Wonka Footage Reaction: Timothée Chalamet Will Make Your Chocolate Dreams Come True [CinemaCon 2023]
CinemaCon is underway, folks! /Film's own Ben Pearson is on the ground at the yearly film showcase in Las Vegas and is bringing us the first word on some awesome exclusive trailers and sneak peek footage presentations — including the upcoming Willy Wonka prequel film "Wonka," starring Timothée Chalamet. CinemaCon debuted some new clips from the film, which arrives at the end of the year, and it looks like fans of the "Wonka" franchise will have a lot to say about the movie.
Believe it or not, this isn't the first time CinemaCon attendees have gotten a glimpse into Wonka's world. Last year, footage from the movie was also presented. The film is set to follow the world's favorite chocolatier in his younger years and chronicles his first encounters with the Oompa Loompas prior to the opening of his later-famous candy factory. Considering the controversy over those characters and their allusions to real-life enslaved people since Roald Dahl's 1964 book came out, it will be interesting to see how to movie handles the Oompa Loompas, and, in turn, Wonka's relationship to them. The film is directed by "Paddington 1 & 2" writer/director Paul King, who wrote the script alongside English comedian Simon Farnaby.
When it comes to the cast, we already know Chalamet stars as the titular candymaker himself, while Keegan-Michael Key, Sally Hawkins, Rowan Atkinson, Olivia Colman, Jim Carter, Matt Lucas, and Natasha Rothwell round out the film's ensemble. "Wonka" is being produced by "Harry Potter" franchise alum David Heyman alongside Luke Kelly and Alexandra Derbyshire. Though this isn't the first of it we've seen of it, the "Wonka" footage speaks for itself in all its sweet and colorful glory.
Wonka footage at CinemaCon
The latest look at Paul King's "Wonka" shows a younger, more earnest version of the zany chocolatier, with star Chalamet noting to CinemaCon audiences that his take on the character is more optimistic than Wilder's cynical candy man. Last year we only got a brief first look at the film, but this year's footage is more in-depth, showing bits of a silly but sweet origin story about the famed Dahl character.
The footage shows snippets of Wonka on a seven-year journey to perfect his craft. It's a pilgrimage that involves tracking down cocoa beans in the jungle, living out of a tiny apartment where he uses a machine to make chocolate, and doing everything he can to break into an industry that's apparently partly dominated by a chocolate cartel. Eventually, Wonka throws a wrench in the system by inventing chocolate that can make people fly. No, seriously.
All of this is secondary to the headline here, which is that none other than screen legend Hugh Grant shows up to play an Oompa Loompa. Grant's character is extra tiny, and can be spotted inside a glass case on Wonka's desk. When Wonka asks what an Oompa Loompa is, Grant replies, "Allow me to refresh your memory with a song so ruinously catchy it will never leave your mind."
Olivia Colman also pops up in the first footage as a landlady, and there's plenty of elaborate song-and-dance along with some out-of-context shots of Wonka doing things like filling a car with cocoa beans, hanging with tigers and giraffes, and riding around on balloons with a girl sidekick. "This is going to be the greatest chocolate shop the world has ever seen!" Wonka declares at one point. That remains to be seen, but the movie still looks like fun.
"Wonka" opens in theaters on December 15, 2023.