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Walt Disney & Jemaine Clement Board Steven Spielberg's 'The BFG'

by Ethan Anderton
April 13, 2015

After directing Bridge of Spies starring Tom Hanks, director Steven Spielberg is moving very quickly to begin production on his next project, an adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic children's book The BFG (which means The Big Friendly Giant). Shooting is beginning in Vancouver this month, and today Walt Disney Studios announced that it will co-produce and co-finance the film DreamWorks. In addition, "Flight of the Conchords" and What We Do in the Shadows star Jemaine Clement has been added to the cast of the family friendly adventure as another giant in the film, and he's joined by several other supporting stars.

Disney also has added Michael David Adamthwaite, Daniel Bacon, Chris Gibbs, Adam Godley, Jonathan Holmes, Paul Moniz de Sa and Olafur Olaffson, all joining the film as giants, and they've confirmed Bill Hader, who was revealed to have joined the cast recently, and has been confirmed to be a giant as well. The story follows a friendly giant (Mark Rylance) who befriends a little girl (newcomer Ruby Barnhill) and heads out on an adventure to stop some mean, not-so-friendly giants from eating people in England. Penelope Wilton will play the queen while Rebecca Hall plays her maid.

Believe it or not, this marks the first film Spielberg is making with for Disney as a director, saying, "In more than 40 years of making movies, I have been on the producing end of a number of films for The Walt Disney Company, but never as a director,” said Steven Spielberg. “It is a special joy to be in the director’s chair as we start The BFG, alongside my long-time friends and film, collaborators Kathleen Kennedy, who introduced me to this project, Frank Marshall and Melissa Mathison. Together with them and Disney, there are many reasons why I am so excited about this joint venture." The BFG hits theaters on July 1st, 2016.

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