The internet seemed to have a conniption over child actress Mara Wilson not wanting to appear in a Mrs. Doubtfire sequel.
My first question: What happened to Mara Wilson?
Let’s all feel old for a second: Mara Wilson is a grown-ass woman. She is 26 years old.
So I did my research. I’ve followed her on Twitter and read her blog, Mara Wilson Writes Stuff and she is freaking hilarious. And an awesome writer; she writes for Cracked.com. She also appeared on NPR last year; you should listen.
Wilson was an exceptionally talented child actress. I mean, Matilda?! A Simple Wish?! She was an idol to my generation!! But she doesn’t act anymore.
And that’s ok!
(Side note: for any A Simple Wish fans out there, remember how cute Charlie was?! Le sigh.)
If the gods of Hollywood woke up one day and randomly thought a sequel to Mrs. Doubtfire, which came out in 1993, is artistically justified, Wilson does not have to bow down just because she played the part over 20 years ago! Side note: According to Huff Post, former actress Lisa Jakub, who played Wilson’s older sister Lydia, also would not appear in the film.
What annoys me about people’s incessant need to turn everything into a big deal. Yes, she was a bit sassy when it came to her Twitter remarks, but so what?! She’s not allowed to be sassy or direct about her feelings? And honestly, she’s right. Does the world seriously need a sequel to Mrs. Doubtfire? Let’s be serious.
Considering what we’ve seen with what can happen to childhood actresses, Wilson clearly took a different direction in life. She also works with the charity Publicolor, which is a “youth development non-for profit that uniquely engages disaffected students in their education.” Check out their website Publicolor.org; it’s pretty awesome.
But I do have to take a moment to say that although I think it’s dumb and disrespectful to Wilson, who has a right to a life post-child stardom, to say that part of the hype is because, we miss her, or at least, I do. She’s so cool and talented and kicked ass in all of her films. Plus, I think all of us really do miss the 90s — a lot.
But we all gotta just accept that we’re old and Wilson hasn’t appeared in film since 2000. Be happy that she’s doing ok and if you miss her like I do, enjoy her Twitter.
Screenshots from Twitter, Images from Wikipedia, NPR, and FanPop.
