Years Of Roald Dahl - The Economic Times

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SEPETEMBER 11-17, 2016
A Different Dahl
Dahl’s first paid piece of writing was not a children’s story. It was an article describing his experience of flying
a Gloster Gladiator plane, which was shot down in the deserts of Libya during World War II. Titled “A Piece
of Cake” (renamed “Shot Down Over Libya”), it was published anonymously in The Saturday Evening Post in
1942. His first famous kids' book, James and the Giant Peach, was published nearly two decades later
Dahl’s first adult novel, Some
Time Never: A Fable for
Supermen (1948), was
panned by critics and has never
been reprinted in English. The
poor reception was a blow
to the author, after which he
began developing his short
fiction, which was published in various magazines
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SEPTEMBER 11-17, 2016
Dahl worked on screenplays,
including one for the James
Bond film, You Only Live
Twice, written by his
wartime friend Ian Fleming.
He also wrote the script for
the Fleming film Chitty
Chitty Bang Bang. Both
were box office hits
The inspiration for the iconic
book Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory was
Dahl’s love for chocolates
and his years at the public
school Repton, where he
and other children were
invited to test chocolate
bars for Cadbury's
Dahl was named after Roald Amundsen, Norway’s well-known polar explorer. Both of
Dahl’s parents were Norwegian and his mother told him stories of mythical Norwegian
creatures. Dahl had said his mother was the primary influence in his life
Immortal
Characters
Charlie Bucket &
Willy Wonka
Charlie Bucket appears in
the eponymous Charlie and
the Chocolate Factory and its sequel,
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. Like
many of Dahl’s protagonists, Charlie is
the underdog — born in a poor family,
and living in a small house with parents
and both sets of grandparents. But life
changes when he gets a lucky golden
ticket to visit Willy Wonka’s chocolate
factory, his favourite chocolate-maker
Matilda
Matilda might seem diminutive
but she is brave, clever and
a voracious reader who
devours Dickens by the
time she was five. Her
parents, though, couldn’t
care less. But Matilda
is able to channel her
genius to rescue her
beloved schoolteacher, Miss
Honey. One of Dahl’s later
works, Matilda was made into
a cult film and a runaway hit
musical
The BFG
Those of you who caught the Disney film and Dahl fans would
know that it stands for the Big Friendly Giant. A much-loved
character who makes his first appearance in Danny, the
Champion of the World, he got to star in his own story in 1982
Quentin Blake,
The Partner in Crime
Years Of Roald Dahl
If he were alive, Roald Dahl would have turned 100 on September 13, dubbed Roald
Dahl Day. The much-loved children’s writer's weirdly wonderful books have
withstood the test of time. The latest film adaptation of his book, The BFG (Big Friendly
Giant), was released just this year. ET Magazine takes a closer look at the life and works of
the creator of Willy Wonka, Matilda and a host of other unforgettable characters, who once
described himself as “a person with one half of him that has completely failed to grow up”
:: Indulekha Aravind
Inseparable from Dahl’s writings for children
are the accompanying illustrations by Quentin
Blake. Their working relationship began at the
publisher’s office but it was with the third book
they collaborated on, The BFG, that they became
friends. This was despite Dahl's rejecting the
first two sets of illustrations for the book. They
collaborated for 10 more books till Dahl died in
1990, but by then Blake was so familiar with
what the author wanted that he returned to the
first six books and re-illustrated them
Dahl wrote & published
34
books,
stories &
curated
collections
5
play
scripts
and film
scripts
No. of copies sold
Over
200
million
The Fantastic
Films
Though he had been a scriptwriter himself, Dahl reportedly did not take too kindly to film
adaptations of his works. After his death, the interest in his books from studios continued
and the onus fell on his widow, Felicity, to take a call. Along with literary agent Michael
Siegel, they decided that they would meet with passionate filmmakers rather than sell the
stories directly to studios. Significantly, the deal would not include sequels or spinoffs.
Here’s the reel call of films based on his books:
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate
Factory(1971)
The film, based on Charlie & the Chocolate
Factory, was a middling hit, but enjoyed
tremendous success on TV. Dahl disowned
it, because of the casting of Gene Wilder
as Willy Wonka. (Wilder passed away last
week.) It was remade by Tim Burton in
2005, and it was the most successful Dahl
adaptation, grossing $475 million worldwide
The Grand High Witch
The Witches (1990)
The witches, according to Dahl, live among us
disguised as normal women but they detest
children virulently. Leading them is The Grand
High Witch, who comes up with a plan to eliminate
all the children in England, with her powerful
Formula 86 Delayed Action Mouse-Maker. It’s up
to the Boy to stop her and her gaggle of witches,
when they gather for their conference at a hotel in
Bournemouth
“Utterly appalling” was Dahl’s
response to the Hollywood
version of his book, which
did not do too well at the box
office either. But critics gave
it a thumbs up, particularly to
Anjelica Huston in the role of
the Grand High Witch whose
performance is described as
“deliciously wicked” on Rotten
Tomatoes
James and the Giant
Peach (1996)
Based on the story of an
orphan boy who climbs aboard
a giant peach, this was the
first posthumous Dahl film,
coordinated by his widow. It
was made as a stop-motion
film, along the lines of The
Nightmare Before Christmas,
and the Dahl family was
pleased with the result
Matilda (1996)
Starring Danny DeVito,
who also directed the
film, and Mara Wilson,
the film is about a
brilliant little girl with
telekinesis. It brought
in $33.5 million at the
US box office but went
on to earn much more
abroad, recovering its
costs
For Adults Only
Though Dahl is known primarily as an author of children’s
books, he has also penned several stories and books for
adults. And, as Rupa Huq wrote in The Guardian, “his adult
material is not for prudes”. Switch Bitch, his collection of
short stories, originally appeared in Playboy. The story,
"The Great Switcheroo", is about wife swapping
During World War II, Dahl was reportedly assigned to
push the British case with the Americans. One way
the then 27-year-old Dahl went about this was by
sleeping with influential, older women, a duty he
reportedly carried out with aplomb. His second
wife, Felicity, says he was “The sexiest seducer in
Washington…. A lot of women fell for him”
Fantastic Mr Fox (2009)
BFG (2016)
Wes Anderson was interested
in making a film about the sly
fox since 1996 but it became a
reality only after a decade. The
script departed significantly from
the book, but the family still
approved of it because it was “in
the spirit of Roald Dahl”. George
Clooney lent his voice to the title
character while Meryl Streep
voiced Mrs Fox
Directed and co-produced
by Steven Spielberg, with
the screenplay handled by
ET writer Melissa Matheson,
this is the latest Dahl work to
be on the big screen. Variety
magazine described it as
“ET the Extra-Terrestrial for
an all-new generation”, but
the film failed to set the box
office on fire
Source: www.variety.com, www.roalddahl.com, www.bbc.co.uk, www.theguardian.com, www.thewrap.com