Featured Image Credit: Sony Pictures
Topics: TV And Film
Gregory Robinson
The first trailer for the highly anticipated Matilda reboot has finally arrived and Emma Thompson looks frightening at Miss Trunchbull. Watch below.
While the new Matilda film is also based on Roald Dahl's magnificent children's novel about a young bookworm who discovers she has telekinetic powers, it has a lot of differences compared to the 1996 film.
Directed by Matthew Warchus, the upcoming Netflix film is actually a musical and it also draws inspiration from the hugely popular 2010 stage adaptation of the book, Matilda the Musical.
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Warchus directed the stage musical and he currently works as the artistic director at London's Old Vic theatre.
Original playwright Dennis Kelly is back at the helm of this new version and wrote the screenplay.
Nanny McPhee star and Oscar winner Emma Thompson has picked up the riding crop as the terrifying Miss Trunchbull, who was portrayed spectacularly by Pam Ferris in the Danny Devito-directed 1996 film.
The cast also includes No Time To Die actor Lashana Lynch as Miss Honey. Line of Duty's Stephen Graham will play Mr. Wormwood and Birdman star Andrea Riseborough will portray Mrs. Wormwood and Alisha Weir will star as Matilda.
In case you haven't watched or read Matilda before, the classic 1988 children's story centres around Matilda Wormwood, a young girl with telekinetic powers who uses her gifts for good, to play pranks on her neglectful parents and fight back against bullies.
Matilda is also a child genius and avid reader, often escaping to the library to get away from her parents.
When Matilda starts going to school, she learns to stand up to the bullies in her life, including evil headmistress Miss Trunchbull, with the help of her favourite teacher, Miss Honey, who adopts her.
The 1996 film received critical acclaim upon release, particularly for the direction and performance of Danny DeVito as well as Mara Wilson, as our favourite child genius.
DeVito played Matilda's car salesman dad, while her mum was played by his real life wife at the time Rhea Perlman and Miss Honey was portrayed by Embeth Davidtz.
The stage musical has been running on the West End since 2010 and has proved such a success that it moved to Broadway from 2013 to 2017.
Matilda is one of the first of Netflix's new Roald Dahl adaptations to make it to the screen. Wonka, a prequel movie starring Timothee Chalamet as the eccentric chocolate factory founder, is slated for release in December 2023.
Netflix, in partnership with Sony Pictures, will release Matilda in cinemas on 2 December 2022.