Wonka
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Short description
Wonka is a musical fantasy comedy that imagines the early life of Roald Dahl's famous chocolatier, long before the factory and the golden tickets. Young Willy Wonka arrives in a city renowned for its chocolate with dreams of opening his own shop, only to find the trade controlled by a cartel of established chocolatiers who guard their position jealously. They block his path at every turn, and a scheme involving a laundry run by the unscrupulous Mrs. Scrubbit leaves him deeper in trouble. Undeterred, Willy keeps inventing new sweets and finds allies, among them a girl named Noodle, while pursuing his ambition to share his creations with the world.
Paul King directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Simon Farnaby, following his two Paddington films. Timothée Chalamet plays the title role, with Calah Lane, Keegan-Michael Key, Paterson Joseph, Olivia Colman and Hugh Grant among the cast. The production, from Warner Bros., Heyday Films and The Roald Dahl Story Company, cost about 125 million dollars and took roughly 635 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.9 from some 192,000 votes, and on TMDB 7 out of 10 from a much smaller base of 4,562. The critics' rating of 7.2 from 333 reviews sits slightly above the audience figure on IMDb and close to the TMDB score.
What's left behind the scenes
- The image of the Oompa Loompas is entirely borrowed from Mel Stuart’s 1971 musical “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,” which was the first film adaptation of Roald Dahl’s fairytale “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (1964). The original story lacks a detailed description of the Oompa Loompas, only mentioning in passing that the characters reach the knees of an adult, have long hair, and their own language.
- According to director and screenwriter Paul King, he gained over 20 kg due to the chocolate he ate on set.
- Timothée Chalamet ate so much chocolate and pastries during filming that he often felt unwell.
- The film is set in a typical European city. It was partially filmed in London, but the shop signs are French, all the signs in the zoo are in German, and the architecture is Swiss and Italian. This nuance corresponds to the main premise of the original film 'Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory' (Mel Stuart, 1971), where it is unclear in which city the chocolate factory is located.
- The search for an actor to play Willy Wonka ultimately came down to a choice between Tom Holland and Timothée Chalamet. The role went to Chalamet. According to Paul King, he offered Chalamet the role without any screen tests, simply after watching his videos on YouTube and appreciating his dancing and vocal skills.
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