Dick Van Dyke straight-up bribed Walt Disney to play the old banker in Mary Poppins

Dick Van Dyke, the 92-year old silver screen veteran, is (sorta) reprising his Mary Poppins role in the upcoming Mary Poppins Returns. Not that of chimney sweep Bert, mind you, but of Mr. Dawes, the old banker at the Fidelity Fiduciary Bank that Van Dyke also played. Mary Poppins Returns takes place years after the original, so Van Dyke will be playing Dawes’ son who, surprise, grew up to look a lot like his dear old dad.

“I said to them, ‘Do you know you’re making up a 91-year old man to look like a 91-year old man?’” Van Dyke adorably cracked to Lin-Manuel Miranda in an interview on Mary Poppins Returns: Behind the Magic, a 20/20 special airing this Thursday.

What’s especially interesting about the interview, however, is Van Dyke’s reveal that Walt Disney wasn’t all that keen on the actor playing two roles in the film. According to Van Dyke, he actively lobbied Disney for the role, saying that he’d do it for nothing. “Actually,” he added, “I had to give him $4,000 dollars. I had to pay him to do the part…and I’d do it again.”