Timothée Chalamet may be the new lead of Dune, but he’s now set to enter a world of pure imagination with his next gig.
As per Deadline, Chalamet has been cast as a young Willy Wonka in a prequel to the classic 1971 movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory starring Gene Wilder. According to the source, this film will be the first time that Chalamet will be singing and dancing onscreen, as the film includes several musical numbers.
In the director’s chair will be Paul King (Paddington) with a screenplay that comes from Simon Farnaby (previous writers include Simon Rich, Simon Stephenson, Jeff Nathanson, and Steven Levenson).
After the 2005 film starring Johnny Depp failing to reach the cult status of the 1971 film, it looks like WB is going to be sticking to the continuity of what some believe to be a timeless classic. I’ll admit, I have to applaud Burton for trying to make his Chocolate Factory as unique as it could be, even using Roald Dahl’s original lyrics from the books, but Depp’s kooky Wonka just couldn’t top Wilder’s version.
We don’t know if a Wonka film will eventually build into another Chocolate Factory reboot, but hopefully the film will be a treat for fans of the classic as well as for newcomers to the fantastic world of Mister Wonka.
No release date has been set for the Wonka prequel, but the film is expected to come out March 16, 2023. In the meantime, you can watch out for Chalamet in the Denis Villenueve’s Dune reboot which comes out on Oct. 1.
