Timothée Chalamet To Portray Willy Wonka In Origin Story From Warner Bros.
It’s time, friends, to step into Timothée Chalamet’s Chocolate Factory. Deadline has recently reported that Chalamet has been tapped to star as the luminary, self-made chocolatier in ‘Wonka,’ an origin story of the character.
Willy Wonka, created by author Roald Dahl for his children’s novel titled ‘Charlie and The Chocolate Factory,’ has been previously helmed by Gene Wilder in the classic 1971 film adaptation ‘Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory’ which opened us up to a world of pure imagination; and by Johnny Depp in a newer version, titled the same as the book, which was absolute nightmare fuel.
Chalamet has been considered a hot commodity since his breakout role in 2017’s ‘Call Me By Your Name’ from visionary director Luca Guadagnino, which earned him an Academy Award nomination. Also appearing in hits such as ‘Lady Bird,’ ‘Little Women,’ and soon in Denis Villeneuve's upcoming ‘Dune.’ Obviously, his next big step had to be to portray the whimsical, cane-twirling candy man, right?
Warner Brothers will take on the story, making for the third time the studio has adapted the IP and will focus entirely around Wonka’s journey prior to opening the world’s most magical and infamous chocolate factory. It’s set to contain plenty of grand musical sequences in which Chalamet will be able to show off his theatrical abilities for the first time on the silver screen. While in no universe was this biopic needed, nor asked for, there’s plenty of potential for this project, especially since it will be directed by Paul King, who’s most notably behind the very successful ‘Paddington’ films. King also co-wrote the screenplay along with Simon Farnaby (previous writers include Simon Rich, Steven Levenson, Jeff Nathanson, and Simon Stephenson). Hopefully, with the names attached, we can expect vibrant and heartfelt storytelling with plenty of possibilities for this pic to expand with its lead into a wider franchise. Also, maybe we will finally find out the significance behind Willy Wonka’s very peculiar “half-room.”
