Steven Spielberg will direct a new film of The BFG, Roald Dahl’s much-loved children’s book about a “Big Friendly Giant”.
Steven Spielberg will begin shooting in early 2015.
First published in 1982, the book tells of an orphaned girl named Sophie who is befriended one night by a kindly giant.
Roald Dahl considered The BFG one of his favorite books
According to the Roald Dahl Literary Estate, the film will be released in 2016 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the author’s birth.
“We are delighted that Steven Spielberg will bring his inventive genius to directing the story of The BFG,” it said in a statement.
Steven Spielberg will work from a screenplay by Melissa Mathison, who previously wrote the Oscar-nominated script for his 1982 hit E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
“The BFG has enchanted families and their children for more than three decades,” said Steven Spielberg in a statement posted on the Roald Dahl website.
“We are honored that the Roald Dahl estate has entrusted us with this classic story.”
Frank Marshall will produce the film, while Michael Siegel and John Madden will serve as its executive producers.
Steven Spielberg, 67, has not directed a film since 2012’s historical epic Lincoln.
He is also producing a Cold War thriller with Tom Hanks that he may also direct.
Roald Dahl, who died in 1990 at the age of 74, considered The BFG one of his favorite books.
Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg will work together for a fourth time on a new Cold War thriller.
The untitled DreamWorks film is being produced by Steven Spielberg who is also said to be considering a directing role, according to Variety.
Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg have previously teamed up for Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me if You Can and The Terminal.
Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg will work together for a fourth time on a new Cold War thriller
The new project is about real-life US lawyer James Donovan, who was enlisted by the CIA during the Cold War.
Tom Hanks will play James Donovan, who had to negotiate the release of a pilot captured when his U2 spy plane was shot down over Russia.
DreamWorks has declined to comment, but the film is thought to be one of several directing projects being considered by Steven Spielberg, who is already producing the film along with Marc Platt.
Other possibilities are Robopocalypse and the historical drama Montezuma, from American Gangster and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo writer Steve Zaillian.
Madonna was the world’s top-earning celebrity over the past year, trumping the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg.
Madonna, 55, made an estimated $125 million thanks to her MDNA tour, clothing and fragrance lines, according to Forbes Top-Earning Celebrities List 2013.
The magazine said it was the most money Madonna had made in a single year since it began tracking earnings in 1999.
Director Steven Spielberg was at number two with $100 million.
Madonna was the world’s top-earning celebrity over the past year, trumping the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg
Most of his earnings came from his back catalogue of film hits such as ET and Jurassic Park – which has just been released in 3D to mark its 20th anniversary – as well as last year’s Oscar winning Lincoln.
Steven Spielberg also takes a cut of all ticket sales at Universal Studios theme parks.
Third place was a three-way tie between 50 Shades of Grey author EL James, Simon Cowell and shock jock Howard Stern, with earnings of $95 million.
Thriller writer James Patterson follows with $91 million, while TV and radio host Glenn Beck earned $90 million.
Others in the top 10 included Transformers director Michael Bay ($82 million) producer Jerry Bruckheimer ($80 million) and pop star Lady Gaga ($80 million).
Forbes compiles its annual list of celebrity earnings using input from agents, managers, producers and others to calculate its estimates for each celebrity’s entertainment-related earnings.
The figures do not reflect tax deductions, agent fees or “the other expenses of being a celebrity”.
Oprah Winfrey is back on top of Forbes‘ list of the world’s most powerful celebrities – Forbes’ Celebrity 100 – after a two-year stint in the runner-up seat.
Oprah Winfrey, 59, knocked Jennifer Lopez off the spot and into number 12, but still shares the top ten winners’ enclosure arena with a multitude of women.
There are six girls in the plum positions – and the only man to make it into the top five is film director Steven Spielberg, who, coming third, is sandwiched between Lady Gaga in second and Beyonce in fourth.
Madonna comes fifth and Taylor Swift makes her top 10 debut at number six in the annual Top 100 compiled by Forbes magazine, which is based on income over a 12-month period and fame, as defined by a media presence across all platforms, as well as social media power.
Writer E.L. James is newcomer to the list at number 42, proving that celebrities with clout can come from anywhere. E.L. James has sold 70 million copies of her books and earned an estimated $77 million in the last 12 months.
Oprah Winfrey is back on top of Forbes’ list of the world’s most powerful celebrities
Forbes calculated celebrity’s earnings on income from tours, books, contracts, endorsements, movies and residuals and each star was given a marketability score, created by California market research firm E-Poll.
The magazine credits Oprah Winfrey’s $77 million earnings between June 2012 and June 2013 – as well as her prominence on TV, on social media and in the press – for her placing.
Forbes writer Dorothy Pomerantz said: “She still wields an enormous amount of power, which is really what we look for in our fame matrix.
“She is taking this cable network and turning it around just through the sheer force of her will, her connections and her ability.”
Oprah Winfrey, who has topped the list on four previous occasions, is one of three celebrities who have featured on the prestigious list every year since its inception in 1999, along with radio DJ Howard Stern and director Steven Spielberg.
But she wasn’t the highest earning star over the last year. Madonna earned $125 million between June 2012 and June 2013.
Last year’s number one, Jennifer Lopez – who topped the chart thanks to her public profile and earnings of $52 million – drops to 12 on this year’s countdown.
Meanwhile, Lady Gaga, despite being forced to cancel numerous dates on her moneymaking Born This Way Ball tour due to hip surgery earlier this year, earned $80 million from the global jaunt.
Forbes also cites the 27-year-old star’s devoted fan following on social media for her lofty ranking.
Dorothy Pomerantz said: “She is still a huge force in pop music. Even when she is not playing, people are talking about her and speculating about her.”
Forbes also deciphered how often individual stars appeared in the media and used Starcount – a Singapore-based company that studies celebrity’s presence on 11 different social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, to assess popularity and influence.
Blue is the Warmest Colour (La vie d’Adèle), a love story about two young French women, has won the Palme d’Or for best film at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
The film has attracted attention for its s** scenes as well as the acclaimed performances of actresses Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux.
Hollywood veteran Bruce Dern won best actor for his performance in Nebraska.
French star Berenice Bejo, known for silent film The Artist, won best actress for her role in The Past.
The winners were picked from the 20 films in competition and were named at the festival’s closing ceremony on Sunday.
Blue is the Warmest Colour is a three-hour coming-of-age movie in which Adele Exarchopoulos plays a 15-year-old who falls in love with an older woman, played by Lea Seydoux.
Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche, the film won rave reviews in Cannes, being described as “epic yet intimate” by The Guardian.
The film also shocked some critics. The Hollywood Reporter said the “sprawling drama” would “raise eyebrows” as it crossed the barrier “between performance and the real deal”.
Some had questioned whether the s** scenes may make it too e**licit for the top prize.
But director Steven Spielberg, who chaired the jury, told reporters: “I think it will get a lot of play… I think this film carries a very strong message, a very positive message.”
In an unusual move, Steven Spielberg awarded the prize to the two lead actresses as well as the director.
Blue is the Warmest Colour ( La vie d’Adèle) has won the Palme d’Or for best film at Cannes Film Festival 2013
Accepting the prize, Abdellatif Kechiche said: “I should like to dedicate this film to the wonderful youth of France whom I met during the long period while making this film.
“Those young people taught me a lot about the spirit of freedom and living together.”
Blue is the Warmest Colour prevented US film-makers the Coen brothers from repeating their Palme d’Or success of 1991, when they won for Barton Fink.
Their latest film Inside Llewyn Davis, about the 1960s New York folk scene, won this year’s Grand Prix, effectively the runners-up prize.
The best actor award marks a return to the critical bosom for Bruce Dern, who is best known for roles in 1970s films including Coming Home, The Cowboys and The Great Gatsby.
Now 76, Bruce dern has won for playing an ageing, alcoholic father on a road trip to collect a lottery prize. The film, titled Nebraska, was directed by Sideways and The Descendants film-maker Alexander Payne.
Berenice Bejo’s best actress prize has proved that her performance in The Artist was not a one-off. Her film The Past is a family drama made by Iranian director Asghar Farhadi as the follow-up to his Oscar-nominated 2011 drama A Separation.
Mexico’s Amat Escalante, who made brutal drama Heli about the country’s drugs war, was something of a surprise choice for best director.
China’s Jia Zhangke won best screenplay for A Touch of Sin, an examination of rampant corruption in his country.
The Jury Prize went to Like Father, Like Son, about two families who discover that their six-year-old boys were switched at birth, directed by Japan’s Hirokazu Kore-eda.
Films that missed out included Behind the Candelabra, in which Michael Douglas plays the legendarily flamboyant entertainer Liberace, and Italian director Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty, a sumptuous story about an ageing novelist.
Steven Spielberg was joined on the jury by Life of Pi director Ang Lee, actress Nicole Kidman and Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz.
The other judges were We Need To Talk About Kevin film-maker Lynne Ramsay, French actor Daniel Auteuil, Romanian director Cristian Mungiu, Japanese director Naomi Kawase and Bollywood star Vidya Balan.
Universal Pictures has announced that Jurassic Park 4 will be directed by little-known director Colin Trevorrow.
Colin Trevorrow, 36, made his feature film directorial debut in 2012 with the time travel comedy, Safety Not Guaranteed.
Steven Spielberg, who directed the first two installments of the lucrative $1.9 billion dinosaur franchise, will executive produce the fourth film.
Jurassic Park 4 – which will be made in 3D – is due for release in June 2014.
Steven Spielberg announced in 2011 that Jurassic Park 4 was in development, much to the delight of fans who will have waited 13 years when the fourth film hits the big screen.
Universal has given no other details regarding its cast or plot, however it will be written by Rise of the Planet of the Apes screenwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver.
Jurassic Park and The Lost World Jurassic Park took $914.7 million and $618.6 million when they were released in 1993 and 1997 respectively.
Universal Pictures has announced that Jurassic Park 4 will be directed by little-known director Colin Trevorrow
Jurassic Park 3, helmed by Captain America director Joe Johnston, was released in 2001, but its $368 million global box-office takings failed to match those of the first two films.Jurassic Park will be rereleased in US cinemas in 3D in April to celebrate its 20th anniversary.
Colin Trevorrow’s independent comedy, Safety Not Guaranteed, featuring Mark Duplass as an eccentric inventor who is seeking to travel back in time, was shown at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.
Aubrey Plaza and Jake Johnson co-starred in the film, which also earned a best first screenplay award and nomination for best first feature at the Independent Spirit Awards.
Colin Trevorrow had previously only made a TV movie and documentary.
Steven Spielberg is to direct a screenplay by Stanley Kubrick about Napoleon, which was scrapped by the late film maker in the 1970s.
Steven Spielberg told French TV network Canal+ he would make a TV miniseries – not a film – about Napoleon’s life.
He previously collaborated with Stanley Kubrick on 2001’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence.
The science fiction drama was conceived by Stanley Kubrick in the 1970s and later written and directed by Steven Spielberg.
Regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick directed groundbreaking films including 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining, Dr. Strangelove and Eyes Wide Shut, his last film before his death in 1999.
Steven Spielberg is to direct a screenplay by Stanley Kubrick about Napoleon, which was scrapped by the late film maker in the 1970s
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Stanley Kubrick was “devoted” to the research involved in the biopic about Napoleon, spending years exploring the French emperor’s life in detail.
A Los Angeles County Museum of Art exhibit highlighting Stanley Kubrick’s work displayed a 1971 draft letter to studio executives, telling them: “It’s impossible to tell you what I’m going to do except to say that I expect to make the best movie ever made.”
It also highlighted an offer letter he wrote to Austrian actor Oskar Werner for the title role in the film and a “very polite hand-written inability letter” from Audrey Hepburn, in which she said she had decided not to work for a while, but asked if he would consider her “again sometime”.
The Hollywood Reporter said Steven Spielberg would develop Napoleon in conjunction with Kubrick’s family.
“The late filmmaker is famed for his obsessive perfectionism, so his estate should find comfort working in the able hands of Spielberg,” it said.
US civil war drama, Lincoln has led 2013 BAFTA Film Awards with 10 nominations including best film and best actor for Daniel Day-Lewis.
Daniel Day-Lewis’s co-stars Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field have been shortlisted for best supporting actor and actress.
However, the film’s award-winning director Steven Spielberg missed out in the best director category.
Musical adaptation Les Miserables and Ang Lee’s Life of Pi have both received nine nominations.
Following closely behind the leaders pack was Bond film Skyfall with eight nominations, including best British film and best supporting actor and actress for Javier Bardem and Judi Dench.
It will battle it out with four other titles to be named outstanding British film at the awards ceremony on February 10.
They were The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Anna Karenina, Les Miserables, and Seven Psychopaths.
The nominations were announced by Alice Eve and Jeremy Irvine at the The British Academy of Film and Television Arts headquarters in London on Wednesday.
Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman have been recognized in the lead actor and supporting actress categories in Tom Hooper’s big-screen adaptation of Les Miserables.
Political thriller Argo has received seven nominations with Ben Affleck in the running for best director and best actor.
Other American movies to feature in the shortlist for this year’s BAFTA awards were Zero Dark Thirty with five nominations, including best director for Kathryn Bigelow and Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master which received four.
Silver Linings Playbook garnered nods for Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper in the best actress and best actor categories. The romantic comedy-drama has also been nominated for best adapted screenplay.
Dame Helen Mirren has been nominated for best actress for her role as Alfred Hitchcock’s wife in Hitchcock.
“This was a wonderful role,” said Helen Mirren.
She added: “Alma Reville was more than Hitchcock’s wife, in many ways she was his muse, his assistant, his editor and more, and I am proud to have had the opportunity to portray her.”
There were some notable exclusions in this year’s shortlist.
Lincoln has led 2013 BAFTA Film Awards with 10 nominations including best film and best actor for Daniel Day-Lewis
While Les Miserables was the only British film to feature in both the best film and best British film categories, its Oscar-winning director, Tom Hooper, missed out on a director’s nod while another British Oscar-winner, Sam Mendes, was also left out of the same category for Skyfall.
Eric Fellner of Working Title Films, which produced Les Miserables, said Tom Hooper may be upset he was left off the roll for best director “on a personal level”.
“But on a professional level he’ll realize he’s made a film that’s got nine nominations and as far as we’re concerned, the director is the heart and centre of all the films that we make and it’s just not possible to get nine nominations without great directorial input.”
He added: “The great news is that yesterday, Tom Hooper got a Directors Guild of America (DGA) nomination, which is really prestigious.”
James Bond star Daniel Craig, who was nominated for his role as the suave spy in the film Casino Royale, also missed out in the acting category.
Though the film is in the running for best British film, it means the Bond series is still looking for its first ever nomination for best film.
Anna Karenina, based on the original Tolstoy novel and directed by Joe Wright, received a total of six nominations, including best British film. It is also in the running for best original music, and best cinematography.
There were just three technical nominations for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
Searching for Sugar Man, the true story of the 1970s rocker Rodriguez is up against The Imposter, about the 1997 case of the French confidence man Frederic Bourdin for best documentary.
Also in the category were McCullin, West of Memphis and Marley.
Director of The Imposter, Bart Layton, who was nominated for outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer, said he did a “double take” when the nominations were announced.
“I think this is one of the strongest years for documentaries that I can remember across the board, so the fact that we made it into that final group [is amazing].
“It is a documentary, but it should be up there competing with non-documentaries. The fact it’s been acknowledged in that context is testament to that being successful,” he said.
Michael Haneke’s Palme d’Or-winner, Amour, about an octogenarian couple coping with illness received four nominations, with Emmanuelle Riva, 85, announced as in the running for best actress and Haneke up for best director.
Completing the line up for best director was Quentin Tarantino for Django Unchained, which received a total of five nominations, including best supporting actor for Christoph Waltz.
The nominees for this year’s BAFTA rising star award were announced on Monday with four out of the five contenders female.
Juno Temple, Andrea Riseborough, Elizabeth Olsen, Alicia Vikander and Life of Pi actor Suraj Sharma have all been tipped as the future stars of cinema.
Previous winners include James McAvoy, Kristen Stewart and Tom Hardy.
It is the only accolade at the annual awards ceremony to be voted for by the public.
The winners of the 2013 BAFTA film awards will be announced at a ceremony which takes place for the seventh year running at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London, hosted by Stephen Fry.
Carlo Rambaldi, the renowned Italian special effects artist who created E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, has died aged 86 after a long illness.
Carlo Rambaldi worked with many Italian directors including Pier Paolo Pasolini and Dario Argento but he became world famous for his work in Hollywood.
As well as Steven Spielberg’s ET, carlo Rambaldi worked on Ridley Scott’s 1979 film Alien and John Guillermin’s King Kong in 1976.
He was awarded Oscars for all three.
Carlo Rambaldi, the renowned Italian special effects artist who created E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, has died aged 86 after a long illness
Carlo Rambaldi died in hospital in the city of Lamezia Terme, in Italy’s Calabria region.
He was born in Vigarano Mainarda, near Ferrara in north-east Italy, and attended Bologna’s Fine Arts academy.
His introduction to cinema came in 1956 when he was asked to create a 16 m (52 ft) dragon for a low-budget science fiction film.
Carlo Rambaldi moved to Rome where his work drew the attention of producer Dino De Laurentiis, who brought him to Hollywood to work on King Kong.
Once in the US he became a master in the art of mechatronics – a mix of mechanical and electronic engineering used to produce special effects.
Italian director Pupi Avati described him as “a child who loved to play and make his toys”.
Hollywood producer Richard Zanuck has died aged 77 after suffering a heart attack at his Beverley Hills home.
Dick Zanuck, as most people called him, was best known for his work on films such as The Sound of Music, Driving Miss Daisy and Jaws.
Son of Hollywood royalty, he became the youngest studio head in history when he took over 20th Century Fox aged 28.
His friend Steven Spielberg called him a “cornerstone of the film industry”.
Dick Zanuck’s parents were the legendary movie mogul Darryl Zanuck and actress Virginia Fox.
After his father made him 20th Century Fox’s head of production, the younger Zanuck went on to oversee the release of some of the era’s classics, including The Sound of Music and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Richard Zanuck has died aged 77 after suffering a heart attack at his Beverley Hills home
Richard Zanuck went on to run his own production company after several big-screen musicals for Fox flopped and his father fired him, spending most of his career as an independent producer.
He collaborated with Steven Spielberg on the blockbuster jaws and several other films.
“He taught me everything I know about producing. He was one of the most honorable and loyal men of our profession and he fought tooth and nail for his directors,” Steven Spielberg said in a statement.
His 1989 film Driving Miss Daisy won four Oscars, including best picture for Richard Zanuck and his wife and collaborator Lili Fini Zanuck.
In his later years, Dick Zanuck collaborated closely with director Tim Burton on a number of fillms, including Planet of the Apes, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland.
Fox has decided to cancel Steven Spielberg’s drama Terra Nova after just one season.
Terra Nova, a big budget prehistoric production, averaged 7.5 million viewers in the US but failed to do as well as hoped.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, 20th Century Fox TV will now try to sell it to other networks.
After the premiere was delayed twice, Terra Nova finally made it to air in September but got a lukewarm reception from some fans and critics.
The final episode of the first series was shown on 19 December.
Fox has decided to cancel Steven Spielberg’s drama Terra Nova after just one season
Terra Nova starred Jason O’Mara, Stephen Lang, Christine Adams and Shelley Conn.
It was initially set in 2149, at a time when overpopulation and declining air quality threatens life on Earth.
Scientists begin sending people 85 million years into the planet’s Cretaceous past.
The drama focused primarily on the lives of the Shannon family as they joined the Terra Nova colony in the prehistoric past.
Terra Nova also aired in the UK on Sky 1.
Spielberg’s most recent big screen outing, War Horse, was nominated for five Oscars but failed to win any statuettes.
The movie, based on Michael Morpurgo’s book, recently spent three weeks at the top of the UK box office chart.
This website has updated its privacy policy in compliance with EU GDPR 2016/679. Please read this to review the updates about which personal data we collect on our site. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our updated policy. AcceptRejectRead More
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
