Little slugs! Witless weeds! Empty-headed hamsters! Roald Dahl’s cake-loving, shot put-throwing Miss Trunchbull will rise again in Netflix’s upcoming remake of the author’s Matilda, and the streamer has announced Emma Thompson will be suiting up as a tyrant headmistress. We hope she’s toning up that tossing arm.
Following the news that Lashana Lynch (Captain Marvel) will play the tender and bookish Miss Honey, Netflix has also announced who will play the story’s telekinetic heroine. Alisha Weir, a relative newcomer, will star as as the title character, stepping into the role made famous by Mara Wilson in Danny DeVito’s beloved 1996 adaptation.
Matthew Warchus, who directed the book’s smash Broadway adaptation, will direct the new take, calling it an “imaginative and fresh retelling” of the story, which follows Matilda as she uses her newly discovered powers to protect her friends and foil her many bullies, which include her parents and the monstrous Miss Trunchbull.
Netflix secured the rights to Dahl’s library back in 2018, when it promised to adapt a slew of the author’s works and spin them into “an imaginative story universe that expands far beyond the pages of the books themselves.” It’s unclear if that’s still the plan, what with the underwhelming (and controversial) response to HBO Max’s The Witches and the resurfacing of Dahl’s antisemitic views, for which his family has recently apologized. Probably a “wait and see” kind of thing going on.
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Fun fact: the actress who played Miss Honey in 1996 was also Sheila the maiden and âshe-bitchâ deadite in Army of Darkness.
wasnât she also in Schindlerâs List as Ralph Fienneâs Jewish mistress? Thatâs quite an enviably diverse career.
also was in mad men
With all due respect to Ms. Thompson, Iâm really hard-pressed to think of an adaptation of a childrenâs book less in need of a remake than DeVitoâs Matilda and I canât imagine any way to improve on Pam Ferrisâ performance as Ms. Trunchbull.(Also, having watched it recently: my god Dahl had some issues.)
I hear ya, but 24 – 25 years between adaptations isnât bad. Itâs not like they decided to remake something fairly recent. I do think this casting suggests Netflix is trying to deal with some of the Dahl criticism. In the book, thereâs a lot of masculine coding for Trunchbull that doesnât hold up great. The Broadway show was criticized for having a male actor play the part and creating some uncomfortable transphobia. At a minimum, Dahl strongly suggests being feminine is good (Miss Honey) being a woman who is not feminine is bad. Iâm not expecting Emma Thompson to flounce in in a dress for the part, but they seem to be casting with an eye towards someone not quite so bluntly male/butch coded.
Yeah, thatâs what I was alluding to w/r/t issues — the takeaway moral of the story really seemed to be âsuperhuman powers are necessary in the case of women acting mannishâ.
I agree that 25-ish years is probably enough time for a reboot, and Iâm also glad that they have someone who has already done an adaptation and is familiar with the material, though hopefully it will be enough of a departure from the wonderful Devito version as well as the musical, for varietyâs sake. I wonder how theyâll deal with the Trunchbull in the era of smartphones etc. where her behavior towards the students could just be filmed, or if the reboot will take place in the original setting.
As far as the musical version goes, I can understand people being upset over getting a male actor to play someone who has so many stereotypical male traits (strength, temper, need to dominate women etc) though broadway does have a tradition of gender-swapping actors to play characters, such as in âPeter Panâ which I guess has its own issues with getting a woman to play the titular effeminate, eternally pubescent character of Pan. I donât think the casting directors mean any harm in their choices, but I can see how people would rightfully take offense.As far as the Trunchbull being coded and any message from Dahl, I always thought of it as Mathildaâs brains beating Trunchbullâs brawn, similar to her triumphs over her bigger, stronger father. Ms. Honey may be more feminine, but it is her kindness, not her lack of masculinity, which makes her a good fit for Mathilda. Because Mathildaâs mom is also sterotypically âfeminineâ in a negative manner especially for that time period (submissive to her husband, cares more about how her looks appear and what she wears than anything else) and sheâs depicted as an awful person.
I agree wholeheartedly that I donât think anyone was purposely trying to cast a role to make a negative statement.There are some things in the book version of Matilda regarding Trunchbull and questioning her identity that re-reading it as an adult I was like Oh my. It may just be Dahl is writing in another time and a time when gender roles were very codified, but given the stuff with The Witches and such, it makes sense than an adaptation would move away from that – For example, the oompa-loompas in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that doesnât really work in a film version or a modern adaptation because there are some definite choices there that need to be made. I think that this potentially could be a good direction to take the character – she can still be scary, gruff and athletic without being overly masculine imo.
Oh I agree about Oompa-Loompas, basically free labor that are childish and in many ways human but not *as* human as their affluent white factory boss? Very problematic, yet not something that an adaptation can just erase or ignore without removing an important part of the story.
With Trunchbull I think society just needs to realize that having muscles and being athletic isnât just a masculine trait nowadays like it was in Dahlâs day. Plenty of current female star athletes who are much more jacked than the average person regardless of gender. Charlotte Flair, Serena Williams etc. who can be scary and gruff when they want to but also have a lot of stereotypical feminine characteristics that could easily be attributed to Ms. Honey. I mean, a grown teacher doesnât have to be the size of the Trunchbull to intimidate a bunch of six year olds, nearly any adult would appear large to a child that age.
Also, part of it could be psychological, she seemed so big and scary when they were young, but once they grow up and move on they could look back at a picture of their tormentor and realize she was only like 5’8 and most of the terror was in their heads.
The Oompa-Loompas in the book are also very much dark-skinned primitives who donât let their children wear clothes while the men wear animal skins and the women leaves. The movies cleaned that up SUBSTANTIALLY. I donât necessarily think Dahl had an agenda geared toward purposely picking on groups we see as marginalized, but he made some trope choices that are less comfortable now.
âDid someone say 24-25 more adaptations?â
-Netlfix execÂ
Well…if she does flounce in in a dress, can it be this one?
This version is actually a musical, which is a real work of genius by Tim Minchin and is one of my favorites ever. Itâs tonally not all that close to the Mara Wilson movie, especially during the musicalâs intense, dark, and just incredible Act II. Same source as the movie, but I expect you couldnât really call this a remake.Iâm really hoping this filmed version can do it justice.
That itâs the musical seems like it should be a little more prominent in the story, no?
Sorry, Iâm not sure I understand the âitâ that should be more prominent. Clarify?
It mostly reads like an unnecessary remake of the 1996 film, but itâs going to be the 201? musical, which has not been filmed before.
I love Tim Minchinâs work and I think I was vaguely aware that he was involved in writing a musical version of Matilda, but seeing that that version is the one theyâre working on, starring Emma Thompson… you know, I love to criticize Hollywood for just constantly rehashing the 90s so they can regurgitate it back into the mouths of already nostalgia-gorged people in my generation, but… I think Iâm actually starting to get excited for this.
I have the same reaction to all these reboots and rehashes, but I just love the songs and the musical so much that Iâm naively trying to be optimistic about this one, even though most of these things fall well short of what could have been (e.g., Netflixâs âThe Promâ). If they can deliver a well-executed version of âQuietâ, âSchool Songâ, or âMy Houseâ, Iâll be happy.
I have the same reaction to all these reboots and rehashes, but I just love the songs and the musical so much that Iâm naively trying to be optimistic about this one, even though most of these things fall well short of what could have been (e.g., Netflixâs âThe Promâ). If they can deliver a well-executed version of âQuietâ, âSchool Songâ, or âMy Houseâ, Iâll be happy.
Holy shit, didnât know this was Tim Minchinâs work. I suddenly care a lot more than I ever thought I would about a remake, thanks.
In the stage show, they chose to cast a man, though. I think they made the right call going in another direction.
I like that choice, too. Iâve seen a regional theater production of Matilda, and Trunchbull was played by a woman who maaaaybe stood 5’4″, and she was a fantastic Trunchbull. You can exude size without actual physical size.
You had me at âTim Minchin.âÂ
I saw the movie for the first time quite recently with my kids, and I thought to myself, wow, an unapologetically athletic, confident, muscular female character without hang-ups about her appearance or romantic status! Why couldnât we have this character, but without the villainy? Pam Ferris was great and her performance hewed very closely to the character in the book (yes, Dahl had issues, big time). I think about this too with Gina Carano in The Mandalorian. I donât love her apparent politics, and sheâs not the most nuanced actor, but man, it is just so refreshing to see onscreen a big strong muscular woman who you can actually believe would win a fight, and who isnât there to serve as some kind of love interest or romantic foil.
The sad thing is, Carano in The Mandalorian is practically Stanislavski when you compare it to some of her earliest film work. âHaywireâ is an entertaining series of fights scenes that comes to an immediate halt any time Carano attempts to deliver dialogue. Itâs actually kinda heartening that she managed to improve this much.About her personal politics, the less said the better.
Read Boy. If youâve never heard of it, it was part one of Dahlâs autobiography and deals with his childhood. You get a fair idea in that book where Trunchbull came from. Â
Yeah, one of the reasons that I still like the story despite the ways in which itâs aged poorly is that abusive teachers are absolutely not something Dahl made up out of whole cloth, and it makes perfect sense that someone who survived the english boarding school system would long for a bit of gentleness in an authority figure.
my god Dahl had some issuesCould you expand on what you mean? Itâs been a long while since I watched the movie or read the book.
My proposal for a Matilda adaptation is Danny DeVito plays all of the children except the titular one.
If you freeze on a certain frame, one of the Danny DeVitoâs seems to hang himself.
Because thatâs the only way he can get off (Full disclosure: I may be unable to separate Danny DeVito from Frank Reynolds).
or David Carradine?
đ¶ Youâve got to pay the Roald Dahl To adapt this Dahl bookYouâve gotta pay the Roald Dahl to begin đ¶
Schwarzenegger as Matilda?Â
I know Emma Thompson is considered a great actor but every movie over the last few years sheâs been in has been hot garbage. There are a few exceptions but sheâs clearly in the Michael Caine/Anthony Hopkins part of her career where she just takes jobs that pay well and require as little effort as possible that all esteemed British actors have.
If what you say is true, then we can celebrate the fact that a middle-aged actress has entered the paycheck period of her career that used to be the exclusive province of men of a certain age.
I think itâs great that the benchmark for equality is when the formerly oppressed can be just as lazy as the oppressors.
Weâll have achieved true equality when a performerâregardless of race, gender, or sexual orientationâcan have the same career as Kevin James.
Look, we already have Melissa McCarthy.Okay, sheâs definitely better than Kevin James, but weâll know weâre really in the right place when thereâs an entire female equivalent to Adam Sandlerâs Happy Madison plague.
She was pretty good as an actress in that âSpyâ movie and in âGilmore Girlsâ but sheâs also written/starred in some stuff thatâs right on the level as some of the Happy Madison nonsense. So I know sheâs capable of better
We will never have equality until she has a part in a Transformers movie.
Well the remake of The Witches was pretty weak, and I say that as someone who absolutely adores Ann(i)e Hathaway, so Iâm not too keen on this.
Different studio and, my understanding is anyway, that Dahlâs Estate is directly involved in the production. Basically, Warner Bros. had the rights to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (maybe a few more books) then they did a shitty Tom and Jerry and Willy Wonka direct-to-video sequel to try and extend the rights before they expired, and – right before The Witches entered production – Dahlâs estate exploited a loophole in the contract with Warner Bros. to yank the rights out of spite.
Yes.Oh, you mean in a movie?