dreams in my life.
"I wanted to be on Broadway and I wanted to do movies but the audacity to dream that there would ever be a sequel to ‘Mary Poppins’ and that I could be in it? That’s not something I ever thought could be on offer….
"I couldn’t believe what [director Rob Marshall and producing partner John DeLuca] were pitching me. As soon as they said ‘Emily Blunt’ and that this was a new story, not a remake, I was in.
"I happen to think that Rob Marshall is one of the best makers of musical films ever, so I wanted to learn."
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s accent doubts
