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Steven Spielberg is not ready to finish <em>BFG</em> just yet

Los Angeles - Steven Spielberg has admitted he isn't "looking forward" to completing The BFG film.

The 69-year-old director has not yet come to terms with the passing of his creative partner Melissa Mathison - who died from neuroendocrine cancer on 4 November, 2015 - and for as long as he is still working on the movie, he will still feel like the screenwriter is there with him, so has delayed mourning his friend.

In an interview with Empire magazine, he said: "I don't miss Melissa yet because I haven't had the chance to mourn her, because she is still with me. I'm not saying that in a supernatural way, because Melissa is alive in every single frame of The BFG. She has been with me all through this process and she is as tangible as if she were sitting next to me. What I'm not looking forward to is when I finish with The BFG and I have to face the fact that Melissa is no longer with me."

Having first met on the set of 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark, Mathison had become his valued friend. 

She was persuaded to work with Spielberg on The BFG by actor Harrison Ford and had written three drafts of the script by the time Spielberg got involved with the film.

The BFG is based on the 1982 Roald Dahl novel of the same name, which follows the journey of a girl named Sophie and her encounters with the Big Friendly Giant who, despite his intimidating appearance, turns out to be a kindhearted-soul who is considered an outcast by the other giants because, unlike them, he refuses to eat children.

The BFG, which stars The Bridge of Spies star Mark Rylance, Rebecca Hall (Iron Man 3) and Trainwreck's Bill Hader, is scheduled for release next month.

Watch the trailer here:

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