Hype is already starting to build for Paddington director Paul King’s Wonka musical, which is set for release in December 2023. The movie is of course based on Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – and Chalamet will be the third actor to take on the character of Willy Wonka on the big screen, after Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp. And although this is a side we haven’t really seen from Timothée Chalamet yet – unless you’ve watched his Lil Timmy Tim YouTube videos, of course – he has seven musical numbers.
Someone more familiar with musicals is Keegan-Michael Key, as he has recently starred in Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey for Netflix, and Schmigadoon! for Apple. Key was recently asked by The Hollywood Reporter about the Wonka musical, and he said; “He [Chalamet] has seven musical numbers and I have two, one of them is a group number and another is a smaller group number.”
“I would agree with all the adjectives [“sincere, joyous”] Timothée has used [to describe Wonka] and I would also like to add the words wondrous and a little bit epic. It’s a nice, big, full, beautiful piece of art and Paul King, who directed it, is a delightful human being who has this wonderful, childlike heart. He was the perfect person to direct the project.”
“There’s this wonderful effortlessness about how he [Chalamet] plays Wonka, not to mention the fact that there’s this hopeful quality that he gives the character, a kind of indomitable quality that he’ll never quit, he’s always up for the next thing. He’s like, ‘OK, that didn’t work out? We’ll do this and we’ll try something else,’” explains Key, who co-stars alongside Olivia Colman, Sally Hawkins, Rowan Atkinson, and others.
“And Timothée Chalamet, what can I say? Sacrébleu! This kid, you know, he drips charisma and a wonderful confidence. He’s just a really delicious artist.” You will soon be able to see Chalamet being delicious in a very different way in Bones and All – a cannibal love story. He is currently working on Dune: Part Two with Denis Villeneuve.
Wonka is the first family movie that Chalamet has starred in, and it will certainly show a different side to him. It’s going to be a long old wait…