Emma Thompson sparked weight gain rumors after the release of Matilda the Musical, in which she played the bulky-looking and humongous antagonist, Miss Agatha Trunchbull. However, as it turns out, the actress didn’t actually gain weight for the movie but donned a fat suit to portray the character. Emma Thompson faced a lot of backlash for wearing a fat suit and prosthetics from people who believed that she should have undergone weight gain or the role should have gone to a fat woman in the first place.
Dame Emma Thompson DBE is a British actress and screenwriter. She is considered to be one of the finest actresses of her generation. And throughout her career spanning four decades, she has received numerous accolades including two Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and an Emmy Award, to show for her talent. In 2018, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for services to drama.
Some of her notable film credits consist of the Harry Potter series, Nanny McPhee, Stranger than Fiction, An Education, Men in Black 3 and the spin-off Men in Black: International, Brave, Beauty and the Beast, Cruella, and Matilda the Musical. Emma Thompson has also done numerous television shows such as Wit, Angels in America, The Song of Lunch, King Lear, and Years and Years. Besides, she has also written three Peter Rabbit children’s books as authorized by the publishers of Beatrix Potter.
One of her most important movie releases in 2022 was Matilda The Musical, in which she played the bulky-looking antagonist. The physical stature of the character she played, Miss Agatha Trunchbull, was supposed to be intimidating which is why she had to look humongous and she did. Some viewers were left wondering if she had weight gain for the role. Because that’s certainly not the way she looks otherwise. Let’s learn more about Emma Thompson’s weight gain!
Previously, we touched on the weight gain stories of Pete Doherty and Madelyn Cline.
Emma Thompson’s Weight Gain: How Much Does The Actress Weigh? Did She Wear a Fat Suit in Matilda The Musical?
Did Emma Thompson undergo weight gain for Matilda the Musical? That’s what everyone had in their minds after watching the movie. The actress stole the show in the musical movie adaptation of the 1988 Roald Dahl novel in which she played the role of an antagonist Miss Agatha Trunchbull. She is the headmistress of Crunchem Hall School, the jail-like school that Matilda’s neglectful parents enroll her in.
Miss Trunchbull is cruel and spiteful and menacing. The character is supposed to be loathsome and feared by everyone. She is supposed to terrify everyone in her vicinity, be it a child or an adult. The director of the movie said that everyone’s pulse had to quicken when she arrived, which he called the Darth Vader-type effect. For that kind of effect, she was also written to be huge which Emma Thompson is not, which is why people wondered if she had weight gain or if it was just prosthetics.
As it turned out, the Harry Potter cast did not undergo a weight gain for the movie. The reason she looked so physically imposing and intimidating and appeared so huge and daunting is because of the use of prosthetics. Emma Thompson wore a fat suit to look the part of the cruel antagonist. Her makeover to play the character was insane and she ended up looking unrecognizable in the movie.
The Fortunes of War star may not have looked that intimidating if she underwent the weight gain because her physicality would not have the pronounced look she had with the prosthetics. Makeup and prosthetics really highlighted her nose and jawline, which made her look terrifying. The effect would have been as enhanced if she went about it by gaining weight.
Miss Trunchbull used to be a strong, athletic woman in the past. She even participated in the Olympics in Hammer Throwing. So, she was to have an athletic build and a strong body. To achieve that physicality, to bring out the broad chest and the heavy shoulders, Emma Thompson was padded with more clothes. She even wore massive underwear and chest pads to look bigger. That kind of look does not seem attainable with weight gain. Trunchbull’s body is too defined for that. It always seemed to be prosthetics.
It took three hours of makeup and dressing for Emma Thompson to look the part of the physically intimidating and imposing humongous educator we see on screen. She also wore shoes with very thick soles to tower over everyone by a great measure. You might have noticed that she looked bigger than everyone else on the screen. It was never weight gain, it was the makeup, prosthetics, fat suit, thick soles, and also certain camera angles the filmmakers preferred.
The use of the fat suit generated some controversy but a lot of people enjoyed her performance regardless and think that it would not have been the same without it.
Visit House & Whips to read more interesting stories about your favorite celebs.
