Sources say Warner Bros. is eyeing Tom Holland or Timothée Chalamet to play the eccentric chocolatier.
For almost five years, Warner Bros. has developed a new Willy Wonka film that will explore the character’s early days, before becoming the Candy King, and today the studio has announced that it will release Wonka on March 17, 2023.
In 2018, Collider reported that Ryan Gosling, Donald Glover and Ezra Miller they were being seen as a star, but all those names have been left out ever since. Lately, sources say Warners is eyeing any Tom Holland or Timothée Chalamet to play the eccentric pastry chef.
Holland is currently 24, while Chalamet just turned 25, and not only will they be competing for roles in the years to come, but they are also two of Hollywood’s most recognized and talented protagonists under the age of 30. Although it is not clear whether Holland or Chalamet are actively pursuing this part, it is easy to see Chalamet as a younger version of Johnny Deppof Wonka, while Holland is more of a singer and dancer in the vein of a young man Gene Wilder. To be clear, neither was offered the role of Wonka – but let’s be honest, there are so many young actors that Warner Bros. would agree to finance this film, as I imagine they want it to trigger a franchise.
Paul King (Paddington) will be directed from a Simon Rich (An American pickle), which will be inspired by Roald Dahlclassic children’s novel Charlie and the chocolate factory. Wonka will be produced by David Heyman, which also produced the Harry Potter films for Warners, in addition to Paddington and his equally loved sequence. Variety reports that the studio plans to start production in the next four months.
Although I am not privy to the inner workings of the Netherlands or Chalamet’s timelines, neither seems to have any projects that are due to start shooting this summer. Chalamet is attached to play Bob Dylan inside James Mangoldin Getting electric, but Mangold is currently focused on the fifth Indiana Jones film scheduled for July 2022. The Netherlands is currently filming a third Spider man film, but he has no other project imminent on his IMDb page.
Plot details for Wonka they are being kept confidential and, since it is a kind of origin story, it is not clear whether the Oompa Loompas will make an appearance. However, given King’s experience with Paddington’s computer-generated character, it is possible that Oompa Loompas could also be CG. You can safely expect chocolatier’s hardworking helpers to appear in at least one of the two animated series that Netflix is developing Taika Waititi, that would be an excellent Wonka, if you ask me. Too bad he’s a little busy right now …
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