Roald Dahl wrote two movie screenplays in the 1960's, but these were not adaptations of his own
books, instead he chose another British writer, Ian Fleming, for his inspiration. You Only Live Twice (1967) was the fifth James Bond movie, starring Sean Connery as 007 and featuring all the elements of violence, espionage, action and sex which made the franchise so popular. Dahl’s next Fleming adaptation may have lacked sex, but it certainly featured espionage and action, as well as an amount of macabre horror which would not have been out of place in one of Dahl’s own tales. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) which Dahl co-wrote with Ken Hughes remains, like the Bond movies, immensely popular to this day.
The First Adaptation of a Roald Dahl Book
Only then did Dahl turn his attention to a screenplay for one of his own phenomenally successful children’s books. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory had been first published in 1964, but for Hollywood, the story was renamed Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The 1971 film starred Gene Wilder in fine eccentric form as Wonka, slightly creepy, slightly insane, and completely compelling, Wilder’s performance thoroughly justified the renaming of the film after his character, with Peter Ostrum’s Charlie becoming almost a passenger in Wilder’s wild ride.
Sadly, Willy Wonka was Dahl’s last screenplay, and nobody else had the vision to adapt one of his books until 1989, a year before his death. Part of the reason for this may have been that Dahl’s unique imagination, whilst captured brilliantly by Quentin Blake’s illustrations, was beyond what film could faithfully reproduce. Perhaps only the animators of Disney could have distilled his brilliance during those years, and they chose to ignore one of the Twentieth Centuries greatest storytellers. 1989 did see an animated production of The BFG however, with David Jason providing the voice of the Big Friendly Giant in a charming film.
Anjelica Huston, Susan Sarandon and Danny DeVito Become Dahl Characters
And by 1990, special effects were sufficiently advanced to allow a live-action film of one of Dahl’s most magical tales to be made. Like all the best of his work, The Witches combined Dahl’s madcap sense of humour with a wicked slice of horror; and like Gene Wilder, Anjelica Huston was able to truly bring a Dahl character to life. Her performance as the Grand High Witch provided a suitably terrifying villain in an exciting and action-packed movie, which also featured fine supporting performances from Rowan Atkinson and Jane Horrocks. The film received a Bafta nomination.
The success of The Witches did not however begin a flood of Dahl adaptations, and not until 1996 did another appear - and then two came along at once. James and the Giant Peach was an Oscar nominated animation, with an idiosyncratic look and an all-star cast including Simon Callow, Richard Dreyfuss, Joanna Lumley and Susan Sarandon voicing the collection of outsized but friendly insects. Matilda was a live-action movie directed by the hugely talent Danny DeVito, who, like Dahl himself, had a love of horror as well as comedy. Effects magic may have solved one problem in turning Dahl’s films into books, and in Matilda, DeVito solved another. Like many children’s books, Dahl’s stories revolve around children, and therefore exceptionally gifted young stars are required. DeVito cast the child actress Mara Wilson, already famous from Mrs Doubtfire and Miracle on 34th Street as Matilda, and her endearing charm became the perfect foil for a villainous performance from DeVito himself.
Exciting Directors Burton and Anderson Take on Dahl Stories
This was a lesson taken to heart by Tim Burton when the next Dahl film came along in 2005. Another interpretation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, this time keeping the original title, and with the title character played by Freddie Highmore, who had previously worked with Johnny Depp on Finding Neverland.
Depp himself took the role of Wonka, and if any actor could match the magnificent madness of Wilder, it might have been the Pirates of the Caribbean star, whose tipsy, egocentric turn as Jack Sparrow had recently won him an Oscar nomination. Whether Depp did match up to Wilder is open to debate, as is whether the film as a whole compares with the 1971 version. A balanced view would have to concede that both have their stronger points, but there is something slightly disappointing about the remake, perhaps because Burton would seem to have been the perfect match for Dahl, and only the challenge of improving on an already strong film defeated him.
If any modern director has matched Burton for strangeness, it might be Wes Anderson. And the man who brought us The Royal Tenenbaum’s and The Life Aquatic has now taken on a Dahl classic, unleashing Fantastic Mr Fox into cinemas in 2009. Like Burton, who rarely makes a film without Depp or Helena Bonham Carter, Anderson has his favourite actors, and it is no surprise to see the names of Willem Dafoe, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Adrien Brody among the cast for his latest offering, although the part of Mr Fox is to be played by Hollywood’s Mr Charming, George Clooney. Filmed in stop-motion animation, and full of dry wit and memorable characters, Fantastic Mr Fox looks set to be a welcome addition to the canon of Dahl films.
