Can’t believe there isn’t already a thread on this.
Burton is in talks to direct WWCF with Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston as producers :eek:
As a huge fan of the original (and of course Dahl in general) I am not sure what to think yet. Opinions, casting suggestions, etc?
I heard elsewhere that Nicolas Cage was being considered as WW. While it is purely idle gossip I think that could be a good choice.
I love the original Willie Wonka movie, but Burton is THE director to bring Dahl’s book to life. No musical numbers please. I hope he doesn’t want to do it in stop-motion though. I’d rather see live action for this, but in an ffort to distance this film from the first, I’m wondering if animation isn’t a thought in his head.
Burton has always been one of my favourite directors (even after Planet of the Apes, which was bad, but not terrible). The problem with Willie Wonka is that for me (and, I’m sure, many others) the whole film was firmly based on Gene Wilder’s wonderful performance: he WAS Willie Wonka.
Nicolas Cage just doesn’t seem right, and the mention of him in conjunction with Burton just makes me wish they had gone through with the whole Superman-thing. But a “Burtonesque” vision of the chocolate factory sounds very exciting indeed.
I read all of Dahl’s children’s books I could get hold of when I was a kid, and I’ve started reading some of his more adult writing as well. I love the original movie–it captured the whimsical but still maintained the dark undercurrents of Dahl’s book. It is hard to imagine another movie capturing the spirit of the book as well. Casting will be crucial, and I feel sorry for whomever has to fill Gene Wilder’s shoes as Wonka. Still, I think Burton could do a great job with his own vision of it, bringing out the dark aspects even more. I’m all for it, since if it does well it could mean–dare I say?–a sequel. Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator! Bring it on!
NO NO NO NO NO!!! Not a remake of Willy Wonka! That’s a classic-I love that movie!
Just wait until Marilyn Manson plays WW and Gwar plays the Oompa Loompas.
I’m okay with Burton - he’s always visually interesting, if nothing else. But this seems like a very unnecessary remake to me. Why? “Because we can, and there’s probably a guaranteed audience,” I think. Blech.
I liked Nick Cage in Adaptation, but he’s not right for this. Gene Wilder was funny, but usually kind. Cage, in every role I’ve ever seen him, is creepy, nervous, sweaty, and unpleasant. Okay, minus Moonstruck, but that doesn’t count at this point. NOT the guy I’d want to see around kids.
Wasn’t this story out about a year ago, with rumors that Marilyn Manson would play WW? I distinctly remember Tim Burton being mentioned as wanting to remake WWCF, but when I heard the story the other morning on the radio (including the tidbit that the Dahl’s family are going to have final say in the director but that TB was their first choice) I couldn’t help thinking “Why does the DJ sound so surprised about this?” Did I dream that whole story?
Doesn’t really matter, since I won’t be going to see it. WWCF rates among the top five scariest movies of all time for me.
-BK
Well, could Wilder possibly reprise the role?
I had heard this rumor a year ago. The fact that it is still around makes me wonder a little if it may be true…
Since Dahl himself collaborated on the Gene Wilder version, I don’t understand the desire for a “darker” Burton-esque version. Granted, special effects and technology at the time didn’ t allow squirrels, hence geese, and a few other minor changes, but…
Well remaking “Willie Wonka” is a stupid idea, but making another movie from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” could be interesting. No musical numbers (like Max said), make it even darker (the movie had some dark elements, but the book!)
And while we’re taking about it, maybe somebody wants to do another version of “Mary Poppins”. In the book, she was a bitch :)!
Oh, didn’t see you there, C K. Well, I beg to differ. Not that I was impling Dahl disapproved of the original (or that I do) just that there could be another way to approach it.
They could show this as a double feature with J Lo’s remake of Casablanca. Personally, I think that it’ll look pretty, but that’s it.
I actually don’t like the movie very much, love the books, but the movie… whatever - with the exception of the oompa-loompas.
So, yeah, Burton doing Dahl sounds like it has immense potential. (until you mentioned the names Cage, Aniston, and Pitt. That’s scary and not in the right way).
According to an article on Yahoo, Dahl didn’t like the original and his family haven’t been too interested in giving their approval for a remake.
And, everyone is right that this rumor has been circulating for a while. According to what I read here, it says at least since his death in 1990.
WWatCF is my all-time favoritest movie. However, I also adore Burton and am willing to give him, of all people, the benefit of the doubt. If anyone can do it, a la Nightmare Before Christmas, anyone can. As far as Cage is concerned, I have many reservations, namely that he’ll scenary chomp and not in the endearing way that Wilder made famous. I hope he’ll have a cameo in the film, if nothing else.
FYI, the article also talks about Burton’s upcoming projects. Also, it states that this is apparently as good as a done deal. Guess we’ll see.
I’ve always hated Willy Wonka.
The man is evil.
He keeps Oompa-Loompas as slaves, live barricaded inside his factory like a cult leader, & kills people in his factory machinery for trivial offences.
Nasty-creepy-evil.
I wonder if there’s any chance that Tim Burton will “reimagine” the film as pretentiously moody, poorly lit and pointlessly incomprehensible? Is it possible that he might elect to portray Willy Wonka as a tragically isolated, brilliant outcast with stupid hair? Could it be that Danny Elfman will provide the score?
In his entire directorial career, Burton has never managed to produce a single scene with the emotional impact of the “boat ride” sequence from Chocolate Factory. (I haven’t seen Sleepy Hollow, so it may be a huge departure from the rest of his oevre, but somehow I doubt it.) Even the eerily hypnotic Oompa-Loompa songs are more subtly disquieting than the most over-the-top of Burton’s images.
I like the “Wilder Wonka” (hehehe) but I don’t really think that film ‘captured’ the book’s real qualities.
When I first saw it the book was fresh in my mind and I really didn’t enjoy it at all - subsequent viewings have led to it ‘ingratiating itself’ to me tho but it still isn’t ‘just right’.
There was a goodly bit of ‘reimagining’ went on before so I don’t really see any harm in doing it again - the proof being ‘in the pudding’ so to speak.
Cage as Wonka tho - erm - no. Wonka is an eccentric, not a mixture of Elvis and an action hero 
Marilyn Manson does indeed seem to have a ‘thing’ about Wonka - his version of “There is no earthly way of knowing…” is proof of this if nothing else
What I really hope is they extend it to ‘do’ the Great Glass Elevator too - I want CGI Vermicious Knids spelling ‘SCRAM’ in the elevators - ok?
TTFN
JP
A resounding W… T… F… ?
I too was/am a fan of the original and dahl.
Burton as director -
Nic Cage as Willy Wonka - 
(isn’t Gene Wilder still alive? can’t he do it?)
Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston as producers -