Getty/Warner Bros.
- Timothée Chalamet will star in a Willy Wonka origin story
- Wonka will be helmed by Paddington director Paul King
- All of the latest movie news here
Reboots and remakes, spin-offs and sequels: they’re, for better or for worse, the backbone of Hollywood these days. To think otherwise is to merely swim against the tide — it’s an exercise in futility.
However, that said, just because I’m aware of the inner machinations of Hollywood does not mean that I’m forever and always accepting of them. Case in point: reports that Academy Award-nominated actor Timothée Chalamet will be starring in a Willy Wonka origin story. Yes, you read that correctly: a Willy Wonka origin story. The film, of course, will be titled simply Wonka.
Naturally, movie fans had quite the reaction to the news:
*Willy Wonka stuffing an Oompa Lumpa into the trunk of his car*
"As far back as I remember, I always wanted to be a chocolatier."
— Post Cred Pod (@PostCredPod) May 24, 2021
WRITER: Okay so it’s Willy Wonka, right? But get this:
STUDIO EXEC: Go on
WRITER: He’s young, he’s hot,
[STUDIO EXEC raises eyebrows]
WRITER: And he fucks
[STUDIO EXEC tips over backward out of chair]— Patrick Monahan (@pattymo) May 24, 2021
Excited to learn about the labor dispute that led Wonka to fire his employees and enslave the Oompa Loompas. https://t.co/tK24ukDmsg
— Scott Tobias (@scott_tobias) May 24, 2021
You all gassed up the PADDINGTON 2 director too much and now he’s doing the Willy Wonka prequel pic.twitter.com/NFJqkrjK0g
— Kyle Buchanan (@kylebuchanan) May 24, 2021
Make a movie about the FDA agent who had to inspect Willy Wonka’s factory and determine how many kid parts per million gallons of chocolate was still acceptable to sell.
— Andrew Nadeau (@TheAndrewNadeau) May 20, 2021
gonna go out on a limb and say OSHA had no idea what willy wonka was up to
— tucker @wood (@hubagruben) May 21, 2021
in case anyone is confused why timothee chalamet agreed to star in that new Willy Wonka movie……. it’s because he’s already a visionary man of taste pic.twitter.com/yzuJNJQj8g
— david ehrlich (@davidehrlich) May 24, 2021
https://twitter.com/muspatrol2/status/1396868650515288069
Still think they should've gone with my idea https://t.co/yALwrLEqhZ
— Chris Evangelista (@cevangelista413) May 24, 2021
According to the Deadline report, the Willy Wonka origin story — honestly, I legitimately cannot help by rolls my eyes every time I come across that combination of words — will partially be a musical, therefore giving Chalamet his first chance to “show off his singing and dancing skills” (that sound you just heard is panties across the nation simultaneously dropping).
The film will be helmed by Paul King, the director of the beloved Paddington movies. Paddington 2, in fact, recently overtook Citizen Kane as the highest-rated film on Rotten Tomatoes of all time.
Chalament has put together a hell of a slate of films in the coming years, as he’s set to star in Dune from Denis Villeneuve, The French Dispatch from Wes Anderson, Don’t Look Up from Adam McKay, Bones & All from Luca Guadagnino, Going Electric from James Mangold, and now Wonka from Paul King.
At this time, Wonka has no official release date. Given Chalamet’s packed schedule, it’s likely that the film won’t release until 2023 at the earliest.
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