Netflix's Matilda movie finds its leading star and casts Miss Trunchbull
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Emma Thompson has been cast in Netflix's upcoming adaptation of Tim Minchin's award-winning musical Matilda, as the movie also lines up its lead.
The Love Actually actor has signed on to play antagonist Miss Trunchbull, a mean-spirited headmistress who has a penchant for throwing her pupils around by their pigtails and locking unruly children in a spike-covered cupboard.
In the stage production, the character was played by Bertie Carvel but according to the Daily Mail, the team's film decided early on that "the best gender to play a woman should be a woman."
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Based on the book of the same name by Roald Dahl, Matilda centres on a super-bright orphan who discovers she has magical abilities while living with her cousin and TV-obsessed, neglectful aunt and uncle, the Wormwoods.
At the same time as announcing Thompson's involvement, Netflix also confirmed that relative newcomer Alisha Weir would be playing the titular youngster, while Lashana Lynch (who is best known for playing Maria Rambeau in Captain Marvel and will, at some point, be seen in No Time to Die) will portray Matilda's kind teacher Miss Honey.
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Mara Wilson and Embeth Davidtz brought the characters to life in the original 1996 outing, respectively.
It has previously been reported that Netflix will distribute the title everywhere except in the UK, where TriStar Pictures will distribute theatrically. Matthew Warchus (Pride) is directing, working from a script by Dennis Kelly (The Third Day).
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