Thanks for staying with us
for this latest episode of "The Broadway Show."
(gentle piano music)
♪ When I grow up ♪
Once upon a time, there was a little girl
(dramatic music)
who was trapped.
(adults laughing)
♪ When I grow up ♪
This is the story of her great escape
(uplifting music)
A new telling of Roald Dahl, "Matilda the Musical"
arrives on the big screen this month,
and it'll hit Netflix Christmas Day.
The musical movie stars Oscar winner Emma Thompson
and 13-year-old Alisha Weir in the title role.
Let's go ahead and check back in with Paul Wontorek.
M-A-T-I-L-D-A.
Alisha, it's so nice to meet you.
You know, when this was a stage musical
four actresses had to share this role.
How does it feel to get to play Matilda all by yourself?
It feels amazing. Very surreal.
I can't believe it, and, like since I've got the part
and now that it's coming out soon, it hasn't sunk in yet.
And like, there were so many incredible kids
that must have auditioned,
so I don't know how it happened,
but I'm grateful that it did happen.
When I was editing the film,
I was looking at everything that we shot,
and Alisha's got so many different facial expressions
and emotions, such a wide range that I said to the editor,
it's like having 10 different actresses playing Matilda.
(Matthew and Alisha laugh)
She covers so many different things.
Alisha was born in Dublin, probably around the time
that you started working on this project.
Thank you, Paul. (laughs)
What was that like to find her,
and to expand your very theatrical stage version
to the more literal film world? Beautifully, I might add.
Well, it was exciting, you know, often, you're not allowed
as the theater director isn't the same person
that directs the film.
They give it to somebody else. And I understand that.
I understand why, because you've got to really
let go of a lot of things
and see it in a completely new way.
But I think because I'd lived with the stage show
for over 12 years now,
it was possible. I had enough time to reconceive it
and to let go of some of the things
that I love or even betray some of the things
that I felt so passionately about first time.
And just think of the story in a new light, as a gift,
as an opportunity, as a privilege.
To be able to imagine a story that I loved in a new way
and to let my imagination kind of fly free.
Matthew, I feel like since I saw the musical on Broadway
the world has actually seen a lot of tyrants
and you know, I just saw a video of school children in Iran
chasing their head mistress.
Do you feel like Matilda actually has more to say
about the world than maybe some people expect it to?
I think it possibly does, and I think maybe it's a message
of hope that we kind of deserve or need at the moment,
in that regard.
But yeah, it was interesting because I decided
that I wanted a statue of Trunchbull outside the school.
And of course, if you put a statue of Trunchbull
outside the school, then in "Revolting Children"
it's got to be pulled down, obviously.
And at that very time, you know,
there was a whole lot of things going down with people
pulling down statues and monuments,
and it felt like history was kind of converging.
So yeah, there were certain sort of hidden messages
about tyranny, oppression, and the fight for freedom
that are always contained within the story.
One of the things I love about it, it's always been there,
but maybe in a film right now I have slightly dialed
those things up possibly. Yeah.
Alisha, Emma Thompson as Miss Trunchbull is really mean
to you on-screen, but I know she's a nice lady.
What was it like seeing her on camera
and then dealing with her off camera?
When I first saw her with all, like, her prosthetics
and, like, her costume on, I was a bit scared
but then when she started talking to me
I knew that underneath all of it, there was Emma down there.
And when we were filming it was like two completely
different people. There was like Emma, and then Trunchbull,
and like when they'd say, "Action."
and she'd switch into the character of Trunchbull
it was so real and it was kind of scary.
But when they said, "Cut." she'd switch back into Emma.
(dramatic music)