History Trivia / Matilda

** Also, Matilda is supposedly a 5-year-old, but is played by kids aged 9 to 12. Most of them are OlderThanTheyLook. Original Matilda Kerry Ingram could pass as a young girl on her own, but next to the others, not so much, leading to taller, older actors cast in the parts of older children.
*** A special mention goes to Sophia Kiely who was 12 by the time she left, looking nothing like her age.

* RecycledTrailerMusic: One of the early trailers for the film featured Harry Belafonte's "Jump in the Line," perhaps best known as the ending theme from ''Film/{{Beetlejuice}}''. An instrumental of "[[WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas What's This?]]" was also used in that same trailer. The trailer also used the score from the movie Hook.

* ThrowItIn: A minor example; As Matilda prepares to go on her first day of school she wears a blue sweater, but Creator/MaraWilson thought it was too itchy and didn't like wearing it. So for the next scene when she gets in the car, she took off the sweater and left it folded on her lap.

** Creator/MaraWilson has said that multiple fans still call her 'Matilda', prompting her to remind them that Matilda is a character and doesn't really exist. However she does affirm that Matilda was quite close to her real personality; one of the reasons she wanted to play her in the first place. It was also her favourite role, and the film she is proudest of, so she has embraced this as the years have gone by.

!![[{{Literature/Matilda}} The book]]

* DirectedByCastMember: Creator/DannyDeVito is the director, the narrator, and Harry Wormwood, as well as serving as one of the producers.

** Creator/MaraWilson has said that multiple fans still call her 'Matilda', prompting her to remind them that Matilda is a character and doesn't really exist. However she does affirm that Matilda was quite close to her real personality; one of the reasons she wanted to play her in the first place.

* VocalEvolution: On the original soundtrack, Bertie Carvel's voice is much rougher, but when the production moved to Broadway he adopted a more high-pitched, womanchild tone.

* OnSetInjury: Pam Ferris had to go to the hospital three times during filming. Once when filming the scene where she was beaten by chalkboard erasers because a piece of chalk dust got in her eye and had to be flushed out two separate times. And the third was when Thrunbull throws Amanda Thripp by her pigtails, the rig that let her do it nearly ripped off the top of one of her fingers and she needed 8 stitches to reattach it.

* ActingForTwo: Danny [=DeVito=] plays both Mr Wormwood and narrates the story.

** This movie became a staple of Creator/{{Freeform}}'s 31 Nights of Halloween in 2019, usually airing every other day.

* AdoredByTheNetwork: For some reason, Creator/DisneyChannel Latin America loved to put this movie on weekends during the early 2010's. And in the early 2020's, they started doing it again, although this time during random days of the week.

* AdoredByTheNetwork: For some reason, Creator/DisneyChannel Latin America loved to put this movie on weekends during the early 2010's. And in the early 2020's, they started doing it again.

* AdoredByTheNetwork: For some reason, Creator/DisneyChannel Latin America loved to put this movie on weekends during the early 2010's.

* AccentDepundent: "School Song" features words which sound like letters of the alphabet in order (e.g. "'''I''' have suffered in this '''ja'''il I've been trapped inside this '''ca'''ge for ages, This living ''''ell'''"). The letter "R" is represented by "asked", which doesn't work in any rhotic accent or, for that matter, in the north of England, and "Z" is represented by "Phy'''s-ed'''", using "Zed" instead of "Zee".

** In today's age where everyone (even school-age children) has a cell phone with a camera, Miss Trunchbull's violent actions against the kids "whom nobody would believe if you would have told them" wouldn't remain a DarkSecret long, as they'd undoubtedly catch these actions and post them to Website/YouTube, Website/{{Facebook}}, Instagram and Website/{{Twitter}}, and this would prompt a lot of police visits to the school.

* PromotedFangirl: Creator/MaraWilson mentioned that she and her siblings were longtime fans of the book, and that she put a very serious effort into doing the role properly as the book and character meant so much to her. It is the role she is most identified with, feels is the closest to her real personality, and in the role in which she feels she gave her best performance. She later gave her approval and acclaim to ''Matilda The Musical''.

** Creator/EmbethDavidtz seems to be heavily associated with Miss Honey too. Despite starring in acclaimed films like ''Film/SchindlersList'', ''Film/BridgetJonesDiary'' and ''{{Film/Junebug}}'', and appearing on shows like ''Series/MadMen'' (at least two of these roles have her playing less likable, AlphaBitch characters) - plenty of news articles will still refer to her as 'Miss Honey from ''Matilda'''.

* BeautyInversion: The sweet faced Pam Ferris as the ugly and evil Mrs. Trunchbull.