The Magical Faraway Tree star Rebecca Ferguson ponders raising children in the age of TikTok: "It terrifies me!"
"My daughter has loved it," says The Magic Faraway Tree star Rebecca Ferguson.
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.
You play evil headmistress Dame Snap in The Magic Faraway Tree. Was it fun to be mean?
She’s this incredible character with a little dodgy tooth and her hair defies gravity! Being a children’s film, we had to lean into the stereotypical idea of what it is to be mean, but I played a lot with the idea of a teacher who is lonely and has turned rotten.
You have a 19-year-old son and a seven-year-old daughter. Did she factor into your decision to do a children’s film?
What’s so funny is that last year I walked into my daughter’s bedroom and she said, “I’ve just finished reading The Magic Faraway Tree. And I was like, “How was it?” She said it was amazing. Two hours later, I had the offer to be in the film. It was unreal!
You do a lot of serious, grown-up roles. Is it a thrill to do a film that she can watch?
She has loved it! It was a treat for her to see me on the big screen because she hasn’t really watched my films. She’s seen bits of The Greatest Showman but I’ve kept her away from my world.
What films do you watch with your kids?
My mother was snobby with what she showed me. I watched The Third Man as a child! So when I had kids I was like, “We’re doing Shrek.” What’s interesting is that when I show my daughter old-school Disney it messes with her mind. She’ll go, “Why does Ariel sell her voice for a boy?” ‘Why do the girls have to wear dresses and the boys wear trousers?” Her questions are so fascinating.
Do you think there’s a future for children’s films, or have we lost kids to TikTok?
It terrifies me! All I can do is look at my own children. My daughter doesn’t have a laptop or iPad. We watch films together. The other day we watched The Parent Trap and had a conversation about it afterwards. When I go to a restaurant and kids are sitting on iPads I think, “Why didn’t you bring a game of cards or Snakes and Ladders?” I think it’s our responsibility as grown-ups to hold that buzzing imagination as long as possible.
The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here.
Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Authors
Stephen Kelly is a freelance culture and science journalist. He oversees BBC Science Focus's Popcorn Science feature, where every month we get an expert to weigh in on the plausibility of a newly released TV show or film. Beyond BBC Science Focus, he has written for such publications as The Guardian, The Telegraph, The I, BBC Culture, Wired, Total Film, Radio Times and Entertainment Weekly. He is a big fan of Studio Ghibli movies, the apparent football team Tottenham Hotspur and writing short biographies in the third person.
