Sam Mendes and Nick Hornby in talks for a live-action James and the Giant Peach
We’re calling Daniel Craig to play the old green grasshopper
After (probably) finishing with James Bond, director Sam Mendes already has his eyes on another globe-trotting book adaptation – Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach.
According to Deadline the Skyfall and Spectre director is in early talks to helm a live-action version of the classic story, which sees mistreated orphan James accidentally create the titular giant fruit along with several anthropomorphic insects before travelling the world on it by sea and air (with help from some attached seagulls).
Novelist Nick Hornby (who previously wrote the screenplays for Brooklyn and An Education among others) will pen the script for the Disney production, and frankly the whole thing is already sounding pretty exciting.
Of course, this isn’t the first time people have had the chance to see the story hop off the book’s pages– Dahl’s tale was originally adapted in stop-motion form by Nightmare Before Christmas director Henry Selick in 1996, and has also been performed on stage – but we’d still say that there’s plenty of room for another Giant Peach adaptation in the world.
Frankly, you’d have to have a heart of stone not to agree.
Authors
Huw Fullerton is a Commissioning Editor for Radio Times magazine, covering Entertainment, Comedy and Specialist Drama.
