Steven Spielberg Directs Roald Dahl's "The BFG" for Disney

DISNEY JOINS “THE BFG”

Steven Spielberg-Directed Roald Dahl Adaptation Filming In Vancouver

Bill Hader, Jemaine Clement, Rebecca Hall, Penelope Wilton and others join cast

As production gets underway in Vancouver, The Walt Disney Studios announced it will co-produce and co-finance Steven Spielberg’s “The BFG.” This marks the three-time Academy Award winner’s first time directing a Disney-branded movie.

  

Previously announced cast include three-time Tony Award winner Mark Rylance who will play the titular “Big Friendly Giant” and newcomer Ruby Barnhill as Sophie.  They are now joined by Bill Hader, Jemaine Clement, Michael David Adamthwaite, Daniel Bacon, Chris Gibbs, Adam Godley, Jonathan Holmes, Paul Moniz de Sa and Olafur Olaffson, all cast as giants. Buckingham Palace has also found its residents with Penelope Wilton being cast as The Queen and Rebecca Hall as Mary, the Queen’s maid. 

"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 Kathy 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."

“With Steven Spielberg at the helm, ‘The BFG’ will undoubtedly capture the minds of children and adults alike – as Roald Dahl’s original stories and many of Steven’s own films have done for decades,” said Alan Horn, Chairman, The Walt Disney Studios. “The team at Disney has tremendous respect for the filmmakers, and we’re thrilled to join with them to make what will be a spectacular picture.”

“This partnership speaks to the spirit of storytelling and the kinds of movies that we make here,” said Michael Wright, CEO of DreamWorks Studios. “Over the years, we have enjoyed a fruitful collaboration, and we couldn’t be more excited to be working with Disney in this expanded capacity on ‘The BFG.’”

“The BFG” is the exciting tale of a young London girl and the mysterious Giant who introduces her to the wonders and perils of Giant Country.  Based on the beloved novel by Roald Dahl, “The BFG” (Big Friendly Giant) was published in 1982 and has been enchanting readers of all ages ever since.  Dahl’s books, which also include “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “James and the Giant Peach,” “Matilda” and “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” are currently available in 58 languages and have sold over 200 million copies worldwide.

  

Steven Spielberg will direct the film adaptation based on a script by Melissa Mathison, who last teamed with Spielberg on “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.”  Spielberg, Frank Marshall and Sam Mercer will produce while Kathleen Kennedy, John Madden, Michael Siegel and Kristie Macosko Krieger are on board as executive producers.  Adam Somner is a co-producer.  The Disney/Amblin/Reliance production in association with Walden Media will open in U.S. theaters on July 1, 2016, the year that coincides with the 100thanniversary of Roald Dahl’s birth.  The Walt Disney Studios is distributing the film in the U.S. and several international territories while Mister Smith Entertainment will oversee distribution in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Reliance will distribute the film in India.

Disney and Walden Media previously produced “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe,” “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian,” and “Bridge to Terabithia” together. 

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PRODUCTION BEGINS ON DREAMWORKS' WIKILEAKS PROJECT "THE FIFTH ESTATE"

Drama Will Open in Theaters November 15, 2013

Participant Media Joins Project

LOS ANGELES, CA (January 23, 2013) - Principal photography has begun on the WikiLeaks drama “The Fifth Estate,” it was announced today by DreamWorks Studios.  The film about the controversial website stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange and Daniel Brühl as Daniel Domscheit-Berg, as well as Laura Linney, Anthony Mackie, David Thewlis, Peter Capaldi, Dan Stevens, Alicia Vikander and Carice van Houten.

“The Fifth Estate” will open in U.S. theaters on November 15, 2013 and be distributed domestically by Disney’s Touchstone label.  Distribution internationally will be split among Disney, DreamWorks partner Reliance, and deals made through the studio’s partnership with Mister Smith Entertainment. 

Following Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Brühl), an early supporter and eventual colleague of Julian Assange (Cumberbatch), “The Fifth Estate” traces the heady, early days of WikiLeaks, culminating in the release of a series of controversial and history changing information leaks.  The website’s overnight success brought instant fame to its principal architects and transformed the flow of information to news media and the world at large.

Joining DreamWorks as a co-financier on “The Fifth Estate” is Participant Media.  This will be the fifth collaboration between the two companies who previously partnered on Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” the 2011 Academy Award-winning smash “The Help,” “The Kite Runner” and “The Soloist.”  With a focus on real issues that shape our lives, Participant creates social action and advocacy programs to transform the impact of the media experience into individual and community action.  Some of their other films include “An Inconvenient Truth,” “Good Night, and Good Luck,” “Food, Inc.,” “Charlie Wilson’s War,” “Waiting for ‘'Superman,’” “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” and the current Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, “No.”

Bill Condon (“Kinsey,” “Dreamgirls,” "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn") will direct “The Fifth Estate” from a screenplay by Josh Singer (TV’s “Fringe,” “The West Wing”), based on “Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World’s Most Dangerous Website” by Daniel Domscheit-Berg and “WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy” by David Leigh and Luke Harding.  The producers are Steve Golin and Michael Sugar, with Participant’s Jeff Skoll and Jonathan King joining Richard Sharkey as executive producers.  “The Fifth Estate” is a coproduction between Afterworks and FBO, with Hilde De Laere co-producing for FBO. The film is supported by the Belgian Tax Shelter for Audiovisual Production.

Said director Bill Condon, “It may be decades before we understand the full impact of WikiLeaks and how it's revolutionized the spread of information. So this film won't claim any long view authority on its subject, or attempt any final judgment. We want to explore the complexities and challenges of transparency in the information age and, we hope, enliven and enrich the conversations WikiLeaks has already provoked.”