(L-R) Jeffrey Walker, Taika Waititi, Iona Bell, Mia Wasikowska, and Blake Harrison attend the premiere of Fing! by Jeffrey Walker, an official selection of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. (© 2026 Sundance Institute | photo by Gabriel Mayberry)
By Ramona Flume
“If anyone’s wondering if we program our Family Matinee differently than other sections at the [Sundance Film Festival], I’m going to reveal our secret right now,” senior programmer John Nein says. “Although you do have to get the critical support of the Festival’s programmers, there is an extra hurdle, another selection committee that’s even more important, and that is the programmers’ kids.”
Nein happily reassures the packed house at Eccles Theatre on January 24 that Fing!, the new feature from Australian director Jeffrey Walker, had secured their youngsters’ uniform support.
This magical story, based on the beloved children’s book of the same name, is about the most dangerous animal, a most ferocious thing: a young girl named Myrtle (Iona Bell). She’s a red-headed problem child whose violent tantrums, even as an infant, could only be soothed with a steady supply of presents. But the more things her parents give her, the more things she wants: a Venus de Milo (but with arms), a robot butler with laser eyes, a million pounds in chocolate money, two Fabergé eggs (scrambled). And when her birthday approaches, she pitches another impossible task to her beleaguered parents: She wants a “Fing.”
Bad news for the Meeks, her doting, mild mannered, and deeply exhausted parents played by Mia Wasikowska and Blake Harrison. They soon discover the Fing is “the rarest of rare beasts,” and (much like Myrtle), very temperamental and angry, prone to uncontrollable outbursts, greedy, and sometimes, just plain rude.
The idea of capturing the elusive Fing also piques the interest of a dastardly viscount (played by a delightfully over-the-top, scene-stealing Taika Waititi), who is desperately trying to fill the cages of his burgeoning wildlife park. “It’s just so nice to work with someone who is not telling you to bring it down,” Waititi jokes about his exaggerated, spoiled-manchild performance onstage at the post-premiere Q&A. “That’s very dangerous for me.”
All of these unsavory challenges only intensify Myrtle’s need for a Fing of her own, and the hunt for the fiery pom-pom is on. This imaginative feature full of fantastical creatures conjures its own creative world in ways that will surely delight children, but it’s also rooted in deeper issues that will connect with all ages, like self-love, parenting, and people’s capacity to change.
“It’s about the idea that we all have, until we find our thing … or in this case Fing … there’s a big void or vacuum that [we all] have,” director Walker says. “And Myrtle was trying to fill that with, in her case, toys and everything else.” We start to see, however, that the Fing has psychic powers that manifest as a telepathic bond with Myrtle, who realizes this wild beast isn’t just another toy for her. This is something she can actually care for.
“There was a lot of thought that had to go into playing Myrtle. I mean obviously. … She’s a brat,” lead actor Bell says with a sly smile and laugh during the Q&A. “But she’s got such deep emotion — and this deep connection with Fing. They’re very similar. They’re both going through a journey.”
“Fing isn’t so much a mirror. It’s actually Myrtle,” Walker adds. “And she needs to absorb Fing into her world before she feels at peace and can love herself.”
Walker directly relates this evolution of character to kids in the real world who struggle with behavioral problems. “You know, they feel completely outcast. They don’t understand why no one likes them or wants to play with them or finds them annoying and they act up. But they’re on the journey to work out how to like themselves at the end.”
This playful, heartwarming romp shows audiences there can be something quite special hiding behind what might look like a monstrous exterior — and you should never give up on the ones you love, even if they’re acting quite bad-tempered.
