The BFG (titled onscreen as Roald Dahl‘s The BFG) is a 2016 American fantasy animation adventure film directed and co-produced by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison and based on the 1982 novel of the same name by Dahl. The film stars Mark Rylance, Ruby Barnhill, Penelope Wilton, Jemaine Clement, Rebecca Hall, Rafe Spall and Bill Hader. In the film, a 10-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.