Trivia / The BFG

The book

• What Could Have Been: In early drafts of the story, the BFG abducted a boy called Jody. It was later changed to a girl, named Sophie after Roald Dahl's granddaughter.
• Write What You Know:
  • Dahl said the BFG's made-up words are collected from his wife Patricia Neal's damaged vocabulary after a surgery, in fact they are left in for the parents to understand.
  • A television is called a Bunkum Box, which comes from the American political term Buncombe.

The 1989 animated movie:

• Acting for Two: Don Henderson voices Bloodbottler, Fleshlumpeater, and the Sergeant.
• Approval of God: This was the only film adaptation of one of Roald Dahl’s books that he actually enjoyed, even supporting the crew during production of the film and applauding the film during the credits at a screening.
• Creator-Preferred Adaptation: Roald Dahl reportedly stood up and clapped at the end when he first saw it.
• Cut Song: "Two Worlds" and "Mirror Mirror". While both songs were cut, they were incorporated into the score as instrumental music, with "Two Worlds" being briefly reprised during the Queen's nightmare sequence and "Mirror Mirror" being used as a leitmotif for Sophie throughout the film.
• Dawson Casting: Sophie's voice actress Amanda Root. She was twenty-six when she recorded the part.
• Deleted Scene: A tie-in book based on the film showed still images of a scene that didn't appear in the final cut. It has Sophie getting separated from the BFG on the way back from Dream Country - getting dropped amongst the rest of the giants by a dragonfly. The BFG rescues her before the other giants wake up, although they do sense a human's scent. The shot of the giants leaving is used in the Queen's nightmare. The two music cues that were composed for the scene were included on the accompanying soundtrack album.
• In Memoriam: The animated film was dedicated to the memory of George Jackson, who was an animator that worked on the film, and to the memory of Ballard Berkeley, who provided the voice of the Head of the Army.
• No Export for You: The film debuted on ITV in the United Kingdom on Christmas Day 1989. The rest of the world got it as a direct-to-video release or on The Disney Channel.
  • It wasn't even seen again in its original aspect ratio until 2012, when it was digitally restored and released on DVD and Blu-ray.
• What Could Have Been: Sophie was originally going to have the long blonde hair as illustrated by Quentin Blake in the book but after seeing a picture of the real Sophie Dahl, she was given the short red hair in homage of her which Dahl also approved of.

The 2016 live-action movie:

• Acclaimed Flop: Was well-received by critics but was a box office failure. This movie was directed by Steven Spielberg, whose name is almost guaranteed to draw audiences to the theaters. It's generally agreed that a lack of a viable star (Oscar winner Mark Rylance and Penelope Wilton aren't Hollywood A-Listers despite being very talented character actors) and it being released just weeks after Finding Dory played a key factor with dismal numbers. To Spielberg's credit, he's not alone; this is one of at least six films based on a Roald Dahl story to become an Acclaimed Flop. Notably, the next major Dahl adaptation went straight-to-streaming despite also featuring a name director.
• Acting for Two: The actors playing the giants also portray the drunken men Sophie complains about at the start of the film.
• Died During Production: In November 2015, Melissa Mathison died of neuroendocrine cancer, making this film her last work as a screenwriter.
• Executive Meddling: The film had to be released under the Amblin Entertainment name instead of the DreamWorks SKG name due to a mandate from then-DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg that was set up where the name DreamWorks could not be used on a live-action family film, possibly to avoid confusion.
• In Memoriam: Dedicated to screenwriter and longtime Spielberg collaborator Melissa Mathison. It was her last screenplay before her death in 2015.
• Posthumous Credit: Melissa Mathison finished writing the script before her November 2015 death. She's still given a credit for her work.
• Saved from Development Hell:
  • Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy began development in 1991 at Paramount Pictures. Husband and wife screenwriters Robin Swicord and Nicholas Kazan wrote a screenplay in 1998, with Robin Williams in negotiations for the title role. Williams attended a read-through, which according to Michael Siegel was "surprisingly disappointing", as Williams' trademark improvisational style clashed with the BFG's unique language.
  • By 2001, the script had been rewritten by Gwyn Lurie, and was greeted with positive feedback from the estate of Roald Dahl. Terry Jones and Ed Solomon also attempted drafts. With no progress being made Paramount subsequently lost the film rights and they reverted to the Dahl estate.
  • DreamWorks SKG acquired the rights in 2011, with Kennedy and Marshall producing and Melissa Matheson writing the script. Steven Spielberg came aboard as director in April 2014. Principal photography began in March 2015 and concluded in June of that year. It was finally released in 2016.
• Screwed by the Network: Why Disney decided to release this film only two weeks after Finding Dory is anyone's guess, though it's plausible that the aforementioned fallout between Spielberg and Disney may have played a hand in this (2016 is also the year of author Roald Dahl's centennial). Plus, Disney has been very big on supporting projects that can spin out additional films, The Merch, Expanded Universe spinoffs, and so on...whereas this story is a one-and-done case that had no real merchandising possibilities.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Spielberg offered Gene Wilder a cameo, as he had played Willy Wonka in fellow Roald Dahl film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. He declined. Sadly, Wilder died weeks after The BFG's release.
  • Kevin Meaney was supposed to play a role in the movie. His declining health, which led to his fatal heart attack in October of 2016, may have been why he turned down the film.

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