*A New trailer has dropped for director Paul King’s prequel musical “Wonka,” starring Timothée Chalamet as a young Willy Wonka.
The story centers on how Wonka came to meet the Oompa-Loompas, according to IMDb. Per the press release, the film is based on “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” Roald Dahl’s most iconic children’s book and one of the best-selling children’s books of all time. “Wonka” tells the wondrous story of how the world’s greatest inventor, magician and chocolate-maker became the beloved Willy Wonka we know today.
King told Rolling Stone that he became a Chalamet “stan” after watching his high school musical performances on YouTube, so he didn’t make the actor audition for the Wonka role.
“It was a straight offer because he’s great and he was the only person in my mind who could do it,” said King (“Paddington”). “But because he’s Timothée Chalamet and his life is so absurd, his high school musical performances are on YouTube and have hundreds of thousands of views. So I knew from stanning for Timmy Chalamet that he could sing and dance really well.”
View this post on Instagram
King compared the “Wonka” musical to “the golden age of MGM musicals.”
“Certainly, I tried to have darker characters than [what] you would find in a ‘Paddington’ movie, for example,” King told Rolling Stone. “It’s a crueler world and it’s a meaner world that Willy Wonka finds himself in because that’s the sort of city that Charlie grows up in. Unlike the ‘Paddington’ world, not everyone is nice in a Roald Dahl world. I definitely got to play with those grotesque ideas, but I hope not to damage a generation of children.”
The beloved Willy Wonka character was originally played by Gene Wilder in “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” (1971) and Johnny Deep played Wonka in Tim Burton’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (2005). Along with Chalamet and Hugh Grant as an Ommpa Loompa, King’s film also stars Olivia Colman, Sally Hawkins, Rowan Atkinson, and Keegan-Michael Key.
Check out the new “Wonka” trailer above.
The film opens in theaters on December 15.
READ MORE: New ‘Wonka’ Trailer Drops with Timothée Chalamet as Young Willy Wonka | Watch
We Publish News 24/7. Don’t Miss A Story. Click HERE to SUBSCRIBE to Our Newsletter Now!
