The BFG (titled onscreen as Roald Dahl's The BFG) is a 2016 fantasy adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison, and based on the 1982 novel. The film stars Mark Rylance, Ruby Barnhill, Penelope Wilton, Jemaine Clement, Rebecca Hall, Rafe Spall, and Bill Hader. In the film, a ten-year-old orphaned girl named Sophie befriends a benevolent giant and helps him to deal with some man-eating giants.
Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall began development on a live-action adaptation of The BFG in the 1990s, and various screenwriters were hired to work on the screenplay in the subsequent years. DreamWorks acquired the screen rights to Dahl's book in September 2011, and Spielberg was announced as director in April 2014. Principal photography commenced in March 2015.
The BFG premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2016, and debuted in North America at the El Capitan Theatre on June 21, 2016. The film was released in the United States on July 1, 2016, the same year of Dahl's centennial. It received generally positive reviews from critics, but was a box office failure, grossing $199 million against its $140 million budget. It was the last film penned by Mathison before her death in 2015, and was dedicated to her.
Plot
One night, Sophie, a smart and brave ten-year-old girl living in a London orphanage, catches sight of an elderly giant. The giant captures her and takes her to his residence in Giant Country. He tells Sophie that he took her so that she would never reveal the existence of giants to anyone. The giant creates a nightmare to prevent her from escaping, fearing she might be eaten by larger giants.
The next morning, Sophie is nearly discovered by Fleshlumpeater, the leader of the man-eating giants, but the elderly giant drives Fleshlumpeater away with a foul-tasting vegetable known as the snozzcumber. She persuades the elderly giant to take her to Dream Country.
Despite the elderly giant's careful moving around the sleeping giants, Bloodbottler wakes up and grabs BFG as the other giants wake up. After Bloodbottler suggests to Fleshlumpeater they should "frolic", they bully the friendly giant. A thunderstorm drives the Fleshlumpeater's group into their cave, but Fleshlumpeater finds Sophie's blanket.
In Dream Country, Sophie and the friendly giant catch good and bad dreams. The giant reveals that his only name – besides "Runt", the other giants' nickname for him – is "the Big Friendly Giant", which leads Sophie to call him "BFG". She accompanies him to London for his nightly work: using his dream trumpet to spread good dreams to sleeping children. They return to Giant Country just as the other giants have departed to go eat children worldwide. The BFG realizes that Sophie has lost her blanket, exposing her presence to the other giants, and leaves her outside her orphanage. Revealing that his last human companion liked to read, and even taught The BFG how to read, but sadly was discovered and eaten by the giants, he is unwilling to endanger Sophie and departs. Unafraid, Sophie jumps off her balcony hoping he will appear again to catch her, and he does.
They return to the BFG's workshop and the other giants barge in, hunting for Sophie. They destroy much of the BFG's work, but Sophie evades detection and the BFG drives them off with a hot iron. Sophie finds the home of the last human to live with the BFG, with a portrait of Queen Victoria among his belongings. This inspires her to devise a plan: to forge a nightmare for Elizabeth II, the Queen of the United Kingdom, about giants eating the children of England, the British Army fighting the giants, and Sophie appearing to her.
Sophie and the BFG go to Buckingham Palace and deliver the nightmare to the sleeping Queen. Upon waking, the Queen and her maid Mary and butler Mr Tibbs find Sophie on the windowsill. She introduces them to the BFG, explaining that the child-eating giants are real and must be stopped. At a large breakfast, the BFG shares his favourite drink, flatulence-inducing "frobscottle", and he and Sophie lead the Queen's soldiers to Giant Country.
The BFG plans to ambush the man-eating giants with a nightmare but has forgotten his dream trumpet. Sophie carries the nightmare herself into the midst of the giants and is confronted by Fleshlumpeater. She releases the nightmare, which consumes the giants with guilt, except the Fleshlumpeater (who intercepts and destroys his), and they are caught by military helicopters. Carried away to an isolated island, the giants are left with a large crate of snozzcumber seeds to plant.
Sophie gets adopted by Mary, comes to live in the Queen's palace, and awakens from a dream of the BFG, who returns to his life in Giant Country and writes the story of their adventure. She speaks to him whenever she feels lonely; at his home, the BFG hears her words and smiles.
Cast Mark Rylance as the voice and motion-capture of Big Friendly Giant (BFG), an elderly, benevolent 24-foot giant. He is called "Runt" by the other giants. Ruby Barnhill as Sophie, an orphan who befriends The BFG. Dahl named her after his first grandchild, who was similarly caring and determined. Lucia Ryan serves as Sophie's understudy in some scenes. Penelope Wilton as Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen of the United Kingdom. Jemaine Clement as the voice and motion-capture of Fleshlumpeater, a 54-foot giant who is the de facto leader of the man-eating giants who wears a cape and a skirt-like covering. He shows no regret for consuming children over the years. Rebecca Hall as Mary, Queen Elizabeth's maid and Sophie's adoptive mother. Rafe Spall as Mr. Tibbs, Queen Elizabeth's butler. Bill Hader as the voice and motion-capture of Bloodbottler, a disheveled 43-foot man-eating giant with cowlick hair and a skirt-like covering who is Fleshlumpeater's advisor and the most intelligent of the group. Michael Adamthwaite as: The voice and motion-capture of Butcher Boy, a chubby, immature 40-foot man-eating giant who is the youngest of the group. He collects cars and wears clothes made of circus tents. A Danish driver Daniel Bacon as: The voice and motion-capture of Bonecruncher, a dark-skinned, bald-headed 40-foot man-eating giant wearing short pants-like clothing and a necklace of metal items. As the name suggests, he loves to crunch on the bones of his victims like candy. It's said he can be heard crunching bones for miles. The second drunken lout that Sophie shouts at. Chris Gibbs as: The voice and motion-capture of Gizzardgulper, a burly, bearded 39-foot man-eating giant who wears a helmet, a shoulder pad, and pants and is the shortest of the group. A late night walker Adam Godley as: The voice and motion-capture of Manhugger, a 60-foot slim man-eating giant who wears a vest and shorts. He seems to be the laziest of them all. The first drunken lout that Sophie shouts at. Paul Moniz de Sa as: The voice and motion-capture of Meatdripper, a well-groomed 40-foot man-eating giant with red Mohawk hair and red shorts. He also is the most serious about hunting in the group, clearly more determined than the rest to find Sophie. The third drunken lout that Sophie shouts at. Jonathan Holmes as: The voice and motion-capture of Childchewer, a balding 40-foot man-eating giant in a goatee and pontyail who is Meatdripper's best friend who wears a skirt-like covering. He obviously enjoys human child the most out of the giants. A pub landlord Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as: The voice and motion-capture of Maidmasher, a small-headed and fashionable 40-foot man-eating giant with short thinning hair, a vest, and high-rise pants. Queen Elizabeth II's cook Marilyn Norry as Mrs. Clonkers, the head of the orphanage where Sophie was living. Callum Seagram Airlie as a Danish boy Haig Sutherland as the Danish Boy's father Shauna Hansen as the Danish Boy's mother Denise Jones as the wife of the Danish driver Anthony F. Ingram as a Buckingham Palace footman Gabrielle Rose as a female cook that works for Queen Elizabeth II Matt Frewer, Chris Shields, and Geoffrey Wade as The Queen's Generals. John Emmet Tracy, William Samples, Andy Thompson, and Ruby Barnhill's father Paul Barnhill as the assorted Buckingham Palace footmen Lucia Ryan as Orphan Girl #1 Julia Torrance as Orphan Girl #2 Cal Davis, Kyle Maloney, Michael Mcleod, David Orr, Zachary Read, David Glover, and Joshua Callagan as the pipers Todd Biffard as the piper drummer Randy Rafuse as a helicopter pilot
Production Development Producers Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy began development on a live-action adaptation of The BFG in 1991, and set the project up at Paramount Pictures. Husband and wife screenwriters Robin Swicord and Nicholas Kazan wrote a screenplay adaptation in 1998, with Robin Williams in negotiations for the title role. Williams attended a read-through, which according to Michael Siegel was "surprisingly disappointing". Williams' trademark improvisational style clashed with the BFG's unique language. Siegel elaborates, "He was sort of improvising on the jumbled language. And it was clunky. It was strangely not working. It was harder than it looks even for Robin. It didn't quite deliver." By 2001, the script had been rewritten by Gwyn Lurie, and was greeted with positive feedback from the Dahl estate. Terry Jones and Ed Solomon also attempted screenplay drafts. While the screenplay lingered in development hell, Paramount subsequently lost the film rights and they reverted to the Dahl estate.
In September 2011, DreamWorks acquired the film rights to the book; Kennedy and Marshall were announced to produce, with screenwriter Melissa Mathison adapting the story. Initially, John Madden was hired to direct; however, in April 2014, Steven Spielberg was announced as the director, with Madden now listed as executive producer with producer Michael Siegel. Kennedy had initially thought of Spielberg as director, but hesitated asking him until a more concrete screenplay was presentable. Spielberg stated, "The BFG has enchanted families and their children for more than three decades. We are honoured that the Roald Dahl estate has entrusted us with this classic story.""Steven Spielberg to direct BFG film from Roald Dahl book" . BBC News. Retrieved 29 April 2014 Walden Media agreed to co-produce and co-finance the film with DreamWorks and Amblin Entertainment in March 2015. A month later, Walt Disney Studios—which was under prior agreement to distribute the film through its Touchstone Pictures banner—also joined the production as a co-producer and co-financier, and shifted the film from a Touchstone release to a Walt Disney Pictures production instead. Consequently, The BFG is the first Disney-branded film directed by Spielberg, though he has previously produced several films for the studio. Similarly, as a result of the restructuring of Amblin Partners, DreamWorks did not receive a marquee credit—placement of the studio's production logo on marketing materials and opening titles—and instead, DreamWorks' marquee credit shifted to Amblin. The film is the second adaptation of the novel following the 1989 direct-to-television animated film. It is also Disney's first feature-length adaptation of a Roald Dahl work since Henry Selick's James and the Giant Peach (1996).
Casting