I may not have read any Beverly Cleary when I was a child, but Roald Dahl was a big part of my childhood. The book I connected with the most of his was The BFG, which today remains one of my favorite books of all time. I still have the first copy of it I ever bought, with my last name sloppily written on it (I was a kid, my handwriting’s gotten slightly better). I have been waiting for the chance to see this story on the big screen pretty much all of my life. I know there is a 1989 TV film version, but that is the small screen and, therefore, does not count.
Well, Steven Spielberg will be the one to bring us the adaptation, and he has found his Big Friendly Giant in three-time Tony Award winner Mark Rylance. I, for one, could not be more thrilled with this decision. Rylance is a highly versatile performer. He can do the broadest of comedy and the most serious of drama. I mean, he was doing Richard III (as Richard) and Twelfth Night (as Olivia) in rep on Broadway, and he was nominated for both of them, winning for Twelfth Night. The man knows how to create a full character, and I cannot wait to see what he does with the titular giant.
Here’s the plot:
Adapted from the novel by Roald Dahl, The BFG centers on a not-so-ordinary bone-crunching giant. The BFG is far too nice and jumbly. It’s lucky for Sophie that he is. Had she been carried off in the middle of the night by the Bloodbottler, or any of the other giants–rather than the BFG–she would have soon become breakfast. When Sophie hears that the giants are flush-bunking off to England to swollomp a few nice little chiddlers, she decides she must stop them once and for all. And the BFG is going to help her!
The BFG is set to be released on July 1, 2016. That is one long wait, but I guess two more years is not too terrible considering the wait has been my whole life. Am I the only one out there who really gravitated to this Dahl story? I know there has to be at least one more of you out there.
Original report from Dealine.
