The young actor will be putting his acting chops to the test in an all-out musical origin story of the quirky character.
Look, we all know that Hollywood is desperate for new ideas these days: there are enough questionable sequels, reboots, and reunions flouting around to make us wonder if anything original can squeeze its way onto our screens in the near future. One such franchise which has had a couple of different adaptations is Roald Dahl's 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory', which will now be getting its third movie inception. Timothée Chalamet has been cast as Willy Wonka in a brand new origin story.
Chalamet will indeed be all-singing and all-dancing as Wonka - a side of the actor we have yet to see unfold. Up to now, he's played the love interest in a number of dramas, such 'Call Me By Your Name', 'Little Women', and 'Lady Bird'.
He has expanded into other territories more recently however, and he's set to lead the cast of 'Dune' this summer, as well as Wes Anderson's 'The French Dispatch'. He's also been cast as Bob Dylan in the biopic on his life, 'Going Electric'.
Hailing from Warner Bros., 'Wonka' will be a musical based on the early life of the titular mad-cap character. 'Paddington' and 'Paddington 2' director Paul King will helm the project, with 'Harry Potter' producer David Heyman. The film will be based on a script by Simon Rich, who previously worked on 'SNL' and Pixar's 'Inside Out'.
Gene Wilder of course played the enigmatic Wonka in the 1971 adaptation ("the strawberries taste like strawberries, the snozzberries taste like snozzberries!") of a loner who wished to pass on his chocolate empire onto one lucky child; while Johnny Depp played a more troubled version of the character in Tim Burton's 2005 reboot (which itself attempted some sort of Wonka origin through the use of flashbacks).
Production on 'Wonka' is expected to begin in September. We'll then see Timothée Chalamet as Willy Wonka when the movie hits cinemas on March 17, 2023. At least we'll have something top-hat-related to watch on St. Patrick's Day.
