The BFG (titled onscreen as Roald Dahl's The BFG) is a 2016 American fantasy adventure film directed and co-produced by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison and based on Roald Dahl's 1982 novel of the same name. The film stars Mark Rylance, Ruby Barnhill in her film debut, 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 dubbed the "Big Friendly Giant", who takes her to Giant Country, where they attempt to stop the man-eating giants that are invading the human world.
Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall began development on a live-action adaptation of The BFG back 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 Marshall and Sam Mercer joined as producers, Mathison as screenwriter and Kennedy as executive producer. Spielberg was announced as director in April 2014, alongside his production company Amblin Entertainment as co-producer. Principal photography commenced in March 2015, marking Spielberg's first directorial film for Walt Disney Pictures, which co-financed the film.
The BFG premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2016, and held its North American debut at the El Capitan Theater on June 21, 2016. The film was released in the United States in Disney Digital 3D, RealD 3D, IMAX 3D, and conventional theatrical formats on July 1, 2016, the same year of Dahl's centennial. It received generally positive reviews from critics, though the film was a box office bomb, grossing $195 million against its $140 million budget. It was the last film penned by Mathison before her death in 2015.
Plot[]
Sophie, a ten-year-old girl living in a London orphanage, is often awake at the "witching hour", due to having insomnia. One night, she sorts some mail and shouts at some men causing trouble in a nearby alleyway. Later, she sees an elderly Giant Man outside her window, who captures her and takes her to his home in Giant Country. He explains that he cannot allow Sophie to return to her world and reveal the existence of giants. If she ventures out alone, she may be eaten by the nine much larger giants.
In his workshop of dreams, the giant fashions a nightmare to convince the sleeping Sophie to stay with him in safety. The Fleshlumpeater, the infantile leader of the man-eating giants, intrudes and demands a "boo-boo" on his finger to be fixed. He smells Sophie, but the elderly giant convinces him to leave upon him nearly eating a disgusting vegetable called a snozzcumber which Sophie briefly hid in. Sophie persuades the friendly giant to take her to visit Dream Country. They accidentally awaken the other giants, and after the Bloodbottler suggests they "frolic", they bully the friendly giant. A thunderstorm drives the man-eating giants into their cave, but the Fleshlumpeater finds Sophie's dropped 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 the 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 members of her staff Mary and 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 the Fleshlumpeater. She releases the nightmare which consumes the giants with guilt, except the unregretful Fleshlumpeater (who intercepts and destroys his), and they are trapped by military helicopters. Carried away to an isolated island, the giants are left with only "snozzcumbers" 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 at 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 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 own mother, who was similarly caring and determined.
- Penelope Wilton as Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen of the United Kingdom.
- Jemaine Clement as The Fleshlumpeater, a 54-foot giant who is the de facto leader of the man-eating giants. 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 Bloodbottler, a disheveled 43-foot man-eating giant with cowlick hair who is Fleshlumpeater's advisor and the most intelligent of the group.
- Michael Adamthwaite as the Butcher Boy, an overweight, immature man-eating giant who is the youngest of the group. He collects cars and wears clothes made of circus tents.
- Daniel Bacon as the Bonecruncher, a dark-skinned, bald-headed man-eating giant. 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.
- Chris Gibbs as the Gizzardgulper, a burly, bearded 39-foot man-eating giant who wears a helmet and is the shortest of the group.
- Adam Godley as the Manhugger, a very tall and slim man-eating giant who wears a vest and shorts. He seems to be the laziest of them all.
- Paul Moniz de Sa as the Meatdripper, a well-groomed man-eating giant with Mohawk hair. He also is the most serious about hunting in the group, clearly more determined than the rest to find Sophie. He doesn't wear a shirt, and has red shorts.
- Jonathan Holmes as the Childchewer, a balding man-eating giant who is Meatdripper's best friend. He obviously enjoys human child the most out of the giants, and eats only children.
- Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as the Maidmasher, a small-headed man-eating giant. He has short thin hair, and as the name suggests, likes to mash maidens. Either with his teeth, hands or feet. It is never expanded on.
- Marilyn Norry as Mrs. Clonkers, the head of the orphanage where Sophie was living.
- Matt Frewer, Chris Shields, and Geoffrey Wade as The Queen's Generals.
Adamthwaite, Bacon, Gibbs, Godley, Holmes, Moniz de Sa, and Ólafsson also make cameos as minor London characters where Adamthwaite appears as a Danish driver, Bacon, Godley, and Moniz de Sa appear as drunken louts, Holmes cameos as a pup landlord, Chris Gibbs appears as a late night walker, and Ólafsson appears as Queen Elizabeth II's cook.
John Emmet Tracy, William Samples, Andy Thomas, and Ruby Barnhill's father Paul Barnhill make cameos as the palace staff members.