Movies News
'Harry Potter' Producer David Heyman is Rebooting 'Willy Wonka'
Despite the tepid response to Steven Spielberg’s The BFG this year, the works of Roald Dahl continue to be hot in Hollywood right now. There are already remakes — really just new adaptations — of James and the Giant Peach and The Witches in development, and now Willy Wonka is set to return to the big screen again. Variety reports that the famed candy maker from Dahl’s book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is getting a reboot care of Harry Potter producer David Heyman.
We previously saw Wonka in the classic retitled 1971 adaptation Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, with Gene Wilder iconicizing the title character on film forever, and then again in the Tim Burton-helmed 2005 version, which stars Johnny Depp in the role. This time the plan is for a prequel that will show some of Wonka’s early adventures. But it’s not being called an origin story. Harry Potter studio Warner Bros., which also made the Burton version, is also behind this one.
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Burton’s movie also hinted at the kind of adventures we might see in the flashback above where Wonka saves the Oompa Loompas from the dangerous creatures of Loompaland. The reboot, which is being scripted by Inside Out and The Secret Life of Pets co-writer Simon Rich, could supposedly lead up to the time when Charlie and the other kids visit the factory. From there, perhaps we’ll finally see an adaptation of Dahl’s sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.
Now that we know all the details, it’s time to discuss who should play Wonka this time around. Here is the best idea there can be:
Guy? Tilda Swinton or GTFO. https://t.co/qzqaSmjBYP
— John Gholson (@gholson) October 19, 2016
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