Disney sent me on an all expense paid trip for the Red Carpet Premier of The BFG. All opinions are 100% my own.
How often do you get to interview the Queen? Well, I got to interview the Queen in The BFG movie- Penelope Wilton (“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” “Downton Abbey”), and Rebecca Hall (“The Gift,” “Iron Man 3”). My whole morning was full of surprises and laughs. Penelope and Rebecca kept that fun vibe going. The two of them were delightful and I think they had just as much fun as we did!
As with Mr. Spielberg and Mark Rylance, Penelope and Rebecca had NOT seen The BFG Pop Vinyl toy. It just draws them in from the second they saw him. They loved that he was so “big-headed” that he couldn’t stand up.
Our favorite question of the morning was how you got to be involved in The BFG.
When Steven Spielberg calls and wants YOU to be in his movie- What do you say?
Penelope said of course I said yes.
“If Steven Spielberg wants you to do a movie, you do it.”
Rebecca agreed.
“I got a call saying it’s not a very big part but he has asked specifically for you to do it, so I’m like well, I’ll do it, of course I will.” She also said yes because she loved The BFG as a child.
We chatted with Penelope about how she juggled 2 roles- Downtown Abby and The BFG.
She said “They were very accommodating and they said, because I was going to be in the middle of the shoot- he sort of worked around me a bit. When I was playing the Queen it was all very upper class. “
One thing I learned about Penelope was that she was asked to be a Dame. We asked her what it was like:
“Well, it’s rather surreal actually, to be quite honest with you, being a dame.”
Penelope was very engaging and funny. She really enjoyed her Queen costume!
“What I found so interesting is that I started to walk like the Queen once I was in my costume,” adds Wilton. When designing the Queen’s wardrobe, Johnston sought out small details which would help articulate the subtle line between a child’s fantasy and the royal palace. Says Wilton, “Because these characters exist in another world, my character wears necklaces, earrings and diadems that are just slightly larger than those that would be worn in real life.” The costume designer fitted Wilton with a wig that was an exact replica of the one worn by the current Queen of England and gloves that were made by the Queen’s glove maker and a bag by the Queen’s bag maker. “The details were just extraordinary,” Wilton raves.
After we got to meet Ruby and loved her, we wanted to know how it was to work with Ruby.
Penelope loved her just as much as we did!
“Oh she’s a darling. Well, we both loved working with her and Rebecca will tell you, she’s got the most wonderful sense of humor and she’s a lovely girl. She also takes direction very well.”
Rebecca said:
“She was a consummate professional and she was brilliant. I remember her knowing everyone’s name- even the crew. She would come in in the morning and ask how are you doing, Jim.”
“She gave me a nickname because of my purple dress. I was Purple Swan for some reason.”
We asked the ladies if they had a favorite scene, personal scene from the movie:
Penelope loved the dreams!
“I like the dreams, because it’s written in the book that they catch the dreams but Steven made the dreams so beautiful. I loved it when they go under the water. I thought that was a lovely sequence but there were so many.”
Rebecca had a much more entertaining answer! Her’s had to do with the Frobscottle drink- with bubbles going down instead of up.
“When you have a problem with wind, is probably my favorite scene.”
Penelope enjoyed that scene as well: “And we had fun playing that scene because Rafe had to do his, his proper moment before we did ours, so we all gazed at him while he did his. It’s a private moment that you don’t often see. “
The story has so many lessons. What is something you want people to get from this story, from the movie?
I love hearing how each actor had a different way they looked at the meaning of the story. It’s all heart-warming and wonderful!
Penelope said: “I want people to enjoy being taken to that world because it’s a wonderful story written by a great storyteller meeting another great storyteller and a visual storyteller.
It is people learning to understand themselves and learn that you, you have to just believe in yourself.”
Penelope went on to tell us about how special Sophie’s relationship was with The BFG.
“They both of them understand that they are outside the norm and they give each other confidence and when you have confidence in yourself you can take on the world!”
Our group wanted to know what makes the film special for them:
Both admitted working together was special.
Penelope was appreciative to Steven Spielberg for including her in the film. She said: “It’s wonderful to be part of something that I hope a lot of young children will remember like they did “E.T.”
Rebecca said: “For me personally, it’s the combination of two such hugely influential people in my childhood, Roald Dahl and Steven Spielberg. As a child, those were, the creative output of both those people really influenced me.”
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Be sure to read my Red Carpet Premier HERE, my interview with Steven Spielberg and Ruby Barnhill HERE, and my interview with Mark and Jemaine HERE.