Danny DeVito has played a roster of iconic roles, from Frank Reynolds to The Penguin. But there’s one world to which he’s always wanted to return: Matilda.
The classic 1996 kids movie is cherished round the world, sparking hums and whistles of Rusted Root’s Send Me On My Way at the mere mention of it.
As well as starring as the fiendish Harry Wormwood, DeVito also directed the movie – and it turns out, he’d quite like to do another.
Based on Roald Dahl’s seminal 1988 book, Matilda follows the story of the titular child (Mara Wilson), a young bookworm with magical powers constantly bearing the brunt of nasty adults, whether it be her mum and dad or the terrifying Miss Trunchbull (Pam Ferris).
DeVito starred as one half of Matilda’s sleazy, TV dinner-loving parents, alongside Cheers star and wife Rhea Perlman.
In an interview with ComicBook ahead of the upcoming Jumanji: The Next Level, DeVito and his co-star Danny Glover were asked which of their past works they would like to revisit.
DeVito said:
I always wanted to do Matilda 2, but when the kid was still a kid. But that was like 20 years ago, 25 years ago. Maybe Matilda has a kid and we can do something with that, I don’t know.
Wilson isn’t a little girl anymore: at the age of 32, her days of whirling chocolates out of an evil woman’s window are probably over. Unless they put together a story such as DeVito said, where Matilda has her own child, a reboot would be far more likely.
Fortunately, Netflix are brewing up a whole load of animated Roald Dahl adaptations in the future, including Matilda.
Melissa Cobb, Vice President of Kids and Family Content at Netflix, said:
Immersing ourselves in the extraordinary worlds of Roald Dahl stories has been an honor and a massive amount of fun, and we are grateful for the trust the Roald Dahl Story Company and the Dahl family have placed in our team to deliver more moments of shared joy to families around the world.
We have great creative ambition to re-imagine the journeys of so many treasured Dahl characters in fresh, contemporary ways with the highest quality animation and production values.
Looking at DeVito’s filmography, one role in particular sticks out: The Penguin in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns. Dressed in magnificent prosthetics and make-up, the character became hugely popular after the actor’s fantastic performance.
He’ll be played by Colin Farrell in Matt Reeves’ upcoming The Batman, with Robert Pattinson starring as the caped crusader.
Commenting on the casting of the villain, DeVito told ScreenRant:
Colin’s a great actor… He’s a good friend of mine. I’ve known him for many years and I think he’s going to do a great job as The Penguin. It’s going to be really interesting to see his take on it.
Jumanji: The Next Level hits UK cinemas on December 11.
If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via story@unilad.com
After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.