Dick Van Dyke has revealed that he wasn't completely sold on Mary Poppins Returns at first when he was asked to return for the Disney sequel.
Dyke has a cameo in the movie as Mr Dawes Jr, the son of Mr Dawes Sr which was the second role he played in the iconic original. And since it's been 54 years since the first movie, it's perhaps understandable that he had reservations.
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"I had some misgivings, because almost traditionally sequels don’t work. They’re never quite as good as the original," he told PEOPLE.
"[But] this is an homage to Walt and the original movie. I was so impressed that their heart was in the right place. They wanted to pay respect to the original. And I was so tickled when they asked me, because it was kind of like bookends for me."
At the spritely age of 93, Dyke even impressed himself with his song-and-dance number in the sequel.
"The minute I heard I was going to do a little number, that sold me," he recalled.
"I thought I could contribute by just being a little bit of a reminder of the original. And I think it turned out well. I got to jump up on a desk and do a dance number. It surprised everybody, but nobody was as surprised as I was.
"We did several takes of it, and I was just amazed. And I enjoyed it, of course."
Mary Poppins Returns is in US cinemas on December 19 and UK cinemas on December 21.
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Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
