Steven Spielberg casts his leading lady for Roald Dahl’s The BFG

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Steven Spielberg is currently off making a cold war thriller starring Tom Hanks that's penned by the Coen brothers (what!?!).  However, his sights are still set on the future regarding his adaptation of Roald Dahl's THE BFG. Straight from the presses is the announcement that Spielberg has cast his leading lady and it's newcomer Ruby Barnhill. She's an unknown as of now, and aside from the upcoming BBC drama Four O’Clock Club, THE BFG will be her first real piece of business. For those not in the know, THE BFG is based on the book of the same name written by Roald Dahl, with a screenplay by Melissa Mathison. The story follows a young London girl who befriends a benevolent Giant (Mark Rylance) and together they work to stop other man-eating Giants from invading her world.

Steven Spielberg had this to say:

After a lengthy search, I feel Roald Dahl himself would have found Ruby every bit as marvelous as we do. We have discovered a wonderful Sophie in Ruby Barnhill.

There's a number of reasons to get excited for THE BFG, aside from the fact that it's Steven freakin' Spielberg. For one, Roald Dahl is an amazing author who's brought us the likes of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "James and the Giant Peach". As mentioned earlier, Melissa Mathison is penning the screenplay. She doesn't take to screenplays too often and the last time her and Spielberg worked together, we got ET. Consider me first in line to check out what Spielberg has in store for us with THE BFG.

THE BFG will hit theaters on July 1, 2016.