Colin Farrell is in negotiations to star in Walt Disney Pictures' Saving Mr. Banks, alongside Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson.

The story centers on Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson), and shifts between her childhood days in early 1900s Queensland, and her experiences in the 1960s, negotiating with Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) for a big-screen adaptation of her books.

Colin Farrell will play the author's father, a banker who starts drinking heavily after going through some hard times financially. His hardships had a profound effect on her writing.

John Lee Hancock is directing from a screenplay by Kelly Marcel. Production is slated to begin this fall in Los Angeles.