Taika Waititi To Host Star-Studded 'James and the Giant Peach' Read-Along

The Roald Dahl Story Company is teaming up with Academy Award-winning filmmaker Taika Waititi for a 10-episode digital series read-along of the classic children's novel James and the Giant Peach.

While Waititi will host the read-along, he won't be reading the book on his own. Throughout the series, he will be joined by a number of familiar faces, including Meryl Streep, Chris and Liam Hemsworth, Nick Kroll, Ryan Reynolds, Cate Blanchett, Mindy Kaling, Cara Delevingne, Olivia Wilde, Sarah Paulson, Josh Gad and more.

This exciting, family-friendly collaboration between Roald Dahl Story Company, Waititi and his celebrity guests will raise money for Partners In Health, a global health non- profit who are on the front line of the fight against COVID-19. The Roald Dahl Story Company will match up to $1million of donations, as well.

"Being an adult child myself and having read James and the Giant Peach to my girls multiple times, I’m excited to be able to partner with my friends, the Dahl team and Partners In Health and re- tell this story to help those most in need right now," Waititi said of his decision to host this series in a press release. "This wacky, wonderful tale is about resilience in children, triumph over adversity and dealing with a sense of isolation which couldn't been more relevant today.”

Ophelia Dahl, author Roald Dahl’s daughter and Founder of Partners In Health, said her father "instilled in us as kids the notion that imagination will spark a chain reaction of possibilities — we can dream endlessly about ideas and make them real. This early training meant it was not such a leap to envision Partners in Health with my friends. Roald was one of our earliest and most enthusiastic supporters and never let me leave for Haiti without stuffing a massive wad of cash in my hand to put towards the next project. You can see from his stories that he always supported the most vulnerable and those excluded from opportunity."

The first two episodes of James and the Giant Peach, with Taika and Friends are available now and feature award-winning talent including Meryl Streep, Benedict Cumberbatch, Nick Kroll, and the Hemsworth brothers reading portions of the book from their homes. New episodes will be published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday on the Roald Dahl HQ YouTube channel.

Photo: Roald Dahl HQ