Steven Spielberg will direct an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s dark fantasy tale, ‘The BFG’

The Bonecruncher. The Childchewer. The Meatdripper. The Fleshlumpeater. These are some of the names Steven Spielberg will try and bring to life when he directs an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s book, The BFG. Dahl was know for injecting dark humor into children’s tales, and this story is no exception. It’s about a little girl who is kidnapped by a giant and taken to their kingdom. There she learns about a crew of terrible titans who periodically venture into the human world to snatch up and eat humans, especially little kids. Luckily her captor is the one Big Friendly Giant, and together they hatch a plan to try and stop his big brothers from killing again.

A number of Dahl’s books have become successful films, most notably Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, which featured some of his trademark sensibilities in the form of the violent yet laughable demise of several greedy children too eager to sample Mr. Wonka’s inventive candies. For the BFG project, Variety reports, Spielberg is teaming up with Melissa Mathison, who last worked with him on E.T. That’s a good sign for anyone hoping this adaptation won’t pull any punches.