Tim Minchin: "Matilda changed my life"

10 October 2022, 16:35 | Updated: 13 October 2022, 16:28

Tim Minchin on working on Matilda and the impact on his career!

The musician and songwriter has been telling Chris Moyles about the movie version of his hit musical.

Tim Minchin was the guest on The Chris Moyles Show this morning (Monday 10th October) and he has revealed that the big budget movie version of the musical Matilda will have a brand new song at the end!

Tim wrote the music and lyrics for the stage show, which was based on the Roald Dahl book opened back in 2010 - and there's now a movie adaptation of the musical, which opens in November.

"It's incredible," Tim told Chris. "We have Emma Thompson playing The Trunchbull and this extraordinary young actress, Alisha Weir, playing Matilda. And there's Lashana Lynch, who is suddenly one of the biggest actors in the world, playing Miss Honey. It's incredibly cool and quite eccentric, and heartbreakingly moving."

Roald Dahl's Matilda The Musical - Official Trailer - Only In Cinemas November 25

Minchin didn't have a lot to do with the making of the film, as he saya: "Firstly, when you make a movie adaptation of a musical, the thing you don't change too much are the songs. Secondly, I was stuck in Australia, so I couldn't even get over here for the filming.

However, there was one thing Tim could reveal about his involvement with Matilda: "I did write a new song, it's got a new song on the end! Film's a different medium and it has a new tune."

It's now 12 years since Matilda opened in Stratford-upon-Avon and since then, Tim's career has changed from comedian to fully-fledged songwriter of musical theatre.

He says: "At the time, I thought 'That will be a nice side hustle'. But it was the thing that altered my life, because it ended up being this big thing in UK culture. Millions have people have seen the show, which has allowed me to take myself a bit more seriously as a songwriter.

"It's the thing that changed my life. Talk about me not getting pigeon-holed, I was just getting known as a comedian and this project came along where I got to write songs for a Royal Shakespeare Company adaptation of this famous story."

Matilda opens in the UK on 25th November.