Timothée Chalamet waded through “enormous vat of hot chocolate” for ‘Wonka’
Paul King, the director behind the highly anticipated Charlie and the Chocolate Factory prequel, Wonka, has revealed that leading man Timothée Chalamet enjoyed a lack of special effects during production.
In a scene that premiered in the first trailer last week, Chalamet’s Willy Wonka and his friend Noodle, portrayed by Calah Lane, wade through “this huge vat of chocolate”, as King describes it.
“We actually made an enormous vat of hot chocolate — not scalding, just warm hot chocolate for them to immerse themselves in,” King told People in a new interview. “So there was there a lot of chocolate around.”
Continuing, King revealed that he employed an “incredible” on-set chocolatier (not Chalamet). “She made these incredible concoctions, and we would taste them,” he explained. “They tasted much better than they needed to because, obviously, actors are good at pretending things, but the miracle was they tasted every bit as good as they looked.”
The filmmaker joked that he had gained “50 pounds” while working on the movie; the chocolate everywhere was just too enticing. He added that it’s nothing short of “a miracle that Timmy remains so slim and handsome… I’m trying to fatten him up, but it’s hard to do.”
Elsewhere in the conversation, King heaped praise onto the young actor, describing his performance as a “tour de force” that draws “heart to the role” while remaining appropriately “funny and mischievous and quite mysterious.”
Wonka is set to arrive in cinemas on December 15th. Before then, Chalamet will return as Paul Atreides in Dune: Part Two, which arrives on November 3rd. Watch the new Wonka trailer below.
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