Timothée Chalamet Will Be the Next Willy Wonka
Warner Bros. has found its new Willy Wonka in Timothée Chalamet.
There’s no doubt Chalamet is one of the hottest names in Hollywood right now. He had been showing up in remarkable productions well before Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name (2017) took the world by storm and Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird (also released in 2017) surprised everyone. Those two films quickly turned him into a highly desired actor. Of course, leading Denis Villeneuve’s long-delayed Dune, which is arriving later this year, has been his biggest recent achievement, but he’s got plenty of work (big, small, and everything in between) lined up.
Now Deadline is reporting that Chalamet will spearhead another major Warner Bros. project: Wonka, an origin story which follows the famous inventor and chocolate maker during his early years. This will be the third take on Roald Dahl’s famous character by Warner, who are departing from the played-out tale that sees Charlie Bucket winning a golden ticket that allows him to visit Willy Wonka’s secretive Chocolate Factory.
Sources close to the project also mentioned that several musical numbers are set to appear in the film. Chalamet has been the top choice for some time, but scheduling was an obstacle up to this point. He has gained a cult following not to dissimilar to the one Johnny Depp had in the early 2000s, plus he’s got some off-beat acting chops, so I believe he’s a safe bet for this legendary role.
Paul King, who has garnered a fair amount of praise thanks to the Paddington films, jumped on the project earlier this year. This effectively removed him from the Paddington threequel that is being written as we speak. King will direct from a screenplay he wrote with Simon Farnaby (Paddington 2, which was awesome), so this could actually be delightful.
Francisco J. Ruiz is that guy who has watched Jurassic Park a thousand times and loves Star Wars. His hunger for movies is only matched by his love for video games. He graduated in English Studies from the University of Malaga, in Spain. As he keeps writing about what he enjoys (and doesn’t) for websites all over, he’s continuing his studies.
