Trivia
Having had such trouble in casting Grandpa Joe, director Tim Burton offered the part to David Kelly when the two first met, when Kelly was visiting Pinewood studios for a wardrobe fitting on another movie. Kelly said the whole process took three minutes.
To his surprise, Deep Roy played every Oompa Loompa, repeating the same movements several hundred times. While these were then put together digitally, each Oompa Loompa represents a separate performance by Roy. In recognition of this, Roy's salary was raised to $1 million.
Johnny Depp was so impressed with Freddie Highmore's performance in Finding Neverland (2004) that he recommended Tim Burton observe him for the role of Charlie Bucket.
Willy Wonka's colorful cane is actually filled with Nerds candy, which are sold under the Willy Wonka brand.
AnnaSophia Robb (Violet Beauregarde) says she received a lot of jaw cramps while chewing her gum. Her dad also told her to not smack her gum, but the filmmakers told her otherwise.
The singing voice of the Oompa Loompas belongs to that of Danny Elfman, who overdubbed himself dozens of times.
Dr. Wonka (Sir Christopher Lee) tells young Willy (Blair Dunlop) that some people are allergic to chocolate to discourage him from eating any candy. As a child, Johnny Depp (older Willy) was allergic to chocolate.
Roald Dahl was well-known, when he was alive, for hating greedy children, spoiled children, ignorant children, and televisions. This provided him with a basis for Augustus, Veruca, Violet, and Mike.
Charlie's father works at a toothpaste factory which produces Smilex toothpaste. "Smylex" was also the name of the poisonous gas concocted by The Joker in Batman (1989), also directed by Tim Burton.
Quite a lot of the chocolate things such as trees, flowers, et cetera, featured in the movie, were created by chocolate shop Choccywoccydoodah in Brighton, England. The shop displayed and sold some of the creations after the release of this movie.
Screenwriter John August had never even seen Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) when asked by Tim Burton to write the script. After finishing the screenplay, he finally watched the 1971 version, only to be surprised at how much darker the "family" movie was compared to his own.
In the same room as the machine that makes the "three-course meal" gum, there are large rotating drums that look like bowls filled with colored balls. These are real machines that make large jawbreakers, or Gobstoppers, which are sold under the Willy Wonka brand.
Some of the buttons in the Glass elevator include: Incompetent Fools, T-Bone Steak Jell-O, Secretarial Poodles, Cocoa Cats, Mechanical Clouds, Stars in their Pies, Nice Plums, Up And Out, Fragile Eggs, Black Box of Frogs, Weird Lollipops, Mighty Jam Monitor, Creative Dog Flip, Elastic Forest, Leaky Canes, Dessert Island, Pie Cream, Spewed Vegetables, Naffy Taffy, Lickety Split Peas, Honeycombs and Brushes, Old Sneezes and Smells Department, Television Room, Whizzdoodles, Chocolate Lip Rookies, Blackberry Sausages, Yankee Doodles, Orange Egg Flip, Root Beer Goggles, Pastry Room, Heart Shaped Lungs, and Projection Room.
Johnny Depp once stated in an interview that he based his Willy Wonka performance on how he imagined former U.S. President George W. Bush would act while stoned.
The lyrics to four of the five musical numbers in the movie were written by Roald Dahl.
Liz Smith (Grandma Georgina) stated in an interview on askmen.com, that she read the scripts for both of the grandmothers, and picked the one that got to kiss Johnny Depp ("And it was lovely," she recalled).
This movie is the fifth Tim Burton and Johnny Depp collaboration in fifteen years.
During pre-production, director Tim Burton visited Roald Dahl's former house in the Buckinghamshire village of Great Missenden. Liccy Dahl remembers Burton entering Dahl's famed writing shed and saying, "This is the Bucket's house!" and thinking to herself, "Thank God, somebody gets it." Liccy showed Burton the original handwritten manuscripts, which Burton discovered were more politically incorrect than the published book. The manuscripts included a child named Herpes after the sexually transmitted disease.
The voice for Willy Wonka was first tried out on Johnny Depp's own daughter. She liked it.
The flashback about Willy Wonka's childhood, and his being obliged to wear a huge dental brace, are not from the original book. The brace is a reference to Tim Burton's own childhood.
The location of Willy Wonka's factory in this movie is ambiguous, and is designed to look like a cross between the U.K. and the U.S. (for example, having London architecture, street layouts, and accents, but having American clothing styles, American mailboxes, and fire hydrants, and American terminology). Another similarity is that Charlie and his parents speak with an English accent.
In early 2003, Gregory Peck was offered the role of Grandpa Joe. He told Warner Brothers he would consider it, but he passed away before he could give them an answer. Peck's family has said in interviews that he only told them that, as he did not want to seem desperate and take a big pay cut, he was really looking forward to playing Grandpa Joe.
Each Oompa Loompa song is in the style of a different musical era. Additionally, Willy Wonka's comment for each song is a phrase from the corresponding era: Augustus Gloop, Broadway Musical ("Bravo! Well done. Aren't they delightful? Aren't they charming?" clapping and praises like what people say after a show); Violet Beauregarde, Disco ("Come on, let's boogie!"); Veruca Salt - Psychadelic ("Well, let's keep on truckin'."); Mike Teevee, Rock ("On with the tour!" in reference to the plethora of rock concert tours).
During production, Gene Wilder, in an interview with The Daily Telegraph, accused the filmmakers of only remaking Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) for the purpose of money. Johnny Depp defended this movie, saying it was not a remake of the 1971 movie, but a new adaptation of the book.
This movie was one of the many projects that was produced by Plan B Productions, the production company that Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston formed during their marriage. It was the last production produced before they filed for divorce.
Julie Dawn Cole (the original Veruca Salt from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)) went and saw a preview of this movie with her then twelve-year-old son. After they walked out of the theater, she asked him what he thought of the movie, and he reportedly said "Mum, it's much better than yours."
In the television room scene, the movie into which the chocolate bar is teleported is implied to be 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). The ape's behavior towards the chocolate bar is a remake of the first scene of the movie, and the movie's theme music was also used in that scene.
The book sequel, "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator", has never been made into a movie. Roald Dahl denied the rights after his profound disappointment with Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971).
206,563.48 U.S. gallons (781,927.83 liters) of fake chocolate were made for the river area, while 38,430.42 U.S. gallons (145,474.96 liters) of it were made for the waterfall. The grand total of all of the fake chocolate used on-stage was 244,993.98 U.S. gallons (927,403.1 liters).
Rowan Atkinson, Nicolas Cage, Jim Carrey, John Cleese, Robert De Niro, Eric Idle, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Adam Sandler, Michael Keaton, Steve Martin, Bill Murray, Mike Myers, Leslie Nielsen, Michael Palin, Brad Pitt, Will Smith, Sir Patrick Stewart, Ben Stiller, Christopher Walken, and Robin Williams were considered for the role of Willy Wonka. Roald Dahl's widow Liccy Dahl suggested either Dustin Hoffman, or an English comedian such as Eddie Izzard or David Walliams.
When the obnoxious Veruca Salt introduces herself, Willy Wonka says, "I always thought a verruca was a type of wart ..." In fact, "Verruca plantaris" is a painful wart caused by the human papillomavirus and occurs on the sole or toes of the foot.
This movie, for the most part, ignores Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), and the only similarity is that the other four children bring one parent apiece with them to the factory, unlike the book, where it was both parents.
To audition for the part of the Oompa Loompas, Deep Roy danced and lip-synced to the song "It's Not Unusual" by Tom Jones, unaware of the fact that director Tim Burton had used the song in Mars Attacks! (1996).
The role of Dr. Wilbur Wonka (Sir Christopher Lee) was written specifically for this movie, to give the character of Willy Wonka a bit of a family history.
Sir Peter Ustinov was offered the role of Grandpa Joe, but he passed away before he could give the producers his answer.
Johnny Depp does not like the taste of "good" chocolate. He prefers the cheap, Easter-bunny type.
Johnny Depp stated that he had based his appearance on the costumes on a Marilyn Manson's album "The Golden Age of Grotesque".
Rather than rely on CGI, Tim Burton wanted the forty squirrels in the Nut Room to be real. The animals were trained everyday for ten weeks before filming commenced. They began their coaching while newborns, fed by bottles to form relationships with human trainers. The squirrels were each taught how to sit upon a little blue bar stool, tap, and then open a walnut and deposit its "meat" onto a conveyor belt. "Utimately, the scene was supplemented by CGI and animatronics, but for the close-ups and the main action, they're the real thing", Burton said.
When Willy Wonka opens his factory for the first time, he cuts a ribbon with scissors. He then turns around and opens his arms, looking like one hand is made of scissors. This is a reference to Edward Scissorhands (1990), in which Johnny Depp also starred, and Tim Burton directed.
The UPC on the giant chocolate bar which was sent by television was 034000190003, which is the UPC for seven ounce (198.4 grams) Hershey's milk chocolate candy bars. The Willy Wonka Candy Company is a brand of Nestlé, one of Hershey's biggest competitors.
AnnaSophia Robb wore prosthetics in the blueberry transformation scene, causing her face to swell up to twice its normal size.
As mentioned earlier, the country where the Chocolate Factory is located is an ambiguous cross between the U.S. and England. This is even carried through to the money. The ten "dollar" bill that Charlie uses to purchase the winning bar is a fairly obvious cross between a British pound note and a U.S. dollar note. It is also noted that when Charlie finds the last Golden Ticket, he is offered five hundred dollars for it.
Johnny Depp used game show hosts as well as children's television hosts, such as Fred Rogers, as his inspiration for his performance as Willy Wonka. He also said in interviews that Willy Wonka would be "part Howard Hughes-reclusive, part 1970's glamorous rock star."
Upon this movie's release, Violet Beauregarde's blueberry transformation sequence became so popular that it earned its own on-line fan community.
When Mike Teavee is teleported into the television, the scene from Psycho (1960) in which Norman Bates attacks Marion Crane is re-enacted. Freddie Highmore starred as Norman Bates in Bates Motel (2013).
Deep Roy is a self-proclaimed terrible singer and dancer. He learned how to dance for this movie, but he did not do his own singing.
Violet's scene where she blows up into a blueberry was shot by digitally creating the inflated body, then adding in a live-action shot of AnnaSophia Robb on a tilting machine.
Depp signed on without reading the script under the intention of going with a completely different approach than what Gene Wilder did in the 1971 movie adaptation. Depp said regardless of the first movie, Gene Wilder's characterization of Willy Wonka stood out as a unique portrayal.
A camera lens was not properly secured when trying to get a shot of a vat of chocolate. As a result, the lens fell into the vat, which destroyed it.
This is Johnny Depp's second chocolate-based movie, with the first being Chocolat (2000).
When Prince Pondicherry's chocolate palace begins to melt in the hot sun, the first drop lands on his forehead in the position and shape of a bindi, a dot that is worn by both men and women as a symbol of their religion, social cast and marital status. Other names for the dot are tilak, tika, pottue, sindoor, tilakam, and kumkum. The palace is also in the shape of the Taj Mahal, a tomb for the emperor's favorite wife in India that was once covered with camouflage in World War II out of fear of Japanese bombing.
Unlike the 1971 chocolate river, Tim Burton wanted this river to be thick, like real chocolate.
The filmmakers used fascist architecture for Wonka's factory exterior and designed most of the sets on three hundred sixty degree soundstages similar to cycloramas.
Tim Burton and John August worked together in creating Wilbur Wonka, Willy's domineering dentist father. Burton thought the paternal character would help explain Willy Wonka, and that otherwise, he would be "just a weird guy". The element of an estranged father-son relationship previously appeared in Big Fish (2003).
Director Tim Burton avoided using too many digital effects because he wanted the younger actors and actresses to feel as if they were working in a realistic environment, as a result, forced perspective techniques, oversized props, and scale models were used to avoid computer graphics imagery.
In the last scene, where Willy talks to a shrink, the doctor's nametag on the desk is "Dr. P. Sarrosy", an homage to famed cinematographer Paul Sarossy.
Liccy Dahl originally wanted Dustin Hoffman and Christopher Lloyd to play Willy Wonka and Grandpa Joe, respectively.
Tim Burton compared the project's languishing development to Batman (1989), and how there had been varied creative efforts with both movies. He stated "Scott Frank's version was the best, probably the clearest, and the most interesting, but they abandoned that." Liccy Dahl commented that Burton was the first and only director with whom the estate was happy. Burton had produced another of Roald Dahl's adaptations with James And The Giant Peach (1996), and like Roald and Liccy, he also disliked the 1971 movie, because it strayed from the book's storyline.
The producers sought out new actors and actresses for the roles of the four "brats". This was the first screen credit for three of them, and the second for AnnaSophia Robb.
The "TV Room" was patterned after photographs from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Danger: Diabolik (1968), and THX 1138 (1971).
As a consequence of British Equity rules, which state that children can only work four and a half hours a day, filming took six months, ending in December 2004.
After receiving enthusiastic approval from the Dahl Estate, Warner Brothers hired Tim Burton to direct in May 2003.
The Wonka Factory exterior was coincidentally constructed on the same backlot Tim Burton had used for Gotham City in Batman (1989).
When Wonka first introduces himself he says "Good Morning Starshine" which is a nod to the 1967 musical Hair with a song being called that.
Johnny Depp always cited one of his favorite actors of all time to be Marlon Brando, who died during filming. Brando was well known for his tendency to mumble when delivering lines. The scene where Wonka shouts "Mumbler!" at Mike Teavee could appear to be a commemoration of Brando but is in fact lifted straight from the original book
Martin Scorsese, Rob Minkoff, Robert Zemeckis, Barry Levinson, and Gary Ross were all at one point either seriously considered or attached to direct.
A practical method was considered for the scene in which Violet Beauregarde turns blue and swells up into a giant ten foot blueberry. A suit with an air hose was considered at one point for the beginning of the swelling scene, before the decision was made to do the entire transformation in computer graphics imagery (CGI). The visual effects house Cinesite was recruited for this assignment. In some shots of AnnaSophia Robb's head a facial prosthetic was worn to give the impression that her cheeks had swelled up as well. Because this decision was made late in production, any traces of Violet's blueberry scene were omitted from trailers or promotional material.
Originally, the production crew wanted to do Violet's blueberry transformation on-stage, but Tim Burton stepped in and said it should be done digitally.
The movie playing in the television room is 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). It is the part when the apes see the Monolith.
Sir Richard Attenborough, Sir Michael Caine, Kirk Douglas, Albert Finney, Richard Griffiths, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Ron Moody, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Paul Newman, Peter O'Toole, Max von Sydow, Eli Wallach, and David Warner were considered for the role of Grandpa Joe. Liccy Dahl wanted Christopher Lloyd for the part.
After Veruca falls down to the incinerator, Wonka reassures the group by saying it is only lit on Tuesdays, to which Mike Teavee comments that "Today is Tuesday". The factory tour commenced on February 1, and that day in 2005 was a Tuesday.
DIRECTOR TRADEMARK (Tim Burton): (black and white stripes): In the main candy room in the Wonka Factory, the black and white striped candy could be a reference to Jack Skellington's pinstripe outfit from The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), which was produced by Tim Burton or the suit worn by Beetlejuice, also by Tim Burton
Taylor Momsen auditioned for the role of Violet Beauregarde, but was deemed to be too beautiful for the role.
Sam Neill auditioned for the role of Mr. Salt, but Tim Burton said he wanted Johnny Depp to be the only "name" actor in the movie.
Tim Allen, Dan Castellaneta, Jim Belushi, Bob Saget, Kurtwood Smith, Ray Romano, Ed O'Neill, and others, who are famous for playing dads on television, were considered for the role of Mr. Teavee.
This was the first collaboration between Johnny Depp, Sir Christopher Lee, Helena Bonham Carter, and Tim Burton.
While going down the chocolate river, the boat falls down into an area and, on the far left of the screen, there is a room titled "Deep Room" next to the chocolate falls.
Cocoa beans are actually very bitter. Sugar and other ingredients have to be added before they taste like chocolate.
Denise Nickerson, who portrayed Violet Beauregarde in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), played Amy Jennings on Dark Shadows (1966). Johnny Depp starred as Barnabas Collins in Dark Shadows (2012).
Tim Burton and Danny Elfman found filming somewhat difficult because they were simultaneously working on Corpse Bride (2005).
After Veruca falls down the garbage chute, Mr. Wonka assures the group that they only light the incinerator on Tuesdays. Mike Teavee reminds him that today is Tuesday. In the novel, the tour occurs on the same day in which every event in the sequel "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator" occurs. According to the former, the tour happens on the first of February. In the latter, Mr. Wonka states that it's 1972. February 1, 1972 was a Tuesday.
When in the factory, Mr. Teavee comments that Willy Wonka is "a few quarters short of a buck", which Mr. Salt quips that he doesn't "speak American". Ironically, Adam Godley, who portrays Mr. Teavee, is English.
Scott Frank did two drafts of the script, then left the project.
The children at the tour: Augustus Gloop is phlegmatic (a glutton who doesn't care much for anything not related to candy), Violet Beauregarde is choleric (a hot-tempered brat determined to get everything she wants), Veruca Salt and Charlie Bucket are both sanguine (the former prideful and open to challenges, the latter polite and kind to everyone he meets), and Mike Teavee is melancholic (a critical introvert who doesn't care much for anything non-technology).
As mentioned earlier, the country in which the Chocolate Factory is located is an ambiguous cross between the U.S. and England. This is even carried through to the money. The coin that Grandpa Joe gives Charlie to buy a Wonka bar is a U.S. silver dollar.
DIRECTOR TRADEMARK (Tim Burton): (black and white stripes): Found on the sleeves of the Oompa Loompa swimsuits during the Augustus Gloop song, and the black-and-white striped candy in the main candy room.
In the novel, Mr. Wonka tells Charlie he's won the factory while they're flying in the Great Glass Elevator, and in order to ensure that the boy's other grandparents won't have to get out of their bed -- which won't fit through the shack's door but will fit in the elevator -- to move there, he crashes it into the shack to pick the family up. In this adaptation, Mr. Wonka doesn't break the news that Charlie's won the factory to anyone until after he's crashed the elevator into the shack, and to make matters worse he doesn't intend to take anyone but Charlie back to the factory, so this just makes him look like an even bigger jerk.
Wonka's throne is the same one used by The Joker during the parade scene. Johnny Depp holding a very large pair of scissors for the ribbon-cutting of the factory looks familiar too. Mr. Wonka introduces himself to the tour group by Waxing Lyrical: "Good morning, sunshine! The Earth says... Hello!" Mr. Wonka's demonstration of the teleporter is this to 2001: A Space Odyssey, complete with The Monolith and "Also sprach Zarathustra". The five musical numbers each provide shout-outs to something or other in their styles and/or visuals. "Wonka's Welcome Song" = "It's a Small World" (although it can also be interpreted as a Take That! at the cornier songs in the 1971 film adaptation of this novel, i.e. "The Candy Man") "Augustus Gloop" = Bollywood and Esther Williams musicals "Violet Beauregarde" = The Jackson 5 song "Dancing Machine" "Veruca Salt" = The Byrds' "Turn! Turn! Turn!" "Mike Teavee" = Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" The score for the "Loompa Land" scene, most notably the "Hoo Haa!" chanting, recalls Danny Elfman's own score from Forbidden Zone. It's very, very brief, but when the Oompa-Loompa in the TV Room that's seated in front of the TV first changes the channel, you can hear a brief snippet of the Macarena. When Mike's dad rescues the now-miniaturized boy from the TV set: "Help me! Help me!" (It's actually the second time Burton has used that gag.) Rather appropriate to reference another famous pop culture Teleporter Accident, that!
Out of the five Golden Tickets found, four out of the five children find it on their own (Veruca's father finds one for her).
Slugworth is only seen in a flashback narrated by Grandpa Joe, but seems to be a genuine rival spy this time, and it is because of his actions that Wonka's paranoia gets the better of him and makes him fire all of his employees, including Joe himself
This is the first of three movies in which director Tim Burton cast someone from EastEnders (1985). In this movie, Nitin Ganatra played Prince Pondicherry, and also played Masood Ahmed on the soap. The other two are Alice in Wonderland (2010), and Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016), which featured Barbara Windsor, who played Peggy Mitchell. Burton is a fan of the soap.
The coin Grandpa gives Charlie to buy a chocolate bar is a US silver dollar which is interesting since it seems like the location of the factory and Charlie's home is U.K.
The gates from Willy Wonka's Factory were offered after filming to the Roald Dahl Museum in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire. However due to their sheer size they had to turn this offer down. Warner Brothers therefore commissioned a smaller set of replica gates to be made and donated for the museum to use.
Director Trademark
Tim Burton: [distorted female face] When Violet turns into a blueberry, her face discolors and her cheeks puff up.
