Wonka director 'didn't want to reinvent' the Gene Wilder film
- Movie
Like many a cinema lover of a certain age, Paul King, the filmmaker behind the Paddington films, grew up on Gene Wilder in 1971's Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. From "Pure Imagination" to the look of the Oompa Loompas, the 45-year-old director tells EW, "That, to me, felt like what a Willy Wonka movie should be."
When it came time for King to put his own mark on the story with Wonka, a prequel film starring Timothée Chalamet as the phantasmagorical chocolatier of the beloved Roald Dahl tale, he quickly made a judgment call. "I didn't want to reinvent those things 'cause it felt like that '71 movie had come up with these incredibly enduring, iconic looks," he explains. "What I wanted this movie to be was like a companion piece to that movie. If you imagine those people in that world 25 years earlier, that was my starting process. Eventually, he would grow into that person and that factory."
As shown in EW's exclusive sneak peek at Wonka, opening in theaters this Dec. 15, Chalamet's Willy opens a chocolate shop using the knowledge of sweets he amassed from his travels. But launching his own storefront is difficult when you must face the Chocolate Cartel, the combined forces of the business tycoons on the candy scene: Mr. Prodnose, Mr. Fickelgruber, and Mr. Slugworth.
Written by King and Simon Farnaby, Wonka also stars Calah Lane as a girl named Noodle alongside Olivia Colman, Rowan Atkinson, Keegan-Michael Key, Paterson Joseph, Matt Lucas, Mathew Baynton, Paterson Joseph, Natasha Rothwell, Jim Carter, Sally Hawkins, and Hugh Grant (as an Oompa Loompa).
King had just finished work on Paddington 2 (also co-written by Farnaby) when one of his producers, David Heyman (Harry Potter, Barbie), brought up the idea of young Wonka. Those few syllables were all it took. "I think the reason I was so attracted to it was because I loved Charlie and Chocolate Factory as a little boy," he says. "It was one of the first books I ever properly fell in love with and was reading to myself. I had this very old-fashioned copy where all the pages would come out 'cause I read it [so much]."
As a child, King responded to the comedy of kids growing plump with blueberry juice and falling into chocolate rivers. As an adult, he was drawn to the emotional core. "[Dahl] makes this story-book world with these larger-than-life characters and ridiculous, comic things that happen, but at the same time, you deeply care," King continues. "I love the idea of telling a story where Willy Wonka wasn't just this magical, admirable, extraordinary, inventive character, but where he was actually the emotional heart of the movie."
The filmmaker worked with the Roald Dahl estate and dove into the late author's archives, where he found more inspiration for young Wonka. "It felt like an area that Roald Dahl was always exploring," King says. "He had a try writing a few stories and a few ideas. None of them ever quite hit his quality control threshold, I don't think, but it felt like he felt there was a life to Willy Wonka beyond Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and [sequel book] The Great Glass Elevator."
When it came to casting someone to play Wonka in his youth, King counts himself lucky to have landed Chalamet. "I really don't think there are many people who could play this role at all," he says. "Those are mighty big shoes to fill." The Dune actor, he recalls, was able to find "the manic and mischievous and mysterious energy you'd expect from Willy Wonka," but also the heart. "He's such a brilliant actor at expressing really deep emotions within the context of a family movie. He's just extraordinary as well at singing and dancing. He's got the voice of an angel and the toes of... I don't know what toes. I can't wait for people to see it. I think it's gonna blow people away."
King doesn't imagine this vision of Wonka will ever replace Wilder's rendition, which he still holds in high regard. He sees this new film as growing into its own thing. "I'm just happy to embrace that and walk in those enormous footsteps," he says.
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