What happened to Mara Wilson, the unforgettable girl from ‘Matilda’ who felt rejected by Hollywood for not being pretty enough – CINEMABLEND

An adaptation of Roald Dahl’s famous young adult novel of the same name, Matilda It’s one of those unforgettable movies whose child protagonist becomes a reference point for so many others and becomes part of those many childhood memories that they often think back to with nostalgia. However, despite being a true ’90s classic, the film, released in 1996 and starring Mara Wilson, Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman, It did not reap much success on its premiere and the box office revenue did not even manage to exceed the budget that was invested in it.

On MatildaHowever, we keep many memories. We remember the terrifying Headmaster Trunchbull who treated his students so badly, the sweet Miss Honey who couldn’t live up to her name better, and the tormented little boy who almost exploded while eating chocolate cake, but, If there is a face that will remain in our memory forever, it is undoubtedly that of his charming, powerful and mega-intelligent character: Matilda.an absolutely neglected little girl who does not find the necessary stimuli at home.

The person responsible for bringing Matilda to life was the young actress Mara Wilson, a young performer who was 9 years old at the time of the film’s premiere and that he had already appeared in other quite popular films of the time. His first role was played three years earlier, when he was only 6 years old, alongside Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire, Dad for Life (1993), while he also appeared in the popular series Melrose Place and starred in the tender Christmas film The miracle in the city.

Matilda is her most famous role, but for years Mara Wilson was one of those child performers everyone seemed to want in their movie. After the adaptation of the fantasy play, Wilson will star in it the rookie fairy (1997) and Thomas and the Magic Railroad (2000), but after the latter, the young actress just disappeared.

What happened to the extraordinary and kind actress who captivated half the world with her tenderness and innocent looks? The story will be told by Mara Wilson herself, who experienced rejection that made her suffer a lot during her puberty.

Her rise to fame was swift and spectacular, and the young woman delighted in her profession, loved acting. However, in an in-depth interview with NPR many years later, Wilson would admit that perhaps things would have been much better for him if he had abandoned his dream after making Matilda. A bittersweet moment for her as it will be the high point of her career, but also coincides with the death of her mother: “Sometimes I wish I had stopped acting after Matilda. There really was nowhere to go from there. I think I was getting old and it would have been a good time to reassess things,” Wilson admitted in the interview. “But I think after my mother died I felt I had to move on because cinema was the only constant in my life. life”.

I was very depressed, I was very worried, I hardly remember the premiere of Matilda. I only have vague memories of the premiere and it was very difficult for me. So I think I definitely became disenchanted with acting, with Hollywood, and at the same time it was a crutch for me.

“My appearance was somewhere between a child and an adult”Wilson explained. “People didn’t know what to do with me and I knew it, I felt it and it hurt a lot.

Mara Wilson would also talk about this in her biography, Where I Am Now: True Stories of Childhood and Accidental Famein which he does so heartbreaking account of what often happens to many child stars and which caused her too much pain:

“I was looking at Keira (Knightley), who is two years older than me, in magazines and I thought, ‘There’s no way in two years I’ll be as hot as she is.’ Things are unlikely to have changed.” still feel that way, upset when I meet people because they seem disappointed that I’m not cute.” A) Yes, When he realized he was facing the end of his career before he even finished elementary school, Wilson says he realized he had few options:

The way I saw it, I had three choices: get cosmetic surgery and audition for funny, beautiful characters from a best friend, stay the way I was and go for scarce roles for young women, or to accept myself and give up the role. acting career in Hollywood

“When you see that someone’s last job is Thomas and the Magic Railroad when he’s only a 12-year-old boy, you think, ‘Oh, how sad,’” the actress says in her heartbreaking story. And just for this movie Wilson has some traumatic memories as his body was changing at the time: “I came on set one day after being away for a few months and people looked worried. I was horrified, I felt ashamed, I felt like I had done something wrong, even though I hadn’t. They brought out sports bras that were actually bras and were meant to support my breasts. I felt completely humiliated. When you’re in high school, when you’re a pre-teen, you always worry: Is everyone talking about me behind my back? And they were all here.”

Since then, Wilson lost more and more roles in casting calls, while other young stars began to take off in roles that would have been for their age. So Wilson decided to retire from acting and returned only twelve years later. “At university I fell asleep during my acting classes, I sabotaged myself because I was so afraid that people would see me as an actress,” she recalls of NPR around that time. “Then I started to focus more on writing. I’ve always loved to write.”

Since Wilson returned to acting in 2012, most of her roles have been in dubbing or playing herself, as well as a few cameos in more popular series such as Broad City. But most of his time is spent as a full-time writer. Mara Wilson writes her own blog, but also articles for Elle, The New York Times and numerous other publications. Also, the writer is too She is very interested in social issues and activism, often campaigning and devoting her writing to important issues related to mental health and LGBTQI issues.

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