Different Faces, Different Flavors
"Good morning starshine, the earth says hello!"
This is like one in a lifetime opportunity.
It makes you feel like...
...you're a part of a little bit of history.
"I'm a gum-chewer, mostly."
"But when I heard about these ticket things,
I laid off the gum. Switched to candy bars."
Tim is very specific about the kind of casting he wants,
the kind of characters he wants,
how they're going to be presented, how they're going to be played.
When I met him in LA, he said,
"you'll be playing five Oompas".
I said, "That's great!"
He said, "It's gonna be done in London".
I said, "That's even better!"
"Are you hip to the jive? Can you dig what I'm layin' down? I knew that you could."
Slide me some skin, soul brother!"
I think there was a queue of actors...
...wanting to play Wonka.
"Okay then."
So when we heard that Johnny Depp was wanting to play him,
we were very excited.
The Three Musketeers are Dahl, Depp, and Burton. You can't beat that.
"Know why? Know why?"
"Cause this gum is a full three-course dinner all by itself!" *laughs*
This Wonka certainly is rooted in the book,
but Dahl had given guidelines for this character, for me and then...
we had to really make broad strokes to make him come alive.
"Wasn't that just magnificent?"
"I was worried, it was getting a little dodgy at the middle part,
but then that finale. Wow!"
Mr Wonka,
again, a new young actor who, I don't think, has done very much before,
but seems to be coping very well.
"Seriously."
"I can not understand a single word you're saying."
He's just gorgeous.
Johnny Depp! Johnny Depp!
"Gives one the feeling of being in love."
"You don't say."
He was our first choice,
he wanted to do it,
so it was an automatic situation.
"Oh poppycock."
He just has that twist,
that humor, that wickedness, that naughtiness,
that delight that Wonka should have.
I always love working with Johnny because...
...he's an actor that likes to try different things all the time and...
...that excites me and...
...each time I work with him, it gets better.
"These are everlasting Gobstoppers."
"You can suck on it all year and it'll never get any smaller."
"Ain't that neat?"
It's a very interesting interpretation that Johnny Depp is giving it...
...and it's pure, it's somewhat childlike but it's deep and it's vulnerable.
"I always thought a verruca was a type of wart you got on the bottom of your foot." *laughs*
It's such a great honor...
...to have been chosen...
...to play Willy Wonka.
Watching Johnny, you can't see the wheels going 'round.
You keep saying to yourself, "How is he doing that?"
And I don't know.
"Bring in the chocolate!"
My initial idea was,
I kept seeing like a game show host, you know?
Like a bad game show host in a way.
"Bravo! Well done."
And that led me to the idea of like a childrens' show host.
Tim and I got together and were talking about it and it's like...
...a really great thing is a local childrens' show host.
A guy who certainly puts on a face every day.
"And by the way, no other factory in the world-"
"You already said that."
As a kid, I didn't question it but then as you got older...
...you kinda go like: "This guy was really weird!", you know?
So we sort of got into that...
...kind of thinking about those kind of people that...
...stay in your subconscious somehow.
"Now, everyone enjoy yourselves but just don't touch anything, okay?
"Mom, dad!"
"I found it!"
"The last golden ticket, it's mine!"
We've been very fortunate castwise.
We have some extraordinary actors but...
...no one more extraordinary, in my opinion, than Freddie Highmore...
...who is a gifted actor way beyond his years.
I worked with Johnny Depp before on "Finding Neverland"...
...and I was quite sad when I left the set because...
...I didn't think I would see him again.
But then I'm doing "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" again with him now...
...and that's really amazing.
I was really happy when I got the part.
Not only does he look the part but...
...you could just tell he's an amazing person and...
...he's got a real gravity to him.
Simple but very deep emotional depth.
There was just no question about it.
"Up and Out. What kind of a room is that?"
"Hold on."
You know, he's just a really nice kid and...
...I don't think you can fake that sort of stuff too much.
He never misses a trick,
he's never stuck for the word,
and he knows the character inside out...
...in its enormous sincerity.
"I wouldn't give up my family for anything."
"Not for all the chocolate in the world."
My impression is, he's a very modest,
very naturally talented boy...
...who seems to get into Charlie's skin so much that...
...we forget whether it's Freddie or Charlie, you know?
He's just got this natural way of being Charlie.
"Because I'm a winner."
"I hate chocolate."
"Well it's a good thing you're going to a chocolate factory...
...you ungrateful little-"
"So I look and...
...I find the golden ticket!"
I was very lucky. I think, most of the time,
when the right one walked in, we just sort of knew it.
"Die! Die! Die!"
"Doesn't seem like they stay kids very long."
Jordan Fry seems to just be able to...
...do it.
The trick to remember your lines:
Look over your lines at the beginning of the day...
...then either review them or don't worry about it.
You know, we all get a little tired at the end of the day...
...but Jordan kind of gets more energized as the day goes on.
His graph is doing that but we're kind of doing that, so...
...we compliment each other. It's good.
"I don't care who those other four are."
"That kid? It's gonna be me."
Ugh, she'll do anything to win.
Anything and...
...it's fun to play a mean person.
Tim told me this this story about casting her, that...
...she had said when she walked into the room,
"Tim, I'm a people-person".
And he said he knew right away...
...that this is Violet Beauregarde.
The karate, it's so much fun.
I did one month of training.
I'm punching all these guys and flipping 'em...
...and kicking 'em...
...but I'm still chewing the gum.
It's really fun.
"Well, you do seem confident and confidence is key."
It's incredible to watch her.
And to watch all the kids sort of playing around,
especially the two girls,
Julia Winter and AnnaSophia.
They go around playing these little games and then...
...they go and get on camera and then...
...they're just so professional and so there.
"Let's be friends."
"Best friends."
I think they chose me for this part because...
...I have the evil spirit inside me.
"But I want an Oompa Loompa!"
I decided to base her a little bit on my sister.
No, not really.
Lovely Julia.
She's absolutely great. It's her first movie...
...and she's taken to it very very well.
I think, like all of us, she just considers it a great treat to be in it...
...and Tim has seen something in her that...
...is exactly what he wants and why he thinks she...
...could be such a great spoiled girl.
And actually, in life, I don't think she's that kind of girl at all but...
...she's obviously got the ability or the memory...
...or something within her to connect with that character.
They're just an incredibly varied bunch of kids...
...and they're just great fun to be around...
...and great company.
And they keep us all in tune with what this whole project is really about and...
...who it's really for.
"Nothing goes better with cabbage than cabbage."
Part of me did think like, "I don't wanna be in it".
You know, not in a sort of like-
But just because you hear so much about it...
...and because being virtually married to the director,
you know, I'm living it, absolutely.
We should do a rehearsal 'cause I wanna make sure...
...that you come in at the right time...
...for the food, let's do that.
I love the fact that she's the mother because that's kind of what I've done in the last year.
And plus I just wanted to be part of this big adventure.
"Here."
When David Kelly walked in, I just thought...
...well that's it!
He's Grandpa Joe and he's an amazing man.
"Exactly."
It's the traditional grandfather-grandson-relationship,
I suppose.
"You and I are going to have one more fling."
To me, David Kelly's performance of Grandpa Joe...
...is just outstanding.
It's perfect casting. Perfect, perfect casting.
But they're all perfectly cast.
"I used to work for him, you know?"
"You did?" "I did."
"He did."
"I love grapes!"
What film would have, you know, grandparents...
...as leading characters, you know?
It's just Dahl's originality.
He sees the spectrum of age.
Each person in their own world is being valuable.
Their faces are amazing, they're all so full of life on screen.
It's a whole sort of map and landscape of their life...
...and it's all there.
I was quite lucky to have Helena and Noah...
...'cause, when you see them and you see Freddie...
...and you see the grandparents,
they do look like a family unit...
...and that was really important to me.
"I thought he was great at first...
...but then he didn't turn out so nice."
"He also has a funny haircut."
"I do not."
I think there's something wonderful about...
...two people who finally meet,
pass the test, and win the prize.
And I think all children long to be that person.
"I think you're onto something though, Charlie."
They all had fun with it and that...
...makes a big difference to me.
To have that kind of energy...
...and those kind of people on the set.
They really did bring something to it.