Beloved Roald Dahl book "The BFG" will get the big-screen treatment
Remember what “BFG” stands for in Roald Dahl’s classic kids’ story? (It’s Big Friendly Giant.) If you do, then you may be excited by the announcement that Dreamworks has picked up the rights to the story of the only friendly giant in Dahl’s world.
The movie studio made the announcement today that it will be turning the beloved children’s book into a movie with Melissa Mathison, who wrote the screenplay for 1982’s “E.T.,” adapting the new cinematic version of the tale. Dahl’s 1982 book tells the story of Sophie, believed to be named for his granddaughter, and her encounter with the BFG, the one giant who doesn’t eat people and who spends his time hearing dreams through his massive ears and distributing good dreams to children.
“The BFG” was previously turned into an animated movie in 1989, with British actress Amanda Root – star of the 1995 movie version of Jane Austen's "Persuasion" – voicing main character Sophie.
The children’s book will be the next in a long line of movies based on Dahl’s kids books, including two separate versions of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” starring Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp respectively, a 1990 version of “The Witches” starring Anjelica Huston, and a 2009 Oscar-nominated stop-motion adaptation of “Fantastic Mr. Fox.”
Molly Driscoll is a Monitor correspondent.
