| “There is something you should understand about the way I work. When you need me, but do not want me… then I must stay. When you want me, but no longer need me… then I have to go.”
A charming family fantasy in the Mary Poppins mold, Nanny McPhee is a darkly comic fairy tale with a good heart, enchanting visuals and a wonderful sense of humour. Adapted by Oscar-winning screenwriter Emma Thompson from Christianna Brand’s little known but well respected Nurse Matilda stories, the movie stars Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson as the magical no-nonsense nanny of the title.
The beleaguered single father of seven naughty children, Cedric Brown (Colin Firth) needs help, and fast. Enter Nanny McPhee (Thompson), a warty portrait in witchiness with an enchanted walking stick and a gift for taming the wildest of youngsters. Committed to imparting five important lessons before leaving the Browns’ to their own devices, Nanny McPhee aims to teach Cedric’s unruly brood to go to bed when they’re told, to get up when they’re told, to get dressed when they’re told, to listen and finally, to do what they’re told. A tall order for these kids, past masters at chasing their nannies away, but then they’ve never dealt with a witch before…
As universally appealing as the original books, Nanny McPhee is just as much fun for grown ups as it is for kids. Producer Lindsay Doran elaborates. “What parents would not want to have somebody around who could bang a stick and make their children good? And what group of children wouldn’t want a magical person to come into their house, even if they were on the wrong end of her magic for a while? It’s just fun to have somebody around who can bang a stick and make a donkey dance.”
According to Thompson, the process of adapting Brand’s books involved even more “blood, sweat and tears” than her adaptation of Sense and Sensibility. Nanny McPhee, she says, “was much more a creation, because the books don’t have any plot. There are so many disciplines: drama, comedy, physical comedy, farce and spookiness. But the process has been much more beguiling than anything I’ve ever done before, because it’s so multilayered.”
Director Kirk Jones was similarly impressed, only with Thompson’s screenplay. “When I read Nanny McPhee, I knew immediately that this was a project that I wanted to direct. It had a great sense of theater and magic; it was full of charm, humor and emotion, but above all, it was obvious to me that it had been carefully crafted and nurtured in a way which already made it feel like a classic.”
After a seven-year journey from conception to production, Thompson finally appeared at a costume test in full Nanny McPhee regalia - complete with two large ears, two hairy warts, thick eyebrows that join in the middle and what Christianna Brand described as “a nose like two potatoes and a tombstone tooth.”
“Suddenly, two days before we started filming, this complete stranger turned up and introduced herself as Nanny McPhee,” remembers Jones. “The minute she came onto the set, the effect was so moving,” adds Doran. “The character just grew out of the look. Suddenly there was a voice and an accent and a way of moving and a tilt of the head that belonged entirely to Nanny McPhee. She doesn’t blink. She looks at people as though she’s never quite seen people before, a weird way of observing that has a slight otherworldly, space alien quality. And none of this had been there in any of the other incarnations that we’d seen while she was rehearsing with the children.”
“It just wasn’t Emma,” concludes Jones. “With most actors, no matter how convincing their performance, you can identify them beneath the surface. When I saw Nanny McPhee, the disguise was so complete, and Emma’s posture and performance were so convincing that I couldn’t see Emma Thompson anywhere, not even beneath the disguise.”
A captivating family fantasy with a distinguished supporting cast – Angela Lansbury, Derek Jacobi, Celia Imrie and Imelda Staunton among them – Nanny McPhee awaits your invitation. Simply add it to your list and wait for the magic to arrive.
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