The 2016 Steven Spielberg flop that could have reunited him with Robin Williams: “He was hilarious”
Steven Spielberg and Robin Williams became close friends while making *Hook* and stayed in touch, with Williams offering Spielberg regular comic relief during the filming of *Schindler’s List*. They hoped to work together again on an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s *The BFG*, but early plans stalled because the technology available in the 1990s could not convincingly show Williams interacting with a child actor as the giant.
Producer Kathleen Kennedy recalled that Williams took part in cast readings and was “hilarious”, saying he would have made a great BFG. Spielberg eventually directed the film, released in 2016, two years after Williams died by suicide. The article describes the adaptation as a mixed result: it made a profit but fell short of Disney’s box-office hopes, and its slow middle section and subdued cinematography drew criticism.
- Williams was considered for the BFG role in an early adaptation.
- 1990s technology made the giant’s interactions difficult to film.
- Spielberg’s 2016 version arrived after Williams’s death and underperformed expectations.