John Lithgow has said he is “thrilled” that the Olivier Award-winning play Giant, in which he portrays British author Roald Dahl, will screen in cinemas around the world.
The Mark Rosenblatt debut play premiered in London’s West End in 2024 and went on to collect three Olivier Awards – including best new play and best actor for Lithgow’s portrayal of the children’s author as he grapples with whether to make a public apology.
The play will screen in more than 900 cinemas across 18 countries, including the UK, US, Canada and Australia, from November 2026.
Lithgow said: “In my 53-year, 25-show career on Broadway, I’ve rarely experienced the kind of audience response that we feel night after night with Giant.
“Mark Rosenblatt has written a play of extraordinary intelligence and humanity, and with every performance I can sense the audience wrestling with its questions in real time.
“This is the unique power of theatre at its best. I’m thrilled that our production will now reach movie theatres around the world, allowing even more people to experience the urgency, impact and emotional force of this story.”
Filmed live at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London, the cinema release features the original West End cast comprised of Lithgow as Dahl and Elliot Levey as British publisher Tom Maschler – a role which won him the best supporting actor Olivier Award.
Aya Cash also stars as publisher Jessie Stone alongside Rachael Stirling who plays Dahl’s wife, Felicity Dahl, Tessa Bonham Jones as housekeeper Hallie and Richard Hope as handyman Wally.
The play was transferred to New York City’s Broadway for a 16-week run from March through to the end of June.
Rosenblatt said: “When I began to write Giant, my first play, I never dreamed that it would be seen by so many – at the Royal Court, in the West End and, now, on Broadway.
“That the play, and this exquisite cast’s stellar performances, might now be experienced by a yet wider audience around the world with a new kind of immediacy and intimacy – close-up, at a cinema – is, to me at least, giddy-makingly astounding.
David Byrne, the artistic director of the Royal Court Theatre, where the play first premiered, said the cinema release is a “landmark” moment and a first for the theatre.
Giant will be screened in cinemas from November 19 2026.
