Trivia / The Secret Garden (1993)

• Ability over Appearance: Mary is a blonde in the books, but is played by the brunette Kate Maberly, who captures her withdrawn attitude perfectly.
• Actor-Shared Background:
  • Colin Craven is the son of wealthy parents who lives in a Big Fancy House. His actor Heydon Prowse likewise came from a wealthy background.
  • Both Laura Crossley and Andrew Knott are Yorkshire natives, like their characters Martha and Dickon, and use their natural accents on screen.
• Darkhorse Casting: Kate Maberly had virtually no acting experience when she was cast as the lead Mary Lennox.
• Dawson Casting: Heydon Prowse was nearly thirteen playing the ten-year-old Colin.
• Enforced Method Acting: For the scene near the end where Mary cries in the meadow, they filmed it in winter (despite the summer setting) and Kate Maberly was shivering with the cold. She says that helped get her into the mindset of a little girl not used to crying
• Executive Meddling: Agniezka Holland claims she was forced to add in a few shots of flowers or animals running around to "brighten things up", to her displeasure.
• Fake Brit:
  • Mary's mother and Lilias are both played by Swiss-French actress Irene Jacob.
  • Played with by Northern Irish John Lynch as Lord Craven. Northern Ireland is part of Britain, so instead of a Fake Brit he's Fake English.
• Follow the Leader:
  • The film adaptation came about because producer Fred Roos saw Beauty and the Beast getting a Best Picture nomination, and realised the appeal of a family film that could appeal to adults artistically.
  • The success of this also led to adaptations of Black Beauty (which Andrew Knott also starred in) and A Little Princess.
• I Am Not Spock: Kate Maberly starred in plenty of other things - including Finding Neverland - but she's best known as Mary. Even in her thirties, she's still recognised as Mary.
• Looping Lines: There are a few lines of Mary's that are obviously dubbed in, presumably to make it clearer why she's doing certain things. The most obvious are her saying "look what I found" to the robin in the garden, and "no one wants me" as she runs away towards the end.
• Never Work with Children or Animals: Averted for the most part, Word of God saying one can avoid the problems with the former if you "don't make mistakes with the casting". The only mild trouble was filming the scene of the children dancing around the fire - as Kate Maberly was reluctant to dance, and so holds the lantern for that, and all three child actors kept Corpsing. It came full force in the scene of Mary and Dickon bringing Colin down the stairs into the garden, surrounded by loads of animals. The animals kept getting in the way of Heydon Prowse's chair, the crow kept defecating on Andrew Knott and it required about twenty-seven takes because of all the Corpsing.
• One-Book Author: Heydon Prowse, who played Colin, did only this film and a couple of shorts until, as an adult, he became involved in political satire and is now much better known for that in England.
• Playing Against Type: Directing example; Agniezka Holland had previously directed two very heavy dramas. Olivier, Olivier was about a disappeared child and Identity Amnesia, and Europa Europa about a Holocaust survivor. She opted to direct this to focus on something slightly lighter.
• Playing Their Own Twin: Mary's mother and Colin's mother, who are sisters in this version, are both played by Irène Jacob.
• Promoted Fanboy: Screenwriter Caroline Thompson was a big fan of the book. Ditto for director Agniezka Holland.
• Real Life Writes the Hairstyle: Kate Maberly had short hair at the time, so she wears a wig as Mary.
• Reality Subtext: Anrew Knott and Kate Maberly had a mutual crush, and the latter joked that leaked out into some of their scenes together. Their Held Gaze moment when Colin is taking a picture of Mary and Dickon was a Throw It In! from Agniezka Holland when she picked up on it.
• Stunt Casting: Maggie Smith's role as Medlock was to give the movie a name up against four unknown child actors - as she had just starred in the hit Sister Act. Word of God however says she was also right for the part.
• Throw It In!: Mary giving Colin a kiss was thought up on the spot once Agnieszka Holland saw the chemistry between them in the shot. Note that it cuts quite quickly to Colin, because Kate Maberley broke character and said "what?" before doing it.
• Typecasting: Andrew Knott also played a Victorian farm boy who's good with animals in another children's book adaptation the next year - as Joe in Black Beauty.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Kirsten Dunst auditioned for the role of Mary Lennox, which went to Kate Maberly. She later stated that she was "sobbing on the floor" when she didn't get it.
  • Elijah Wood was also turned down for the role of Colin Craven.
  • John Lynch apparently came on board at the last minute, after the original actor dropped out.

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