British children's author, short-story writer, playwright and versifier Roald Dahl (1916 - 1995), 11th December 1971. (Photo
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Roald Dahl experts might be excited about the forthcoming BFG movie, but anyone interested in the author's actual life might be more intrigued by this. Deadline reports that one of the more harrowing episodes in the author's life—namely, the quest to save his son after a tragic accident—will soon be realized in a feature film called Pure Imagination.

The original screenplay, written by Jonathan Newman (who will also direct), centers around Dahl living in New York City as he wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. During that time, the author's four-month-old son was hit by a taxi, and left desperate as no medical technology could help him. So Dahl took matters into his own hands, enlisting the help of a toymaker to fashion an instrument that would later become a medical revelation. Deadline reports that the particular device was the predecessor to the cerebral shunt, and it's saved the lives of 3,000 children since its creation in the 1960s.

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While not much else about the film—such as casting, for instance—has been revealed, the overarching theme that audiences are getting here is that Roald Dahl was cool. Pure Imagination will enter production next year. In the meantime, nerd out to the latest BFG trailer.