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Seven years after making his debut with Waking Ned, former commercials helmer Kirk Jones returned to the director's chair for the "quirky" children's fable Nanny McPhee. Emma Thomspon wrote the script as well as starring as the titular childminder who's hired to tame the naughtiest children in England. It got a warm welcome at home, but was also a surprise hit across the pond.
Nanny State
Finding the right kids to play the Brown brood was obviously crucial, so it's given detailed focus in a 12-minute featurette. Jones presents audition tapes from his nationwide quest with casting director Pippa Hall. Once the roles had been filled, dialogue coach Celia Bannerman prepares the children for the day-to-day rigours of filmmaking. But it wasn't all work, work, work. Jones and Emma Thompson take them on daytrip to a farm where they bond with each other and the animals they'll be working with. "It's just making sure they all get on," says Thompson, "Although inevitably, in any family, there will be patches when they don't."
While the children (mostly) get on, the colours clash wildly on a boldly designed set erected in the middle of a scrubby field in Buckinghamshire. The Village Life featurette records the progress of the design team as they set about building the Brown house and nearby funeral parlour with a neon baroque sensibility that would make even Laurence L Bowen's eyes water. But as Jones rightly points out, it all "helps to promote the idea of the story as a fairytale". And it's amazing to see an entire village take shape in such an uninspiring wasteland.
If the village is designed to promote the fairytale, Thompson's makeup job promotes the nightmare. She sits patiently as layers of latex are applied to her face along with a smattering of warts and a nose described in Christianna Brand's original book as looking like "two potatoes". Makeup artist Peter King explains, "It's supposed to be scary, but not too scary."
McPheersome
In a jovial commentary with producer Lindsay Doran, Thompson elaborates on perfecting that balance between what's funny and what's scary. She reveals that in an early draft of the script she had one of the children dump the Brown baby in a pot of boiling soup! That was eventually cut because, as Doran explains, the censors thought it was just plain irresponsible. (Fair dos, really.) Of course Thompson also talks about the "strange" experience of acting beneath all that latex with every hour that passed "having to be hosed down like an elephant".
Jones hosts an alternative track with the kids, but only manages to squeeze in a few insights between repeated utterances of, "Can I go to the toilet?" and ticking off the boys off for eating crisps too close to the microphone. Thankfully he's uninterrupted for the introductions to seven deleted scenes, which include a cameo from Waking Ned's David Kelly. He explains that it was tough to cut because Kelly journeyed all the way over from Ireland just to shoot this 25-second bit. It's an effective scene though as his character preys on Mr Brown's (Colin Firth) economic misfortune by offering to buy his dead wife's chair. There's also a delightfully quirky history of naughty children - going as far back as "Bog, the horrid cave child" - originally intended to open the story.
Filling out the extras menus is a tribute to Christianna Brand and a gag reel proving that Celia Imrie (Ms Quickly) really did eat that worm sandwich! Although Colin Firth doesn't have much to say for himself, this DVD offers a rounded and entertaining look at the making of the film - warts and all.
EXTRA FEATURES
