In news that may cause you to feel very old, Roald Dahl’s children’s classic “Matilda” is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its release.
Surely, that milestone is inducing retrospect among those who have adored it, but no one is feeling it more than Mara Wilson, who portrayed the titular troublemaker in the 1996 film adaptation. It was a role that catapulted Wilson to cult fame at the impressionable age of eight and one that has informed her life every day since.
“From elementary school to college, I heard that at least once a week,” Wilson says in a self-penned piece for Vanity Fair, of constant requests to “Show us your magic powers!”
While Wilson remembers the character fondly—as well as the experience of shooting the film and her fellow actors on set—she does admit to the pressures that accompany such an influential role.
“I wonder if, like me, Matilda ever felt trapped by her past,” she says, pondering where her fictional counterpart might be today. “I wonder if she ever felt like she was lost or floundering, like I did in my teens and early 20s. She has known what it is to be a hero, a prodigy, a genius. How many children labeled ‘gifted’ suffer when they grow up?”
Ultimately, Wilson believes she and Matilda both traversed extraordinary youths and, through good and bad, emerged on the other side better for it.
“When I was a child, deeply immersed in the grown-up world on film sets, I made a pact with myself to become the kind of adult who respects children,” she says. “I believe Matilda must have made this pact with herself, too.”
Did you portray a character as a child actor that has stayed with you throughout your acting career? Let us know!
Check out Backstage's casting calls!