One of the whackiest, most memorable stories brought to life has got to be Roald Dahl’s 1964 children’s book “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. Whether you remember the 1971 film (“Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory”) starring Gene Wilder or the more recent 2005 version starring Johnny Depp, both movies left a lasting impression in the industry and in the memories of children who watched it. After all, the character of “Willy Wonka” is an eccentric, complex and borderline creepy one.
Well, maybe with a little bit of a back story, children won’t be so creeped out by the chocolatier? At least, that’s what Warner Bros. may have in mind in wanting to create a prequel to the wildly successful 2005 movie. In 2018, the company announced that they were looking to bring the magical world of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory back to life – but this time, with an origin story centred around the leading man himself. The plot was said to be focused on the years leading up to Wonka becoming the candy extraordinaire he ended up being in ‘Charlie and The Chocolate Factory’.
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Early on, names like Ryan Gosling, Donald Glover and Ezra Miller were thrown around to take the place of the “Younger Wonka”. More recently, reports confirmed that Warner Bros. was ready to produce the film and in keeping up with the times, were looking to cast in-demand actors Tom Holland or Timothée Chalamet.
Now, in an exclusive by Deadline, we’ve got our next Willy Wonka: Call Me By Your Name star Timothée Chalamet. Not only that, as it turns out, the prequel will be a musical! Sources say (as per Deadline):
“Wonka will mark the first time Chalamet gets to show off his singing and dancing skills with several musical numbers set to appear in the film. He’s been the top choice for some time but scheduling was a hurdle that had to be overcome as training for those numbers is included in the prep for this film.”
With that being said, there is no telling if Wonka’s origin story will gear towards the Wonka from Dahl’s books or from the 2005 movie directed by Tim Burton. This is because Burton took liberties with Wonka’s character in the movie starring Depp by making him the son of a strict dentist in order to stop the character from being “just a weird guy”. What we do know is that the upcoming Wonka prequel will be the first time that the character ‘Charlie Bucket’ will not be included. There’s no telling yet if we’ll see the return of a fan favourite: the Oompa Loompas (but with the format of it being a musical, there’s a high chance they may appear!)
25-year-old Chalamet has been hit with multiple project delays as a result of COVID-19, but is set to star in the highly-anticipated film adaptation of the science fiction novel ‘Dune’ as well as portray singer Bob Dylan in a biopic called ‘Going Electric’.
*Cover image credits: @officialwillywonka @tchalamet for GQ, as photographed by @renellaice
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