Mark Rylance to Star in ‘The BFG’

Mark Rylance. Imagine him with bigger ears and you’ve got the BFG.

by Nur Hussein, staff writer

Steven Spielberg’s upcoming film, The BFG has now cast its titular giant: British actor Mark Rylance. The story is based on the beloved children’s book of the same title, written by the late Roald Dahl. The books tells the story of a dream-catching “big friendly giant” (hence the acronym, the BFG) who befriends an orphan girl named Sophie.

Rylance is a critically acclaimed actor who has won numerous accolades and awards, including a BAFTA for best actor, for a 2005 TV movie called The Government Inspector. In the U.K., Rylance is well known for his theatrical work at the Shakespeare Globe theatre, where he was the Artistic Director for 10 years, from 1995 to 2005. He is also no stranger to roles in children’s stories, as he voiced a character named Flop in the BBC children’s show called Bing. It’s great that they cast someone with some serious acting chops for the role, and it will be interesting to see how Spielberg and Rylance approach the character, who is both comical and slightly tragic.

Production work on the live-action adaptation of The BFG is scheduled to begin early next year. The film is slated to be released on July 1, 2016, the same year as the 100th anniversary of Roald Dahl’s birth.

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Nur Hussein

Nur is a tinkerer of programmable things, an apprentice in an ancient order of technomages. He enjoys fantasy, sci-fi, comic books, and Lego in his spare time. His favourite authors are Asimov and Tolkien. He also loves Celtic and American folk music. You can follow him on twitter: @nurhussein