Newcomer Ruby Barnhill to Lead Steven Spielberg's 'The BFG'

Casting child actors in their first movie role doesn't always work out for the best, in fact it fails more often than not. Sure, every now and then you get a Quvenzhane Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild or Tatum O'Neal in Paper Moon but those times are rare. What you normally get are kids mugging for the camera in an effort to be cute as a button. Steven Spielberg, who has some experience pulling good performances from young stars, is taking this gamble once again with his adaptation of The BFG.

Spielberg has cast newcomer Ruby Barnhill to play Sophie, the young girl who befriends a"Big Friendly Giant" in the film based on Roald Dahl's book. This will be 10-year-old Barnhill's first film role, although she has some experience working on the stage and small screen. She joins Mark Rylance who plays the benevolent giant and helps capture evil, man-eating giants terrorizing London.

The BFG opens July 1st 2016.

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Mark Rylance is 'The B.F.G.'; Oliver Platt joins 'The 9th Life of Louis Drax'

After taking some time to settle on a post-Lincoln project, Steven Spielberg is now busy with a couple of them. He's currently filming his Cold War thriller that will star Tom Hanks, but at the same time he's casting up an adaptation of Roald Dahl's children's book, The B.F.G., and he's just landed 3-time Tony Award winner Mark Rylance to play the titular giant. Penned by Melissa Matheson (E.T.), the story follows a young girl who befriends a "big friendly giant" and with help from the Queen of England they set out to stop much meaner giants who like to bite humans.

Oliver Platt and Molly Parker have joined The 9th Life of Louis Drax, the odd film about a 9-year-old boy who suffers a near-fatal accident every single year. Jamie Dornan, Sarah Gadon, and Aaron Paul star, with the film marking the first screenplay by Max Minghella. He's reteaming with his Horns director Alexandre Aja on the project. 

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Steven Spielberg Dates Untitled Cold War Thriller and 'The BFG'

After much speculation and with his name attached to practically a dozen projects since directing Lincoln three years ago, Steven Spielberg has finally settled on what he'll direct next and when we'll see them in theaters. Dreamworks has announced released dates for the upcoming Cold War thriller Spielberg is developing with Tom Hanks, plus his adaptation of Ronald Dahl's children's book, The BFG.

First up is the untitled Cold War spy movie which will open October 16th 2015. Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance star, with the Coen Brothers recently coming aboard to write the screenplay based partly on the true story of James Donovan. Donovan was an American attorney who earned the Distinguished Medal of Honor for going into Russia and negotiating the release of a captured U-2 spy plane pilot.

From there, Spielberg will jump right into The BFG, reuniting with E.T. writer Melissa Mathison for a story about a little girl who befriends a "Big Friendly Giant" and becomes an international heroine. July 1st 2016 is the date for that one, marking Spielberg's first live-action kids film since 1991's Hook.

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Steven Spielberg Reunites with 'E.T.' Writer for 'The BFG'

Keeping track of Steven Spielberg's potential projects has become a full-time job with the director adding new ones every few days. To name just a few, he's circling a Dalton Trumbo-penned Montezuma film, a West Side Story remake, the delayed Robopocalypse, and only recently he added The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara and a Cold War thriller with Tom Hanks. And yet he's still not finished, as THR reports he'll direct an adaptation of Ronald Dahl's children's book, The BFG.

Spielberg's frequent producing partners, Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, have been developing the live-action film since 2011, based on a script by E.T. screenwriter Melissa Mathison. So this would put Spielberg in familiar company all around, and the material sounds like something that would have worked well in Amblin's glory days. The story follows a mischievous little girl named Sophie who becomes friends with The BGF (Big Friendly Giant), the only benevolent giant in the world and not a literal man-eater like the others.

The plan is for Spielberg to begin filming early next year, which could leave him time to fit in a smaller project. That would presumably leave out Robopocalypse, Montezuma, and the Hanks film which could take a lot of pre and post time.

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