Dick Van Dyke is blowing people's minds in the 'Mary Poppins Returns' trailer

Yesterday Disney released the first trailer for Mary Poppins Returns and, yes, the trailer is practically perfect in every way, but there’s one detail that seems to have really captured everyone’s attention: Dick Van Dyke.

Van Dyke played dual roles in the 1964 original: he was Mary’s chimneysweep pal Bert, but he also played Mr Dawes Sr., the elderly boss of the Fidelity Fiduciary Bank, under layers of makeup.

The 92-year-old is back in Mary Poppins Returns playing Mr Dawes Jr., the son of his original character (it’s set 25 years later), and the first look at him in the trailer is really quite eye-catching.

Empire Magazine’s Olly Gibbs was quick to share a side-by-side snap, and you have to say it’s rather amazing work from the hair and make up team.

“In this film he actually plays that old Mr. Dawes’s son, who now is the same age as Mr. Dawes,” explained the film’s producer Marc Platt to Yahoo on set last year.

“So he looks kind of the same as in the original film, he just doesn’t have to wear much make-up. But it was a quite an exciting moment for all of us when he did his couple days of shooting. His spirit, his generosity, his joie de vivre was just ever present, and so he created a wonderful role.”

Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, who plays Bert’s protege in Mary Poppins Returns, admits he was a little starstruck by the veteran musical star.

“It was like the best two days ever. I aspire to having that much energy in my life, someday, much less at 91. It was a joyous two days. We were in the scene together, and we were just huddled off in the corner, and I was asking questions about Bye Bye Birdie,” Miranda said last year.

“You want to talk about a run? That guy went from debuting on Broadway in Bye Bye Birdie to getting The Dick Van Dyke Show to filming Mary Poppins like, on his hiatus. And that’s when they did the 32 hours of TV not the 24.

“So that’s, you know, if anyone has a right to be retired and chilling, it’s Dick Van Dyke! And yet he’s with us singing and dancing, and it was really thrilling, you know, just to swap Broadway stories about him, about Chitah [Rivera], about sort of everything in his incredible career.”

Mary Poppins Returns, starring Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, and Colin Firth is in UK cinemas 21 December.

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