Emma Thompson looks unrecognizable as the domineering headmistress Miss Trunchbull in “Matilda the Musical,” but achieving that look was no small feat.
At the Netflix New York premiere on Wednesday, Thompson revealed that she spends about three-and-a-half hours a day with the makeup and wardrobe departments as they apply prosthetics and intense facial fillers.
“Cruella was a long time, actually, but she was the longest,” Thompson said. diverse. “There’s an actual body suit, which gives it heft and muscle. And then huge, heavy bodysuits posing with bodices and all that. There was a lot to walk around in.”
Alisha Weir, the 13-year-old actress who plays the titular role, said she was initially intimidated when she saw Thompson in Trunchbull’s costume.
“I first saw her without all the makeup on, and then when I saw her in the makeup on, it was a little scary,” Ware said. diverse. “But I knew it when she was [opened her arms]I can go in and hug her. I knew that under all the makeup, there was Emma.”
As for director Matthew Warkus, he wasn’t keen on Thompson hugging the kids during filming.
“Matthew got really mad at me for doing that,” Thompson laughed. She remembers him saying, “Children are supposed to be afraid of you and hate you. Stop hugging them.”
With about 210 kids on set, Warchus said he sometimes felt like Trunchbull was trying to calm them down before taking a new shot.
Between work and cutting, [the children] It was always great, but in between those times, there’s often a lot of noise,” Warchus said diverse. “I tried different techniques like ringing the school bell or blowing a whistle. I thought I was getting a little Trunchbull, so in the end, we used microphones and begged them to stay still.”
The Warchus and screenwriter Dennis Kelly began discussing the idea of turning their stage adaptation of “Matilda” into a feature film shortly after its West End debut in 2011. To keep the running time under two hours, some of the original songs had to be removed. Kelly said he wasn’t afraid to cut skits because of his theatrical nature.
“We were willing to get pretty wild,” Kelly said. diverse. “The whole show concludes with two or three characters telling the audience what happened. You can only do that on screen with voiceover, and we didn’t want to do that.”
Meanwhile, Thompson is finishing up the musical theater composition for “Nanny McPhee” based on the 2005 movie she wrote and starred in.
Do what Dennis did [‘Matilda’]Thompson said. “He was doing it from theater to film, and I was doing it from film to theater. And in fact, we both agreed that it was really difficult both ways.”
“Nanny McPhee” is on track to premiere in the West End sometime in 2023. Thompson revealed that the stage production will eventually begin in Los Angeles, but a Broadway trajectory is still up in the air.
“We do not know [about a Broadway run] Thompson said. “Let’s get it in London first or out of London and then in LA. I mean, who knows? We might as well do it in my backyard. There’s no guarantee of anything in this life.”
“Matilda the Musical” begins streaming on Netflix December 25th.
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