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FEATURE MOVIE

The original 1964 book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was inspired by Roald like Rowntree’s and Cadbury would send sample chocolates to schools in exchange for student opinions. Both companies also sent spies into each other’s factories, looking to steal trade secrets. Trade Secrets Dahl’s childhood, when companies

Written and directed by King - best known for the Paddington movies - Wonka also features Rowan Atkinson, Sally Hawkins, and Olivia Colman. An intoxicating mix of magic and music, mayhem and emotion (all told with heart and humour), it turns out that it’s Hugh Grant’s droll, dancing and flute-playing Oompa Loompa who is the ultimate scene stealer. “I read the book and watched the earlier films,” Grant tells us, “and then I thought, ‘How do we make this different?’ I definitely thought the key was to keep the sort of negativity and anger, the ‘curmudgeonly old bastard’ element of the Oompa Loompa. This is my speciality,” he quips. “The Oompa Loompa in this film is propelled by those things, but also

Timothée Chalamet’s performance as Willy Wonka proves just as sweet as his alter ego’s famed confectionery. Words Gill Pringle B ased on the whimsical character at the heart of Charlie and the me were things that were emotionally challenging,” continues the Call Me By Your Timothée Chalamet

Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl’s iconic best-selling children’s book - Wonka tells the story of how the world’s greatest inventor, magician and chocolate maker became the Willy Wonka we know today.

Name and Lady Bird actor. “Either from some sense of vanity, or perhaps from some sense of needing to express what I was feeling. “So when I read Wonka , I did feel the classic thespian challenge - the

A prequel of sorts to Gene Wilder’s beloved incarnation of Wonka, as immortalised in the 1971 musical fantasy Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory , Paul King’s new take on the character is very different to Tim Burton’s 2005 version starring Johnny Depp. In our current troubled times, Chalamet hopes his film can spread a little happiness.

singing, the dancing. But when I think about the main theme of this movie,

by a sort of sadness and a kind of loneliness. He’s been ostracised, chucked out of his homeland and his home tribe for letting them down. And,” he adds, “he’s on a mission to try and win back their favours.” For Chalamet, his favourite filming days were when there were lots of children around. "It brought a sincerity, an earnestness and a joy to the set, especially when you’re wearing the burgundy coat and you see the way people are reacting... It

it is to bring joy into the world. It’s to encourage dreaming; to encourage the dreamers to continue dreaming; to encourage declaring yourself as you are, who you are, without question. It’s to declare that to

“This is a joyous movie. It is about bringing a light into a world that is in desperate need of it - at least, that’s how I read it,” he tells STACK . “As a young actor, the things that were most attractive to

The original working title for Roald Dahl’s book was Charlie’s Chocolate Boy . DYK?

*not final artworks

share in kindness and enthusiasm is to paint a way forward, not only

• Wonka is out on Mar 13

was great,” he says. King’s inventive spectacle - which has already grossed a tasty US$600 million at the box office - introduces audiences to a young Wonka: a dreamer who’s chock-full of ideas and determined to change the world, one delectable bite at a time. Dreaming of opening a chocolate factory, the dastardly chocolate cartel will do anything and everything to stop him - but Wonka outsmarts them, proving that the best things in life begin with a dream.

for yourself, but for those around you. It’s about community, and it’s about

community surviving in spaces of erosion. It’s about light and love. I’m so proud to have been a part of that,” the 28-year-old declares.

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