“Don’t forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he always wanted. He lived happily ever after.”
Willy Wonka
Introduction
Roald Dahl perfected writing through a child’s imagination—a mischievous child penned by an adult hand. A classic example of this can be seen in his 1964 novel entitled ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’. It is a book about prized golden tickets concealed in Wonka bars with the lucky recipients invited to visit the secret domain of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, guarded with looming wrought iron gates for many years and aloof from prying eyes.
The essence of Dahl’s novel is that Wonka is looking for his chosen one. A child who can inherit his chocolate empire and continue his vision and brand into the future. Of all the children, Charlie is the only one Willie sees as worthy of his business. A child who lives in poverty with his mother and bed-bound grandparents, living on a diet of cabbage soup. Charlie Bucket displays all the qualities that Wonka has been searching for, finding his winning ticket after buying a second Wonka bar, paid for by a gleaming coin, discarded under a drain grill. A ticket that elevates his grandfather from a horizontal position in bed to join him on this chocolate adventure.
The Celluloid Version
It wasn’t long before the movie moguls decided to make a film version of this book. In 1971, an adaptation of the novel was produced, directed by Mel Stuart, with a cosmopolitan cast. Gene Wilder was cast as Willy Wonka. A part that he refused to accept unless he was allowed to emerge from the steps of the factory as a person with a disability, supported by a stick, ending his long walk down the carpet with a barrel roll somersault to shatter the illusion. None of the cast knew about it until Gene did it. The director bought into his idea of a character played in the style of Buster Keaton. It is a tale of candy and chocolate heaven where only the chosen few will take the glass elevator to a blaze of daylight.
Yet, with most films, the props were not all they seemed. The giant gummy bears were made of plastic with partially edible ears, the candy bars were made of wood, and the wallpaper tasted of paper. Gene Wilder had to do a scene-chewing a teacup that was made from wax and couldn’t spit out until the scene was finished after numerous takes. Roald Dahl didn’t like the movie, saying the screenplay concentrated too much on Wonka and not enough on Charlie. Quaker Oats funded the movie and pressed for numerous shots of the Wonka bar to create advertising hype. Yet when the film was first released, it didn’t receive rave reviews, and it wasn’t until it was shown on late-night television and released on VHS that it became a cult movie.
The iconic chocolate river that flowed through the factory under a picturesque bridge was created by mixing 150,000 gallons of water with chocolate powder and cream. Still, after a few days of filming, the cream went off and filled the studio with a putrid stench. A river that Augustus Gloop famously fell into. Hopefully, the filming of that scene was in the can before the river went off.
Oompa Loompa
Made up of nine men and one woman, these small actors were circus performers from Europe and Turkey. They didn’t speak English when their scenes were filmed in Munich, Germany. Their dialogue had to be dubbed, so the conversation looked awkward in the film. Some men were heavy drinkers and loved to pull pranks on the cast and film crew. One example was when those involved in the movie used to leave their shoes outside their hotel rooms at night to be shined. The Oompa Loompas scooped them all up, tied the shoelaces together and left them in a big pile. A prank that would puzzle and then amuse the guests in the morning.Mischievous, multicoloured workers who never really left their characters.
Other Candidates
Sammy Davis Jr. wanted to play the part of the candy shop owner in the film, but the director, Mel Stuart, decided to turn him down as he thought a big name in a tiny part would ruin the film’s reality. Sammy would go on to release his version of Candyman a year later. Roald Dahl wanted his friend Spike Milligan to play the part of Willy Wonka. His plea fell on deaf ears and was probably one of the reasons he disliked the film. The director knew that Gene Wilder was Willy Wonka as soon as he entered the room for the audition. Peter Sellers and the Monty Python team were also interested in the part.
Strange Facts
The original Roald Dahl screenplay was primarily rewritten by David Seltzer, with many of the classic lines not in the original script. The last lines that I have given as the quote for this piece were initially supposed to be “Yipee” uttered by Grandpa Joe. Stuart had made an international call to Seltzer, giving him five minutes to devise alternative last lines.
Ernst Ziegler, who played Grandpa Joe, was a victim of a poison gas attack in World War I, which left him partially blind. In the film, the crew had to wave a red light in his direction so he could face the right way when on camera.
Veruca Salt, played by Julie Dawn Cole, cut her knee on one of the props on set, a rock while trying to smash apart a tiny piece of candy. Looking very carefully at the scene in the film, you can see blood on her tights when she kneels on the ground—an actress who hates chocolate.
Denise Nickerson, who played Violet Beauregard, who chewed gum in the movie, chewed so much that when filming was finished, she needed a dentist appointment. Her dental visit discovered thirteen cavities in her teeth. Perhaps her chewing had not been helped by the director’s element of surprise. Both the Chocolate Room and the boat tunnel scene were sprung on them Eerie, vast and magical but a new concept when you walk into a scene blind to your surroundings.
