Former child star Mara Wilson is weighing in on possible sequels to two of her biggest hits: Matilda and Mrs. Doubtfire.
Wilson, 38, played precocious Matilda in Danny DeVito’s 1996 adaptation of Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s novel, which has since been turned into a hit musical.
The actress recently appeared at the Fanboy Expo Knoxville in Tennessee on July 12, where she said that she has considered what a potential Matilda sequel could look like.
“People always ask me about doing a Matilda 2. And that could be possible,” Wilson shared, per People. “But one thing that people always say is, ‘Oh, maybe it could be [about] Matilda’s daughter.’ And I have some issues with that, because I think Matilda’s powers come from her adversity.”
When Matilda debuted in 1996, no one knew what kind of impact it would have. The comedy, coproduced and directed by star Danny DeVito, was based on the 1988 Roald Dahl novel of the same name and starred Mara Wilson as the film’s titular protagonist. Despite the book’s popularity, the movie wasn’t a box office […]
She continued, “They come from the bad things that she went through, and the whole point is that she overcame these things. And she found power in educating herself and in making friends with these people who were really lovely … And so I don’t think Matilda would raise her daughter to be in a position where she developed those powers to protect herself.”
“Also, and this is a tricky question, but who would Matilda marry? Who’s good enough for Matilda?” Wilson added. “Matilda’s such an awesome character that I can’t imagine who she would marry and have kids with, you know?”
Wilson also starred alongside the late Robin Williams in 1993’s hit comedy Mrs. Doubtfire, playing the youngest daughter of Williams’ Daniel and Sally Field’s Miranda Hillard.
At the same convention, Wilson, who has transitioned to writing and directing as an adult, shared that she was opposed to returning for a sequel after the movie was a box office hit.
At the time, she said she told people it was “because sequels aren’t good,” adding, “And I do think that at the time, reboots and these things weren’t always as good.”
However, Wilson also had a more personal reason for not wanting to star in another Mrs. Doubtfire film.
“I’m somebody with a lot of anxiety… sometimes fans get disappointed in people. So it feels a little bit like trying to please everybody all the time,” she said. “So the pressure of being in a film again, I just thought, I can’t do that. I’m way too scared to do that.”
“I do think that we’ve seen a lot more really good reboots in maybe the past 10 years, but at the time, there was no guarantee that it was going to be any good, and I was just far too scared to be on camera again,” Wilson continued. “So that was why I didn’t want to be a part of that. It was really just my own anxiety.”
Following Williams’ death in 2014, Wilson added, “I also don’t know now if they could do a Mrs. Doubtfire 2 without Robin, you know?”
