Roald Dahl was a British author, novelist, short story writer, poet, fighter pilot, and screenwriter, who wrote many books for children, such as James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Twits, Danny, Champion of the World, The Witches, Matilda, The BFG, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and among others.
One of his earliest books, The Gremlins, was slated to be adapted into a Disney film in the 1940s, in a project that he worked closely with the company on. Only a Disney illustrated version of the story would be published, as the film version ran into story development issues.
Six years after his death, the book James and the Giant Peach would be adapted into a 1996 live-action/stop-motion film directed by Henry Selick, who had previously done The Nightmare Before Christmas. The Gremlin characters he created would also become prominent in the Epic Mickey games, with the second game paying tribute to him with the "Dahl Engineering Corridors". The film adaptation of The BFG was released in 2016, directed and produced by Steven Spielberg.