Steven Spielberg: 'I made BFG because I used to read it to my children'

Video report by ITV News reporter Sally Lockwood

Stephen Spielberg said he chose to bring Roald Dahl's BFG to the big screen because it was the book he used to read to his children.

The director said the special friendship between a Big Friendly Giant and orphan Sophie was his favourite tale.

He told ITV News: "This was the one story out of all of the books that he wrote that I actually read out loud to my children.

"If I was going to interpret any Dahl book, this was going to be the one."

Mark Rylance voices the BFG while 12-year-old newcomer Ruby Barnhill plays Sophie.

Ruby sent in an audition filmed on her dad's iPhone and never dreamed she would get the part - but was picked for the lead role.

Also starring in the film are Downton Abbey actress Penelope Wilton, Rebecca Hall and Rafe Spall.

Roald Dahl's daughter Lucy said her father would have been "delighted" with the adaptation of his children's book, which she has seen three times already.

She said: "The first time I saw it I cried and cried and cried. I felt like I had spent two hours with my father."

The BFG will be released in UK cinemas on July 22.