Matilda

Trivia: The two actors who play Matilda's parents, Harry and Zinnia Wormwood, are Rhea Perlman and Danny DeVito. They are actually husband and wife and have been married since 1982 and have 3 children.

Trivia: The film is dedicated to Suzie Wilson, the mother of the actress who plays Matilda, Mara Wilson. Suzie Wilson died of breast cancer during the filming of Matilda. The adult actors in the film commended Mara for carrying on with the film after such a tragic loss.

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Suggested correction: This is half true. Mara Wilson's mother actually died in post-production. Danny DeVito told Mara Wilson years later that he was able to show her mother a rough cut of the movie before she died, as Mara thought for years that her mother never got to see it.

Trivia: Pam Ferris based her performance of Miss Trunchbull on her 80 year old gardener - she said she was a bully and had a hard sound to her voice.

Trivia: When Matilda goes back for Miss Honey's "Treasures", at one point Miss Trunchbull eats a chocolate without removing the gold paper wrapper.

rlfoster

Trivia: When Matilda is dancing and moving the cards all around the living room, off camera, the crew was dancing because Mara Wilson (Matilda) was embarrassed to dance on her own.

Visible crew/equipment: Two wires can be seen attached to Lavender (because light shines on them) as she floats back to the ground after the Trunchbull charged towards her. This is only visible on video, and has been taken out of the DVD, although you can (barely) see the shadow of the equipment letting her down on the wall behind her.

More mistakes in Matilda

Harry Wormwood: A book? What do you want a book for?
Matilda: To read.
Harry Wormwood: To read? Why would you want to read when you got the television set sitting right in front of you? There's nothing you can get from a book that you can't get from a television faster.

More quotes from Matilda

Question: One of the cops said Matilda would end up in a federal orphanage once Harry was in federal prison, but can't her mother take care of her? She seems to have no idea that Harry's a criminal, and also where is the evidence that the mother is involved?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Answer: She knows. Listen to her and Harry after their TV explodes: "I told you that was a cheap set." "It's not a cheap set, it's a stolen set!" She knows that Harry is a criminal.

THGhost

Answer: Also, when Zenia is talking to the cops aka speedboat salesmen, she's talking about Harry having money in banks all over the place.

Answer: Another way to tell is when Harry takes Mickie and her to his shop. She sees him using sawdust in the transmission and tells him he is doing something illegal.

That was Matilda, not Zenia. But yeah, she definitely knows what her husband is up to.

THGhost

Answer: It is questionable in what time period the movie is set, but it appears to be at least the 1970s or 1980s - or, after orphanages were replaced with group homes, foster homes, and other more child-friendly places. The threat of sending Matilda to a "federal orphanage" was designed to scare her and get her to reveal what she knew. Matilda could not be sent to a federal orphanage because they no longer existed.

KeyZOid

More questions & answers from Matilda