If we saw our favourite childhood movies through the eyes of an adult, some of them will fall off the altar. However, there are always some films that will always have a special place in our hearts, whatever age we are. One film that stands out is 'Matilda', a true family favourite, which gave us the magic that we wanted before the magic of Harry Potter arrived to our screens.
The charm of the film can be partly down to its original form as a book, which was written by the beloved Roald Dahl, one of the most famous children's author in history. Danny DeVito was the man in charge of directing the adaptation of the popular novel which saw a young Mara Wilson play the wonderful role of Matilda, who had already dazzled the public with her part in 'Mrs. Doubtfire'.
It has been over 20 years since its release, which was not exactly a box office triumph, but it did manage to cover it's budget of 36 million dollars. The story can still be seen as a musical in Broadway, which shows the impact young Matilda has had for over two decades now. To bring back the memories, here are 7 marvellous Matilda facts.
1 Terrorising Trunchbull
There are a few actors that can't stop themselves from continuing to act in the skin of their characters after the director stops filming. In the case of 'Matilda', Pam Ferris was the one to do just this. She decided to continue causing terror as Miss Trunchbull even when the camera was off her. The actress continued terrorising the little kids so that they remained scared of her for when they would come back to filming.
2 Cinematic magic
3 Roald's reference
Danny DeVito didn't forget to mention the original author of the story, Roald Dahl, with little references throughout the film. The most obvious of them all was the photo of Miss Honey's father, which was a picture of Dahl himself. The author's wife, Liccy Dahl, who was also a producer in the film, got her own mention as the doll Liccy Doll was named after her.
4 Everything fits
In the film there were also clear references to Tim Burton, the director who DeVito had worked with for 'Batman Returns'. There is a scene where the protagonist walks past an FBI car which is playing a song from Burton's film 'Pee-Wee's Big Adventure'. And to top it off, the agent was Paul Reubens, who played Pee-wee himself, who also appeared in 'Batman Returns', as Penguin's father.
5 In memory of...
A traumatic event happened during filming happened to Mara Wilson. Her mother, Suzie Shapiro died of breast cancer whilst her daughter was filming for 'Matilda'. The young Wilson decided to carry on with filming in honour of her mother and the film was later dedicated to her.
6 Another wink
DeVito didn't stop there with Pee-wee but with a couple more references to other works. For the 'Matilda' trailer, an instrumental version of 'What's this?', one of the most popular songs from the film 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'. The director of the musical Henry Selick also directed his own adaptation of a Roald Dahl's book in the form of 'James and the Giant Peach', which was also produced by Tim Burton. In other versions of the trailer they put in the song 'Jump in the line' which appears in the final scene of 'Beetlejuice'.
7 The birth of Stevie
In the line-up of young actors that featured in 'Matilda' a familiar face pops up. The film was the big screen debut for Craig Lamar Taylor, who gained popularity for his role in 'Malcolm in The Middle' as the character of Stevie, the friend of the protagonist.