Roald Dahl, discovering films based on the novels of the famous writer

Today, September 13, the anniversary of his birth, we want to dedicate space to what is considered one of the most important authors for children and beyond: We are talking about Roald Dahl, a writer and poet whose books have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide and have been adapted into several film, television and theater adaptations; his popularity, which continues for many years after his death, is due to the fact that his works skillfully combine reality and a touch of fantasy, describing the world of children, as well as the world of adults with black humor all his own, often harsh and irreverent, which manages, even if in a gloomy tone, to express a certain poetry. It is also for this reason that his novels have recently become the subject of revisionism, not without much controversy, as they have been determined to be too politically incorrect, and the publication of a revised and revised version of the books has been announced.

Before moving on to the film adaptations of his works, let’s make a few biographical notes about the author: Roald Dahl was born on 13 September 1916 in Llandaff, Cardiff, the capital of Wales.the son of parents who immigrated to the United Kingdom from Norway (the name Roald was chosen in honor of Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian explorer famous for leading the first mission to reach the South Pole).
Following explorations between Wales and England, which later inspired characters and events later used in his novels, Dahl began working for the Shell Petroleum Company, an oil company with whom he traveled and lived abroad for several years, mainly in Kenya and Tanzania . At the outbreak of World War II, Dahl enlisted in the RAF (Royal Air Force)., with whom he took part in several missions; he was then sent to Washington as assistant air attaché at the British Embassy, ​​from where he also carried out propaganda and espionage activities. Although generally dissatisfied with his work in this field, it was during this period that Dahl met the writer Cecil Scott Forester, who suggested that he write down some anecdotes relating to his time in the Royal Air Force: the result was the article:Shot down over Libya

“, published saturday evening post in August 1942. It was his experiences serving in the Royal Air Force that inspired him to write his first children’s novel. Gremlinsin 1943 (although the book does not have a real official film adaptation, the film Gremlins Joe Dante from 1984, but inspired by it).
After a long and fruitful career as an author and screenwriter, Roald Dahl died on November 23, 1990, of myelodysplastic syndrome, a rare blood cancer, in Oxford, England.

Chocolate Factory it is the novel, published in 1964, that today can be called the most famous of Roald Dahl’s books, including in the light of the film adaptations made based on it; The script for the film was signed by the writer himself Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), directed by Mel Stewart and starring Gene Wilder, who was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Score; However, at the beginning of filming, since there was no complete script written entirely by Dahl, who had only sketched out the story before leaving the project due to creative differences, the director commissioned a rewrite by David Seltzer, while retaining Roald Dahl’s name as the main writer of the script. ; However, the author did not like the changes, and he criticized the film, criticizing the music, the choice of the main character and too much emphasis on Willy Wonka to the detriment of Charlie. Upon release, the film received good reviews from critics but low box office, although it later gained popularity, which was highlighted primarily by the home video market.

More than forty years have passed since the book was published, and so has the director. Tim Burton wanted to try his hand at Dahl’s noveldirecting the new version, Chocolate Factory (2005), which starred Johnny Depp and received an Oscar nomination for its costumes (designed, among other things, by Italian Gabriella Pescucci); Burton found that some elements were missing from the previous transposition, and at the same time he added some additional details compared to the book, especially regarding Willy Wonka’s family of origin, to better contextualize the character. The film received good reviews and approval from the heirs of the Dahl family, and also achieved excellent success at the box office.
The story of the famous chocolatier also continues to inspire cinema, because, as we know, the way out Wonka Paul King, which, although not a direct transposition of Dahl’s novel, this time uses the character to represent his youth and the events that led him to founding his chocolate factory; Young Willie will have the face of Hollywood golden boy Timothee Chalamet.

BFG (Great Gentle Giant) is a 1982 novel by Roald Dahl that tells the story of the unexpected meeting of a young orphan and a gentle giant, considered one of its author’s favorite works. An animated film was made based on the book we named first. Friendly Giant

and then My giant friend (1989)directed by Brian Cosgrove, who received screenwriting credit upon release.
A live action adaptation has been in development for many years, and then there will be made by Stephen Spielberganother famous author of stories between reality and fantasy, dedicated to a very young audience: The BFG (2016), starring Mark Rylance and Ruby Barnhill, received positive reviews but was considered a financial failure given the heavy investment in producing the special effects-heavy story.

Witches (1983) – a novel with partially autobiographical echoes of Roald Dahl, given that the main characters are a child and his Norwegian grandmother; The book was first shown in the cinema Who’s Afraid of Witches? (1990) directed by Nicolas Roeg and starring Anjelica Huston; Critics praised the film, but Dahl criticized the ending, which differed from the ending of the book. Then the novel had a second incarnation on the screen with Witches (2020) by Robert Zemeckis, who, however, moves the story from 1980s England to 1960s Alabama, choosing African-American characters instead of Norwegian ones; The film, which stars Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer and Stanley Tucci, among others, was released directly to home video (due to the pandemic) to mixed reviews.

Matilda 6 legendary (1996) – film based on the novel Matilda (Matilda, in Italian translation) by Roald Dahl, first published 1988; film starring Mara Wilson (one of Robin Williams’ children in Mrs. Doubtfire) AND directed by Danny DeVito, who also plays Harry Wormwood, Matilda’s father, alongside his wife Rhea Perlman; The film received excellent reviews but was a box office disappointment. However, the story continues to be very popular, especially in the UK, where gave birth to a musical, Matilda, musicalwhich debuted on stage in 2010 and which in turn became a film, Matilda, the musical by Roald Dahl (2022), directed by Matthew Warchus, starring Emma Thompson.

James and the Giant Peach

The 1961 novel was adapted for the big screen in 1996 with film of the same name directed by Henry Selick and produced by Tim Burton (the same team that created a few years earlier The nightmare before christmas); The film, an exquisite mixture of live action and stop-motion animation, or stop-motion animation, received very positive reviews and large compliments from Roald Dahl’s widow, and was also nominated for an Oscar for its score by veteran Randy Newman, but it was a commercial failure and not I was able to recoup my budget.

Another author who used stop-motion animation to adapt Dahl was Wes Andersonwith him Fantastic Mr Fox (2009) based on the novel by the author Smart, Mr. Volpe (1970); Featuring a prestigious cast of original-language voice actors including George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe and Owen Wilson, the film was a modest success with audiences but highly acclaimed by critics and received two Oscar nominations. .

Danny world championThe 1975 children’s novel became 1989 TV movie of the same name.starring Jeremy Irons and Robbie Coltrane, from the short novel Agura Trat (1989), which is nothing more than a word Turtle written backwards, the film was made for English television, Esio Trot by Roald Dahl (2015), unpublished by us, starring Dustin Hoffman, Judi Dench and James Corden.

There is also a film that, although not based specifically on Dahl’s work, is nevertheless inspired by his life: at the age of six, little Roald met his idol, the writer Beatrix Potter (author of such characters as Peter Rabbit and many others); the dramatized version of the story became a TV movie Roald and Beatrix – A Magical Meeting (2020).

Moreover, Roald Dahl has repeatedly established himself as film and television screenwriter: He wrote films such as Agent 007: You only live twice. (1967), the fifth film in the James Bond saga with Sean Connery, or a fantasy musical. Chitty-chitty-bang-bang (1968), as well as some episodes of the series Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955-1965) and an anthology series. Feeling of surprise (1979–1988), based on his horror-thriller stories. Unexpected stories, Kiss Kiss AND Someone like you.