The story of Willy Wonka seems to be ingrained in our collective DNA, believes arranger and composer Joby Talbot, who recently joined Variety’s Artisans Screening Series of “Wonka” in partnership with BSBP moderated by Variety‘s international correspondent K.J. Yossman.
Having grown up with the 1971 film “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” starring Gene Wilder, Talbot mentioned the “iconic memories” associated with the original film, including the songs, some of which the “Wonka” team were able to use in their prequel.
“We wanted to try and drive the story forward,” he said of incorporating music. “So we were trying very hard to make the different songs and the different melodies signify different things and be related to different characters.”
Talbot and the other artisans behind Paul King’s “Wonka” sat down to discuss how they brought the famous chocolatier’s origin story to life — from crafting fake chocolate to adjusting Timothée Chalamet’s hair based on varying temperatures.
The other panelists included visual effects supervisor Graham Page; special effects supervisor Hayley Williams; makeup and hair designer Ivana Primorac; costume designer Lindy Hemming; and set decorator Lee Sandales.
In one harrowing scene in “Wonka,” Willy (Chalamet) and his friend Noodle (Calah Lane) find themselves in a perilous situation involving a massive amount of melted chocolate.
Sadly, but perhaps more impressively, the sweet stuff wasn’t real.
“We had real chocolate as samples for the color and the texture and the way it glistens. Paul was very particular about how he wanted the chocolate to look,” Williams shared. “So in early stages we did lots of sampling for him to get the color right to make sure it looked good on camera, but it was actually manufactured by the company that made the coloring for the Johnny Depp version as well. So it was basically food-based, but it was water and color and thickening agent.”
Primorac discussed how Olivia Colman, who plays the antagonistic Mrs. Scrubbit, was eager to lean into her character’s less-than-desirable qualities, including yellowed and broken teeth.
“Olivia wanted more of everything straight away,” said Primorac. “More broken capillaries. There were hairy legs in the kimono, so we were laying on hair on her completely beautiful smooth legs. It was more of everything to be more of a character. The teeth there were less yellow teeth, and then she went for the bright yellow, nicotine-stained teeth.”
Yossman asked how Primorac worked to style Chalamet’s hair into the perfect Willy Wonka look, amid freezing weather and hot studio temperatures: “He’s got an incredible head of hair, not always easy to manage. We practiced a lot and tried to find something that’s wild and unkempt but also pleasing.”
Page discussed Hugh Grant’s experience playing an Oompa Loompa, who is digitally shrunken down to be much smaller than the rest of the characters.
“We basically photographed him in massive amounts of detail to be able to recreate him digitally. And there’s lots of technical things that we had to do, but we de-aged him,” Page said. “We wanted him to be the same age that he is in ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary 2.’”
Grant was extremely dedicated to perfecting his Oompa Loompa role, especially when it came to acting opposite Chalamet.
Page said, “He wanted to be talking to Timmy … He was doing some of it on his knees to try and replicate the right height and be acting in front of Timmy, and he wanted to embody the Oompa Loompa as best he could.”
Meanwhile, Hemming explained how the costume design process begins with cartoon-like sketches, which she sometimes feels hesitant to show actors given that she crafts them before casting is finished.
“But these actors were so receptive to fun — and everything generally — that we did show them all the early drawings, and then we work on from them to produce the costumes and some more drawings and the fabrics, et cetera,” she said.
Set designer Sandales discussed the inspiration for Wonka’s first shop, a childhood dream the chocolatier shares with his mother and eventually brings to life in the film.
“Everything is taken from the script and the idea of the chocolate shop itself. It’s conceived as a memory of his childhood and the love of his mother,” Sandales revealed. “You enter the shop and you see him on a river, on a barge, that’s the barge from his childhood … Everything is represented from what he remembered from his mother, and it just comes from love. So we took that and amplified it and amplified it and amplified it.”
Watch the full conversation above.
