Little bitty pretty one / I've been watchin' you grow

November 28, 2017 7:12 PM

'Much Too Good For Children': The Cast Of 'Matilda' Reflect On The Film On Its 20th Anniversary
posted by J.K. Seazer (12 comments total)

Wow, I'm glad I read that. Thanks for posting!
posted by hippybear at 7:51 PM on November 28, 2017

I watched this film for the first time last week with my son. It was way better than I thought it'd be. Dark in the way all good kids films should be. Interesting there's no mention of Embeth Davidtz (Ms. Honey) in the article.
posted by Ashwagandha at 7:51 PM on November 28, 2017

This is one of my favorite movies. I've been wanting to rewatch, I need to make it happen soon.

Mara Wilson regularly shows up on those "funniest tweets of the week" lists.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 7:58 PM on November 28, 2017

I don't even remember the book or the movie very well, but reading that article brought back every nice memory of finding out there were other weird kids who didn't fit in.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 8:02 PM on November 28, 2017

This is a delight. As a weird, surly pre-teen I watched Matilda every time I was home sick (which was frequently). It's definitely time for a re-watch.

Embeth Davidtz has been busy, according to IMDB!
posted by esoterrica at 9:22 PM on November 28, 2017

That was really good. Thanks for posting!
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 4:29 AM on November 29, 2017

I saw this for the first time a few years ago and thought Pam Ferris' role as the the headmaster was a shockingly stereotyped lesbian prison guard that I don't think would be done today.
posted by Bee'sWing at 5:02 AM on November 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

I love MATILDA in all forms. Book. Movie. Broadway Musical. The film is flawless. I have loved sharing the movie with my nieces and nephews. I did not know Mara Wilson's mom died of breast cancer before the movie came out. How profoundly sad! I think it's wonderful that the actress who played Trunchbull was sweet and kind in real life. God help me if I find out Embeth Davidtz in real life is a bitch on wheels. I won't recover. (Though I suspect if that were true Mara Wilson would have already found a clever way to reveal it in a tweet.)
posted by pjsky at 5:40 AM on November 29, 2017 [2 favorites]

Mara Wilson's book "Where Am I Now?" is terrific and I recommend it highly. She expands a lot on the making of Matilda from what's in this article: how her entire family loved the book and was over the moon about the movie opportunity, and how sad she was that her mom never got to see it with the epilogue of years later finding out that Danny DeVito had sneaked a rough cut up to her mom's hospital room and watched it with her. A++ would read again
posted by Flannery Culp at 6:04 AM on November 29, 2017 [11 favorites]

how sad she was that her mom never got to see it with the epilogue of years later finding out that Danny DeVito had sneaked a rough cut up to her mom's hospital room and watched it with her.

OMG I NEVER KNEW
*sniff*
posted by Theta States at 9:06 AM on November 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

I loved the detail that Mara Wilson was a little shy about dancing in the scene where Matilda dances, so Danny DeVito declared that "okay, then, we'll make everybody who's on set that day dance too." So when they shot the scene, Wilson was dancing on set, but the grips and the directors and the cameramen and everyone else were all also dancing offcamera which just sounds fantastic.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:57 AM on November 29, 2017

I've always felt this movie was under-rated.
posted by acrasis at 3:51 PM on November 29, 2017