Exclusive: Hanks on Secret of 'Saving Mr. Banks'

Tom Hanks channels Walt Disney opposite Emma Thompson's P.L. Travers in the charming, poignant Saving Mr. Banks, and we have an exclusive first look behind-the-scenes as the stars explain why the transformation of Mary Poppins from book to screen was such a complicated and interesting journey.

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"It's about that volatile creative process of how it ended on paper first," explains Hanks of the film, pointing out that the way for Disney to achieve his goal was to connect with the problems of Travers' childhood. "Walt goes a substantial distance to take on the past, heal, and turn it into something that is not a burden."

In select theaters December 13 and everywhere December 20, Saving Mr. Banks chronicles the real-life struggle and untold backstory of how the Disney classic Mary Poppins made it to the big screen. Disney's daughters begged him to make a movie out of the beloved Travers book, but when the curmudgeonly and uncompromising Travers refused to yield to Disney's magical vision, his promise to his daughters turned into a 20-year quest to obtain the rights and find a way to please Travers.

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Also starring Colin Farrell, Paul Giamatti, Jason Schwartzman, B.J. Novak, Bradley Whitford, Ruth Wilson, Melanie Paxson and Annie Rose Buckley, Saving Mr. Banks is directed by John Lee Hancock.