B.J. Novak Joins Disney's 'Saving Mr. Banks' (Exclusive)

B.J. Novak, one of the stars of The Office, has joined the cast of Saving Mr. Banks, Disney’s movie about the making of Mary Poppins.

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The project has assembled a not-your-usual Disney cast with Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson as the stars (playing Walt Disney and Poppins author P.L. Travers), plus Colin Farrell, Paul Giamatti, Jason Schwartzman and Ruth Wilson.

John Lee Hancock is directing the project,

Novak will play Robert Sherman, the Disney songwriter who along with his brother Richard wrote the movie’s memorable songs including the Oscar-winning "Chim Chim Cheer-ee." He and his brother later also wrote tunes for The Jungle Book among other films as well as the song "It’s a Small World (After All)."

Sherman passed away in March.

Banks is due to begin shooting in September in Los Angeles.

Novak is best known for his work on The Office, in which he not only appears but also serves as a writer as one of the executive producers. He also appeared memorably in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds.

He exec produced The Mindy Project pilot and will be a consulting producer for the first season. He will also write and direct episodes of the Fox comedy while also juggling his recurring role on The Office. 

He is also slated to shoot The Internship, the Shawn Levy-directed comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. 

Novak is repped by CAA, Price Management and Ziffren Brittenham.