Timothée Chalamet to play young Willy Wonka in upcoming prequel film from Paddington director
Who can take a sunrise, sprinkle it with dew, cover it with chocolate and a miracle or two? Timothée Chalamet can, apparently. EW has confirmed that the Call Me by Your Name star will play the young version of Willy Wonka in Warner Bros.' upcoming prequel film about the young candyman in the years before he founded his famous chocolate factory. Deadline was first to report the news.
Wonka has been in the works for years, but it's still taking shape. Not much information is available about the film yet, but fans of the recent Paddington movies should take heart that their director, Paul King, is helming this project. King also wrote the Wonka screenplay alongside Simon Farnaby. Simon Rich, Simon Stephenson, Jeff Nathanson, and Steven Levenson contributed to prior versions.
Wonka is WB's third film about the character Willy Wonka. The previous two were more literal adaptations of Roald Dahl's classic novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The first, in 1971, starred Gene Wilder in the iconic role, while the more recent 2005 version cast Johnny Depp. The third round will be a different story and will exclude the character of Charlie Bucket.
Do not get Wonka confused with Taika Waititi's upcoming series about the Oompa-Loompas; that project will be animated, and is happening over at Netflix. For that matter don't get it confused with Dune, another upcoming WB film starring Chalamet as an iconic character from literature — in that case Paul Atreides, the Kwisatz Haderach himself.
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