Steven Spielberg's The BFG Gets an Ominous Trailer

JaredJones

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Steven Spielberg's The BFG Gets an Ominous Trailer


"Never get out of bed. Never go to the window. Never look behind the curtain."

Roald Dahl's The BFG (or Big Friendly Giant) is an all-time classic of children's literature, so who better to bring it to the big screen than Steven Spielberg?

If the trailer that dropped today is any indication, that answer should be obvious: No one. Though brief, the BFG trailer reveals just enough to trip that ever-powerful nostalgia switch in our brains and will almost certainly have you throwing money at your computer screen by the time it wraps up.

Marking the theatrical debut of Ruby Barnhill as Sophie and co-starring the likes of Bill Hader, Jemaine Clement, and a score of established English stage and screen veterans -- Mark Rylance, Penelope Wilton, and Rebecca Hall to name a few -- The BFG looks like it will be another great entry in the canon of Roald Dahl adaptations, which includes Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, Henry Selick's James and the Giant Peach, and Danny DeVito's Matilda (not to mention, the Gene Wilder-starring Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory).

The official plot synopsis of The BFG is below, and it's basically as long as the book:

The BFG tells the imaginative story of a young girl and the Giant who introduces her to the wonders and perils of Giant Country. The BFG (Mark Rylance), while a giant himself, is a Big Friendly Giant and nothing like the other inhabitants of Giant Country. Standing 24-feet tall with enormous ears and a keen sense of smell, he is endearingly dim-witted and keeps to himself for the most part. Giants like Bloodbottler (Bill Hader) and Fleshlumpeater (Jemaine Clement) on the other hand, are twice as big and at least twice as scary and have been known to eat humans, while the BFG prefers Snozzcumber and Frobscottle. Upon her arrival in Giant Country, Sophie, a precocious 10-year-old girl from London, is initially frightened of the mysterious giant who has brought her to his cave, but soon comes to realize that the BFG is actually quite gentle and charming, and, having never met a giant before, has many questions. The BFG brings Sophie to Dream Country where he collects dreams and sends them to children, teaching her all about the magic and mystery of dreams. Having both been on their own in the world up until now, their affection for one another quickly grows, but Sophie's presence in Giant Country has attracted the unwanted attention of the other giants, who have become increasingly more bothersome. Sophie and the BFG soon depart for London to see the Queen (Penelope Wilton) and warn her of the precarious giant situation, but they must first convince the Queen and her maid, Mary (Rebecca Hall), that giants do indeed exist. Together, they come up with a plan to get rid of the giants once and for all.

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The BFG stomps its way into theaters on July 1st, 2016.

Source: The Verge [http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/9/9878678/the-bfg-trailer-steven-spielberg-roald-dahl]

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Soviet Heavy

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I would have liked to see some more of the BFG himself, but this is Spielberg and he does know how to do suspense. Color me optimistic.
 

Casual Shinji

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Seeing that Disney logo makes me worry whether this movie will be as dark as it needs to be. Those other giants are scary sons of bitches that don't fuck around, and hearing Bill Hader is cast as Bloodbottler gives me the wrong kind of fright.

Nice teaser nonetheless, but please don't puss out with this, Spielberg. We need that one scene where one of the giants reaches into kid's window, suggesting that he eats it. Please make these guys an actual threat, and not some comic relief characters.
 

Scarim Coral

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I wonder if this will be kept in the same tone as the animated version (yes I know it was a based on a book but I haben't read) cos I remember the induse nightmare and the child eating giants (they did get eaten offscreen and there were some remains of them or some sorts).
 

RJ Dalton

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I can't tell from the trailer, but it looks to me like the BFG is a CGI character. This disappoints me if it is.
 

Sniper Team 4

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I remember reading this book in the third grade. I remember when I got to the part that said what the other giants did to the kids they stuff in their bags. And I remember being freaked out.

I also remember that she rides around in his ear so he can hear her.
 

Johnny Novgorod

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Spielberg is a great director, Dahl is a great writer, teaser looks great. The compromise here is that it's a Disney movie.
 

FPLOON

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Huh... Maybe this movie would make me realize that I wasn't suppose to just laugh at any of the dark implications in the book...

Other than that, despite being a long-ass time since I read the book, that narration felt like it came straight out of the book...
 

Janichsan

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ravenshrike said:
Lest everyone forget, Spielberg is the same dumbass who replaced all the guns with walkie talkies in ET.
But he admitted later that this was a dumb idea and explicitly changed that back for the 30th anniversary E.T. blu-ray.
 

IamLEAM1983

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Janichsan said:
ravenshrike said:
Lest everyone forget, Spielberg is the same dumbass who replaced all the guns with walkie talkies in ET.
But he admitted later that this was a dumb idea and explicitly changed that back for the 30th anniversary E.T. blu-ray.
Without mentioning Schindler's List, which proves that Spielberg isn't totally against your occasional display of narrative-serving violence. The walky-talky incident is fairly isolated, all things considered.

Not that I'm expecting overt displays in a Disney movie, however; they only just got around to admitting that their underage or teenage protagonists could show up onscreen with minor scrapes and burns! Attack on Titan, this will definitely not be. Considering, if Dahl's tale does include suggestions of infanticide, I'm pretty sure Spielberg will have to sidestep that issue.
 

Hawki

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Y'know, I read BFG way back in the day. Not once would I call it a "dark" work.

Yeah, we have the context of giants going out each night to eat people, but that's all it is - context. The main focus is on the BFG and Sophie, which is always presented in a friendly, humorous light.
 

elvor0

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Scarim Coral said:
I wonder if this will be kept in the same tone as the animated version (yes I know it was a based on a book but I haben't read) cos I remember the induse nightmare and the child eating giants (they did get eaten offscreen and there were some remains of them or some sorts).
The animated movie was pretty close to the book, I don't remember any deviation, and a good movie it was too.