'Matilda''s Embeth Davidtz Says Her Son Once Threated to Tell Fans She's ‘Nothing' Like Miss Honey (Exclusive)
The mom of two recalls balancing years of raising her two kids while also working on the screenplay for her directorial debut, based on the novel by Alexandra Fuller
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight directed by Davidtz is in theaters nowEmbeth Davidtz is excited to see her family proud of her hard work.
Speaking with PEOPLE about Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, her directorial and screenwriting debut, the actress talked about the journey bringing this movie to audiences, which ran concurrently to her own journey as a mom of two — son Dylan and daughter Charlotte.
"It's great because there was a moment in time when the kids were really little and people would say anything about Matilda, I'd see them sort of get thrilled that my mom is Miss Honey or something. But occasionally my son would sort of mutter, 'You're nothing like Miss Honey,' " she says, referring to her beloved role in the 1996 adaptation of the Roald Dahl novel.
"If I'd say, 'You are in a timeout,' or consequences for behavior or whatever, he'd go, 'You're so mean. And the next time someone comes up and tells me that they love you as Miss Honey, I'm going to tell them that you're nothing like her,' " she continues.
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Davidtz, 59, recalls a time when work was moving away from Los Angeles, making it harder for her to go after certain acting jobs.
"My son, again at a somewhat rebellious stage, he'd go, 'Well what do you do all day?' And I do think I felt, there were a couple of years when they were teenagers where I thought, 'I want my kids to see me working,' " she shared.
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"And when I'd be sitting writing, because it took a long time to write this, I think they might've thought I was just on YouTube or whatever they do on their computers. But I really wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote it again," the working mom explains.
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, based on the memoir by Alexandra Fuller, tells the story of apartheid South Africa through the eyes of 8-year-old Bobo, who tries to understand the harsh realities of growing up amidst familial strife and the ongoing racial conflict. In addition to writing and directing the adaptation, Davidtz also stars as Nicola Fuller.
"I did many, many drafts of it. And then, when this happened, as my son left for college and my daughter was in her final year of college, they came to see the movie. I mean, it's sort of the fantasy that every parent has that your kids then go, 'Oh my God, that's what you were doing,' " she says.
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Davidtz adds that it was "lovely on many, many levels" to see her children understand what she's worked toward.
"It's great for women to have their kids see that they have a purpose and do work. And a lot of moms — I feel like the hardest working moms I know — are the ones who are being moms, let alone the ones who have jobs and are being moms," she continues. "I wanted my kids to know that I had done something meaningful outside of just being their mother."
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight is in theaters now.
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