Home Q News Entertainment Bill Hader Says If You Liked “E.T.,” You’ll Like “The BFG”

Bill Hader Says If You Liked “E.T.,” You’ll Like “The BFG”

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Mark Rylance and Ruby Barnhill in “The BFG”; Walt Disney Studios(LOS ANGELES) — Steven Spielberg’s latest movie is The BFG — short for Big Friendly Giant. It’s based on the book by Roald Dahl about a young girl who befriends at 24-foot-tall giant. 

At the premiere in Hollywood this week, actor Bill Hader, who plays a giant, but not THE giant, in the film, tells ABC Radio the movie reminds him of another Spielberg classic.  “This movie’s very much like E.T. ,” he said. “If you liked E.T., this is it.  It’s the story of a young kid meeting this like kind of a weird outcast.” 

Spielberg said he decided to direct the movie because he loved the book. “I was certainly a favorite of mine as I was, as I would recite it and read it to my children, because I had the hubris of playing BFG and I did it in funny voices,” he said.

So what does he hope the movie will inspire in audiences? “A big hug from people that you may not have given a chance to but were brave enough to give the friendship a chance,” he said.

For the actors, a chance to work with a legendary director can be intimidating, but Mark Rylance — who plays the title character and won an Oscar thanks to his his last job with Spielberg on Bridge of Spies — says Spielberg is a softy. “He has a director’s chair, it doesn’t have ‘Director’ written on the back, it has ‘Dad’ written on the back,” he revealed. “He knows how to do everyone’s job except actors, so we’re lucky.  He loves actors and he jumps up and down and laughs when he enjoys things. It’s very nice.”

The BFG hits theaters July 1.

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