A Behind-The-Scenes Look At How The Iconic Pigtail Scene In “Matilda” Was Filmed Is Going Mega Viral, And You Have GOT To See It
“If I start to get dizzy, do you know what the code word is? JELLYBEANS!”
We all know the classic ’90s movie Matilda, starring Danny Davito and Mara Wilson. The movie was co-produced and directed by Danny DeVito himself, and it is based on the 1988 Roald Dahl novel Matilda.
The movie has a lot of standout moments, like when Miss Trunchbull forces poor Bruce to eat a giant chocolate cake in one sitting.
Another highly-remembered scene is when Miss Trunchbull confronts little Amanda Thripp.
After Miss Trunchbull questions her pigtails, Amanda explains that her “mommy thinks they’re cute,” but Trunchbull insists she must chop them off. Amanda then gets swung her around by her pigtails for responding with “but.”
After spinning around around several times, Trunchbull releases Amanda into the air. The students call this move the “hammer throw.”
Thankfully, Amanda lands safely in a field of flowers.
And millions of people are just now discovering a very neat BTS look at how that scene was filmed in a recently resurfaced Danny DeVito interview. “We had a crane. A very, very big crane. It came up and went down,” he explains.
He went on to share that Jaqueline Steiger — who played Amanda Thripp — was put in a harness, and she loved it.
“But the thing about Jaqueline that I remember really well is that she read constantly. She read as much as Matilda. She read a lot of books,” said Danny. And you can see in the BTS clip her reading in between takes!
When they start the spin, the cameraman can be heard repeating, “That looks sensational.” You can then hear someone else on set say, “You okay Jaqueline?” Overall, the set seemed like a very safe place, and everyone wanted to make sure Jaqueline was comfortable.
