MATILDA movie musical confirmed. — Page 4

Globefan said: "Maybe Mara Wilson can play Mrs. Wormwood"

I mean, she's been pretty public about having no desire to return to acting, and I don't think there's any evidence to show that she has the vocal or dance abilities to pull of the role as written.

Sacha Baron Cohen would be a decent candidate for Mr. Wormwood! I think it would be really interesting to see his real life wife Isla Fisher play Mrs. Wormwood with him.

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brian1973 said: "Raph Fiennes is no longer Trunchbull. They are scrabbling round to find a woman to play the role as they fear a huge backlash from the trans community which could be really bad publicity."

There’s really no reason Trunchbull can’t be played be a woman; cis, trans, or non-binary. Pam Ferris was iconic in the original film, and it’s very much an intentionally androgynous performance. I don’t mind Ralph Fiennes not repeating his Voldemort performance in a different costume either.

On stage, Trunchbull being played by a man is a panto tradition and works as a gag. If you’re lucky, you get a really great actor to rise above that, but on film, it would feel very much like a sight gag.

Updated On: 1/8/21 at 07:38 AM

She is dreadful and would be dreadful in this. The comment about Fiennes just repeating his Voldemort is just bizarre and stupid. Are you saying he has no range? Have you seen all of his film performances?

Updated On: 1/8/21 at 10:02 AM

The Trunchbull drag performance, as it relates to trans issues, is a strange situation. From what I remember reading, they auditioned women for the role when it was in development, but they landed on casting a man partly because it was easier to find someone with a towering, imposing physique. And since then, we have had women like Beth Malone playing the role onstage.

And what's fascinating is that Bertie Carvel's magnificent performance as Trunchbull did not make any joke or gag about the gender. All of the humor came from the text and the unique character work. In fact, his performance was so transformative that many people didn't even realize the role wasn't being played by a cis woman. It was just about a performer playing a role brilliantly.

But not everyone is Bertie Carvel. From what I saw and heard of other actors in the role, none of them were able to transform like he did, so the role inevitably became about "haha, a man in a dress" which is where they venture into transphobic territory.

On film, they aren't limited by an actor's physical frame, because that is easy to manipulate on film (even without CGI). So unless they cast someone like Bertie Carvel who can do justice to the role without playing into gender jokes, there is no reason to cast a man in the role. And as much as I genuinely like Ralph Fiennes - and I believe he does have range - I'm doubtful that he can pull this off.

The stage version is probably different in terms of casting requirements because of the fact that what you see is what you get: in terms of a gigantic, sexless bodybuilding Nosferatu who can also perform feats of strength and athleticism onstage, the casting pool of large, strapping men is larger than that for large, strapping women.

But on film, you don’t need a Trunchbull that can do shotput and stunts for real.

As far as Mrs Wormwood... Adele’s non-musical hosting gig on SNL was a pretty good audition for that role.

Here for Adele as Mrs. Wormwood!!!

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If Ralph is out, Bertie SHOULD be in it. I can also see the guy who plays Prince Charles in the crown in the crown doing a good job. If they are going for a woman Kate Winslet has my vote.

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Most if the negative press & reviews for the Hairspray ‘07 version were aimed at Travolta. Not many complaints in the way of transphobia (less awareness of this in the Oughts vs. now) but mostly because his costumed/latexed/padded appearance — plus oddly the only Baltimore accent in the entire movie — stood out from the rest. The film was more “naturalistic” than the stage show, as adaptations often are, and it just didn’t translate.

This was one of the reasons I was surprised Fiennes’ name was being tossed about.

Updated On: 1/8/21 at 04:33 PM

I'm in the camp that other than having Bertie recreate the role for the film, there's no reason to stick with the male in drag casting conceit for this movie. As has been stated previously in the thread, one of the main reasons given for casting men in the role was because they wanted that towering stature, and the creatives did state they were still open to considering the right female actor who had that kind of physique.

It's super easy to create that type of physique in film through a variety of techniques, from creative camera angles, forced perspective shots, even the classic standing on an apple crate out of frame. They also don't have to cast the older students with adults, which was done to help reduce the associated running costs with child guardians and other labor restrictions, but can use a variety of older kids and young teens to create the student population. That also will make it easier to create that towering Trunchbull effect they wanted for the stage.

What about the woman who played the football coach on Glee? Dot-Marie Jones?

I definitely think casting a cis man in the role would be a bad idea and hope it’s true that they aren’t. The panto tradition isn’t the same on film. And the history of men playing women for comedic effect on film has not aged well and is very problematic.

Also in the interest of avoiding insensitive cinematic traditions, I hope they don’t stick whomever they cast in a fat suit of some kind.

My first thought was Leslie Jones. She’s got the height to be imposing and she’s hilarious. If she could pull off the British accent and the songs, she would be my choice. Tilda Swinton would also be fun. And, I know she’s not a household name, but wasn’t Missi Pyle rumored for the stage show at some point?

I think Adele as Mrs. Wormwood would be everything. Please somebody make it happen!

Missy Pyle would be disgustingly perfect for this!!

Remember when she was the best thing about the bare revival?