Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Short description
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory centres on Charlie Bucket, a boy from a poor family who lives with his mother and grandparents and dreams of the sweets he cannot afford. The reclusive owner of a chocolate empire, Willy Wonka, announces a contest: five golden tickets hidden in his candy bars will admit the finders to a tour of his long-closed factory, with a lifetime supply of chocolate promised as the ultimate prize. Charlie becomes one of the five winners, along with four far less agreeable children, and the visit turns into a series of tests of character.
Mel Stuart directed the film, which was released in 1971 and stands first in the chronological list of his features, ahead of Wattstax in 1973. Roald Dahl wrote the screenplay with Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse, from Dahl's own book, and Stan Margulies and David L. Wolper produced. Gene Wilder plays Willy Wonka, Peter Ostrum plays Charlie, Jack Albertson plays Grandpa Joe, and the credited cast numbers 48, among them Diana Sowle, Roy Kinnear and Julie Dawn Cole. Made for about 3 million dollars, the film has since become a durable family favourite: it holds 7.8/10 on IMDb from roughly 244,000 votes and 7.5/10 on TMDB from about 4,100 votes, while critics' reviews average 8/10, indicating that professional and general audiences have judged it similarly.
What's left behind the scenes
- The chocolate river was created from nearly 568,000 liters of water, real chocolate, and cream. The original composition of the chocolate river had to be changed because the mixture turned blood-red. Due to the presence of cream, the mixture began to spoil, and by the end of filming it simply smelled terrible. Michael Ballner, who played Augustus Gloop, later described it as “dirty and stinky.”
- The scene with Denise Nickerson’s character and the blueberries was filmed in the middle of the day, and a lunch break was included in the filming schedule. Throughout this time, Nickerson remained in the berry costume, and she had to be turned over several times to ensure normal blood circulation.
- The chocolate bars were mostly made of wood.
- The film was shot in Munich (Germany), but to film the Oompa-Loompas, producers had to find people of short stature not only in Germany. Many of those cast as Oompa-Loompas spoke little to no English, so during the musical numbers, it's noticeable that some Oompa-Loompas don't know the words.
- In the scene where Willy Wonka drinks from a cup shaped like a flower and then eats the cup, the cup was made of wax. Gene Wilder had to chew on pieces of wax throughout the entire scene, only spitting them out when filming was finished.
- The film is based on Roald Dahl's novel "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (1964).
- During the car wash scene, foam from regular fire extinguishers was used, but neither the actors nor the crew knew at the time that this type of foam strongly irritates the skin. As a result, after filming this scene, a break of several days was needed to allow the actors to recover.
- Grandpa George was played by Ernst Ziegler (1894 – 1974), who could barely see anything due to the effects of poison gas during World War I. When his character needed to look in a specific direction, the actor oriented himself to the light from a red lamp specially turned on for him.
- When Gene Wilder passed away in 2016, Peter Ostrum replaced his social media profile picture with the following: “Former child actor, veterinarian who inherited the chocolate factory on August 29, 2016.”
- Julie Dawn Cole did not know that the rock in the chocolate room she fell into would be real, and she badly broke her leg, leaving a scar on it later.
- After reviewing the script, Gene Wilder (born Jerome Silberman, 1933-2016) agreed to play Willy Wonka on one condition: that he be allowed to limp, and then, when he first sees the children, do a backflip. When director Mel Stuart asked him why, Wilder replied that it would mean that from that moment on, no one would be able to tell whether he was lying and pretending, or if it was all real. Stuart asked the actor, “What if I don’t allow it, will you refuse to film?” to which Wilder replied, “I’m afraid so.”
- Denise Nickerson, who played Violet, refused to pick her nose when required by the script. She had a romantic attraction to Peter Ostrum, who played Charlie, and therefore was shy in his presence.
- Once at school, during a math lesson, the students began to point and laugh at Denise Nickerson, and one of her friends told her she was turning blue. Makeup had gotten into her skin pores (while she was preparing for filming), and at that moment, the makeup began to emerge from the pores to the surface.
- Off set, the Oompa-Loompas led a lavish lifestyle, traveling to bars in a limousine.
- The line from Mike Teevee's father, “Maybe you should try getting to twelve years old first, son,” was filmed over 40 times.
- The only role of Peter Ostrum, who played Charlie. He was offered a contract for 5 films, but Peter refused, he did not want to become an actor and preferred to make veterinary medicine his profession.
- Even Julie Dawn Cole, who played Veruca, was fooled by the scene in which Willy, limping, emerges from the factory gates to meet the winners of the golden tickets. She thought Gene Wilder had actually injured his leg and that filming would be interrupted because of it. Her reaction in this scene – as were the reactions of everyone else – was completely genuine.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
