--- title: Mark Rylance to Play the BFG in Spielberg Adaptation of Dahl Book description: Production on 'The BFG' is expected to begin in early 2015, and the film is due to hit theaters in summer 2016 canonical: https://time.com/3542787/mark-rylance-bfg-steven-spielberg-roald-dahl/ author: Elizabeth Barber article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-28T06:51:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:02:45.682Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Mark Rylance to Play the BFG og:description: Steven Spielberg brings Roald Dahl's 'Big Friendly Giant' to the screen. og:url: https://time.com/3542787/mark-rylance-bfg-steven-spielberg-roald-dahl/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8cf9658b7f1d1df8/698762fb55a859e9a0a83751/rtr2bwo2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: British actor Rylance arrives to attend the 2010 Laurence Olivier Awards in central London og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mark Rylance to Play the BFG twitter:description: Steven Spielberg brings Roald Dahl's 'Big Friendly Giant' to the screen. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8cf9658b7f1d1df8/698762fb55a859e9a0a83751/rtr2bwo2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Mark Rylance Plays the BFG in Steven Spielberg's Version of the Roald Dahl Book by [Elizabeth Barber](/author/elizabeth-barber/) ## Elizabeth Barber Oct 28, 2014 6:51 AM CUT  British actor Mark Rylance talks to the media as he arrives to attend the 2010 Laurence Olivier Awards in central London on March 21, 2010 British actor Mark Rylance talks to the media as he arrives to attend the 2010 Laurence Olivier Awards in central London on March 21, 2010Jas Lehal—Reuters by [Elizabeth Barber](/author/elizabeth-barber/) ## Elizabeth Barber Oct 28, 2014 6:51 AM CUT Mark Rylance, a towering figure in the theater world, is set to get all the more towering — reaching at least 24 ft., to be exact. Rylance will [play the BFG](http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/oct/27/mark-rylance-bfg-steven-spielberg "undefined") in Steven Spielberg’s big-screen adaptation of the Roald Dahl book about a “Big Friendly Giant,” the _Guardian_ reports. _The BFG_, published in 1982 and reportedly Dahl’s personal favorite of his much loved books, is the tale of an orphaned girl, Sophie, who one night meets a very big and friendly giant. Sophie and the BFG set out together to save the world from much less friendly, people-eating giants. “As I witnessed on stage, Mark Rylance is a transformational actor,” said Spielberg in a statement. “I am excited and thrilled that Mark will be making this journey with us to Giant Country. “Everything about his career so far is about making the courageous choice,” he said. Rylance, a top British theater actor, is a three-time Tony Award winner and has also won two Oliviers. “We are ecstatic at this choice,” said Luke Kelly, managing director of the Roald Dahl Literary Estate and Dahl’s grandson, in a statement. “Mark is incredibly talented, one of the great British actors working today.” “The thought of watching him transform into ‘the only nice and jumbly Giant in Giant Country’ is, as the BFG himself might say, absolutely phizz-whizzing,” said Kelly. Production on _The BFG_ is expected to begin in early 2015, and the film is due to hit theaters in summer 2016. \[[_Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/oct/27/mark-rylance-bfg-steven-spielberg "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3542787/mark-rylance-bfg-steven-spielberg-roald-dahl/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3542787/mark-rylance-bfg-steven-spielberg-roald-dahl/"},"headline":"Mark Rylance Plays the BFG in Steven Spielberg's Version of the Roald Dahl Book","datePublished":"2014-10-28T06:51:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:02:45.682Z","description":"The film is due to hit theaters in the summer of 2016","url":"https://time.com/3542787/mark-rylance-bfg-steven-spielberg-roald-dahl/","keywords":["movies","steven spielberg"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8cf9658b7f1d1df8/698762fb55a859e9a0a83751/rtr2bwo2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Elizabeth Barber","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/elizabeth-barber/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8cf9658b7f1d1df8/698762fb55a859e9a0a83751/rtr2bwo2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"British actor Rylance arrives to attend the 2010 Laurence Olivier Awards in central London","caption":"British actor Rylance arrives to attend the 2010 Laurence Olivier Awards in central London","creditText":"Jas Lehal—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3542787/mark-rylance-bfg-steven-spielberg-roald-dahl/","name":"Mark Rylance Plays the BFG in Steven Spielberg's Version of the Roald Dahl Book"}}]}] ```