CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY - PREVIEW 

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)

Starring: Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore, David Kelly, Julia Winter, Franziska Troegner, James Fox, Annasophia Robb, Missi Pyle, Johnny Depp, Adam Godley, Jordan Fry
Director: Tim Burton
Rated: Unrated
U.S. Opening Date: July 19, 2005

Fans of the original are obviously going “why?” and has to wonder whether Burton has learnt his lesson regarding the bland remakes with his 2001 version of Planet of the Apes and if Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has anything new to add.

Still, if anyone can pull it off it’d be the team that gave us Edward Scissorhands . . .

(By the way, will this fantasy tale ever be the same after Fry and his cohorts’ visit to the Slurm factory in Futurama?)
 

Plot description of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005):

Charlie Bucket, a boy from an impoverished family under the shadow of a giant chocolate factory, wins a candy bar contest and is given a tour, along with four other children, of the amazing factory run by the eccentric Willy Wonka and his staff of Oompa-Loompas . . .

— Some sources: Amazon.com, IMDb

Trivia about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory:

• Steve Martin, Robin Williams, Christopher Walken, Nicolas Cage and Michael Keaton were all considered for the role of Willy Wonka. Marilyn Manson also badly wanted the part, and was apparently the director's first choice, but this could not be accomplished due to scheduling conflicts.

• Johnny Depp's second chocolate-based movie (the first being Chocolat in 2000). Depp doesn't like the taste of good chocolate - he prefers the cheap, Easter bunny type.

• Martin Scorsese was at one point attached to direct.

• A camera lens worth $540,000, wasn't properly secured when trying to get a shot of a vat of chocolate. As a result, the camera fell into the vat which destroyed it.

• This is the fifth film that Tim Burton and Johnny Depp have made together. The others are Edward Scissorhands (1990), Ed Wood (1994), Sleepy Hollow (1999), and Corpse Bride (2005).

• 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 film" was to his own.

• Johnny Depp was so impressed with Freddie Highmore's performance in Finding Neverland (2004) that he convinced Tim Burton to cast him as Charlie Bucket.

• Johnny Depp used shock rocker Marilyn Manson as his inspiration for his performance as Willy Wonka; Manson himself wanted the whole of Wonka in the film.

— Some sources: Amazon.com, IMDb

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