Wonka movie aims to dazzle with festive feelgood confectionery tale
Pic: Shutterstock
A delicious Christmas confectionery treat is being served up from this weekend, as the much-anticipated new Wonka movie opens its doors for cinema audiences keen to get the festive party spirit started, reports Neill Barston.
The film stars New Yorker Timothee Chalamet in the lead role, having previously been BAFTA nominated for his breakthrough movie, Call Me By Your Name, and also the Dune science fiction saga, which he is due to continue next year.
Taking on the role of the ambitious young chocolatier Willy Wonka is certainly a bold move for the highly-rated actor, who has received plaudits from many initial reviewers of the movie, which has been described as a warm, traditional film delving in to the origins of the mysterious character of the famous 1960s Roald Dahl Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fame.
Its supporting cast will be especially familiar, with Hugh Grant as a notable role playing a miniature Oompa Loompa, assistant to Willy Wonka, who in national interviews this week, said there had been some fun on set between the cast, but was rather less enamoured with the process of largely being filmed just with his head only, with his body replaced by CGI footage. The remainder of the cast includes Matt Lucas, Rowan Atkinson and Olivia Colman among many others.
As Confectionery Production has previously covered, the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is believed to have been inspired by Roald Dahl’s love of British premium chocolate brand, Prestat, whom he would visit on numerous occasions during the 1950s. (see our exclusive behind the scenes feature here, as well as our video interview on Prestat here).
The Willy Wonka stories went on to gain worldwide acclaim, hitting the big screen with the late Gene Wilder playing the part in the early 1970s, before Johnny Depp in 2005’s version of the movie, which gains a slightly different focus for a new generation of moviegoers with the latest incarnation of the film.
Notably, director Paul King, who previously took the helm for the Paddington movies), opted not to chose a British town such as York, the UK’s ‘Capital of Chocolate’ for the movie’s backdrop. However, he did use a number of locations around the country, including the striking architecture of Oxford, sleepy canals of Mapledurham in Berkshire, and Lyme Regis in Dorset provides the coastal setting for some childhood flashbacks. Wonka is out now on general release.
