It's been 26 years since Matilda debuted in theaters and took the world by storm, so we're going to celebrate with some cool facts you may or may not know about the movie!
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1.Matilda was almost prohibited from being made.
2.Danny DeVito did more than star in the film.
3.Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen were considered for the role of Matilda.
4.Mariska Hargitay and more were in line to play Miss Honey.
5.Robert De Niro and other big names were also in line to play Harry Wormwood.
6.Miss Trunchbull had the completely opposite effect on kids when the cameras weren't rolling.
7.Mara Wilson got extra creative on set.
8.Speaking of dolls, the name behind Miss Honey's little companion holds a special meaning.
9.Harry's hat was held down by his own weight.
10.Producers used detachable braids during the hair-spinning scene between Miss Trunchbull and Amanda Thripp.
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"We had special braids made so that we could swing her around in a wide shot," DeVito said on Matilda's VHS director's cut. "They would pop out and we'd have to glue them back on."
DeVito and the film crew also had a safe word with Jacqueline Steiger — the young actor who played Amanda. If she ever felt dizzy or uncomfortable, all she had to do is yell, "Jelly beans!"
11.Transforming Pam Ferris into Miss Trunchbull was a challenge for the makeup artist.
12.Bruce Bogtrotter ate a lot of cake on set.
TriStar Pictures
"It was a really, really fun scene to do," DeVito said about the iconic cake scene. "He ate a lot of cake. We made big, huge, wonderful cakes. This is gross, but I'm going to tell you anyway what we did with Bruce Bogtrotter (played by Jimmy Karz) — we made him stuff his face, and then we'd cut the camera [and let him spit out the cake]. If he would've eaten all that cake, he would've really exploded. I'm telling you, it was so much cake, and the cake was good, too."
To make matters worse, it's been said that Karz didn't even like chocolate cake.
13.And all that that cake eating almost didn't make it into the film.
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Matilda's screenwriter, Robin Swicord, revealed, "There were times when, in the budgeting process particularly, [producers] were going, 'Do we really need the Bruce Bogtrotter scene with the chocolate cake?' Because it doesn't move the story forward. But I really loved that scene because his superpower was that he could eat a lot of chocolate cake."
The scene took so long to film that the call sheet had an infinity symbol written under the start and end times section.
14.Mara Wilson's mom died before Matilda was released.
15.DeVito showed Wilson's mom an unofficial copy of Matilda before she died.
16.The portrait of Miss Honey's dad is actually of a real person.
17.Wilson was really nervous to film the "Little Bitty Pretty One" dance scene.
18.The squint Matilda did before she used her powers had a special name on set.
19.The chalk really was floating in the air during the blackboard scene.
20.Ferris almost lost part of her finger while filming.
21.Ferris went on to play another villainous character involved with kids who had special powers.
22.Arnold Schwarzenegger almost made a cameo.
23.Lastly, Matilda actually loses her powers in the book.
Which fact were you most surprised by? Tell us in the comments below!
Did we miss a Matilda fact that you love? Share it in the comments!
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