Tim Burton to direct Willy Wonka remake for WB (1 Viewer)

[JohnE]

I'm usually pretty good with these, but what does POTA stand for? I'm drawing a complete blank.

Edit - Nevermind, it just came to me....Planet of the Apes, right?

 

[ChuckSolo]

Why in heaven's name would anyone want to remake this movie? Especially with Johnny Depp in the lead. A movie like this made with a comedic actor like Gene Wilder is one thing, but Johnny Depp, give me a break. This is like remaking "The Wizard of Oz" and hoping it is successful. The ridiculous picture "The Wiz" was NOT, IMHO, a serious attempt at a remake.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

A movie like this made with a comedic actor like Gene Wilder is one thing, but Johnny Depp, give me a break.

Have you seen Pirates of the Carribean? Johnny Depp has the range to pull of the comedic aspects as well as the scarier side of Wonka that Wilder only scratched the surface on.

 

[BertFalasco]

"The Wiz" was NOT

Speaking of this, is there a justified DVD out there?

I really enjoyed that movie.

 

[Aryn Leroux]

I dunno i was saying wtf johnny depp ? at first. But after thinking about it he might be quite good he did a great buster keaton in a flick called Benny & Joon + he and burton usually result in a good flick.

 

[ChuckSolo]

I am not bagging on Johnny Depp as an actor as I liked him in a number of movies. I am just saying that Gene Wilder "fit" the role, Johnny Depp just doesn't seem to. Anyway, I am really not a Tim Burton fan and would under no circumstances go see the movie anyway. I have only seen the original twice, both under duress from my young niece and nephew, and it is not a movie I as a movie buff would see on my own.

 

[Jason Seaver]

This is like remaking "The Wizard of Oz" and hoping it is successful.

Actually, it might be interesting to see The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz faithfully adapted, along with the rest of Baum's Oz books.

 

[todd stone]

Excellent. Johnny Depp is one of my favorite actors and one of the most diverse these days, IMO.

 

[Greg_M]

Johnny Depp:
I believe Johnny Depp would do a good job playing Wonka - he is very talented and quirky enough.

One question though,
If Dahl's estate wasn't happy with the first film, and wanted to remain close to the book, why are they casting an actor who is 20 some years too young for the part?

Depp has always looked younger than his actual age, and Wonka is supposely looking for a child to train as his replacement, it would seem Depp has a bout 25 years to go before retirement.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Well, the 70's film is pretty faithful to the book. There weren't any musical numbers in the book, though.

Read it again, there are a TON

And not one contains the words "Oompa-Loompa-Doobady-Doo",

 

[Stephen_Dar]

Depp has always looked younger than his actual age, and Wonka is supposely looking for a child to train as his replacement, it would seem Depp has a bout 25 years to go before retirement.

I had the same problem with Wilder in the original movie. He was pretty young back then, probably around 40.

My problem with Burton is, he seems to have had his wings clipped along the way to becoming a major filmmaker. Back when, I thought something like Beetlejuice showed the same detailed, complex, deliciously offbeat sensibility that you only used to see in things like the writings of Dahl. But, go forward a few years, there was absolutely nothing unique about the horrendous Batman. The acting was wooden, the story was nonexistent, the atmosphere was cool but got really old by the end. I missed most of his other 80s movies, but then later I tune back in to see something like Sleepy Hollow and it's exactly like Batman in the sense that it's all atmosphere but the story is shockingly dull and pointless.

I didn't even bother with Planet of the Apes. I've heard it's an atrocity, particularly in comparison with the unique qualities of the origional. Bottom line, for me Burton has become a hack, having lost every scrap of originality he apparently once possessed. Seems to be a simple case of selling out for the money. I mean, really, for what possible reason would the mind that created Beetlejuice say "yes" to an executive's sales pitch about "a modern, big-budget update of Planet of the Apes. Believe me, Timmy baby, you'll have great ape effects, great makeup, what more do you need!" Sad. Thus, I hold no hope for this Charlie update.

 

[Qui-Gon John]

Jeff, "I've got another puzzle for you"

Seriously though, Stephen, I think the idea with Wilder in Wonka was that he'd be training Charlie his way, as he grew up and by another 15-20 years, Wonka would be ready to reitre and Charlie would take over. As I said before, regarding POTA, if Burton had done it extremely close to the book I could see it. Instead he sorta took the books ending and twisted it to his story, but the main part of the story differed greatly from the book.

 

[Matthew_Millheiser]

Well, the 70's film is pretty faithful to the book.

Oh?

Here were my problems with the 70s film:

• The disappearance of Charlie's father. I can see what the filmmakers were trying to do in making Wonka something of a "father figure" to Charlie, but it unfortunately softens the story's darker edges
• The changing of Veruca Salt's original comeuppanace with the pissed-off squirrels into that Golden Egg nonsense. Veruca is a "bad nut", not a "rotten egg"!!
• Not showing the return of the 4 other children, including a thin Augustus, a purple Violet, a garbage-covered Veruca, and the 10-ft tall wire-thin Mike. Actually, this is one change I actually support. By leaving the fate of the "bad" children unanswered, the film freaked me out even more when I was a kid. And in a good way.
• The needless addition of the "burping gas" segment, which shows that Charlie and Grandpa also broke the rules like everybody else, but got lucky because they didn't end up grossly disfigured like the other kids
• The even more needless addition of the subplot of "Slugworth" wanting an Everlasting Gobstopper
• The Oompah-Loompahs were African pygmies, not little orange guys with green hair

I love the Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory 70s film on its own... but the definitive Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has yet to be filmed. :frowning: