Danny DeVito<\/a> helping her family through “something terrible” during Matilda.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Mara Wilson has reflected on Matilda filming<\/p>\n
The 38-year-old actress has reflected on her experience as a child star on the set of the 1996 classic, which was based on Roald Dahl’s iconic children’s book, and her 81-year-old castmate was a huge source of support for Mara and her loved ones off-screen.<\/p>\n
Speaking at Fanboy Expo Knoxville, she said: “[Danny] really helped me and my family when we were going through something terrible.<\/p>\n
“And they were very loving and kind, and I made so many lifelong friends on that.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd yes, there were hard days, but there were also days where it felt like summer camp, and I am still friends with the people that I worked on it today.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nDanny directed Matilda and played Harry Wormwood, the father of Mara’s title character, while his then-wife Rhea Pearlman played her mother, Zinnia.<\/p>\n
\nDuring production, Mara’s real life mother Suzie Wilson was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent treatment.<\/p>\n
\nShe died in April 1996, which was just three months before Matilda was released, leading to Danny dedicating the film in her honour.<\/p>\n
\nMara said: “I call him my favourite uncle. Matilda means the most to me because I had a lot to do.<\/p>\n
\n“It was a big responsibility. I was the title character.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIt was difficult at times, I was also going through a hard time, but as I told you, Danny DeVito did not literally adopt me \u2014 that\u2019s a myth \u2014 but he did take very good care of my family.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMeanwhile, Mara described her experience on set as “wonderful”.<\/p>\n
\nShe added: \u201cWe filmed during the summer, so I had a birthday on the set, and they gave me a cake in the shape of Matilda\u2019s red hair ribbon, and I had a really wonderful time working on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMara – who also appeared in 1993’s Mrs Doubtfire and 1994’s Miracle on 34th Street – previously revealed she “always felt safe” on film sets, despite the struggles of fame and life as a child star in the public eye.<\/p>\n
\nWriting for The Guardian, she said: “From ages five to 13, I was a child actor.<\/p>\n
\n“And while as of late we\u2019ve heard many horror stories about the abusive things that happened to child actors behind the scenes, I always felt safe while filming.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"20 July 2026 Mara Wilson has recalled Danny DeVito helping her family through “something terrible” during Matilda. Mara Wilson has reflected on Matilda filming The 38-year-old actress has reflected on her experience as a child star on the set of the 1996 classic, which was based on Roald Dahl’s iconic children’s book, and her 81-year-old […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":252673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2807,16161,16162],"class_list":{"0":"post-252672","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-make-up","8":"tag-danny-devito","9":"tag-mara-wilson","10":"tag-rhea-pearlman"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}