The Roald Dahl novel on which the movie is based is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but the retitling of the movie, which was first released 50 years ago this summer, was the smart thing to do, especially in light of Wilder’s performance. It was a somewhat mean-spirited trick, but the light of Wonka’s soul shone brighter for the dark impulses that sometimes occluded it. Their first glimpse of the actor, an impression that would last through the movie and throughout his career, showed he was incredibly serious about being funny, a performer who reached the laugh only by pushing through intense discomfort.
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY HOW TO
Wilder knew how to make an entrance, both on-screen and in the lives of fans too young to have seen The Producers. The scene stretches on as we see him dragging his right leg, slowly moving toward his fans, until, in a dreadful development, he falls forward-and at the last moment breaks into a brilliantly athletic forward roll. His entrance is all the more uncomfortable, then, as he slowly and grimly limps out of his factory. There’s no telling what he might be like, and the characters, awaiting a rare Wonka appearance, are eager to find out. The reclusive candymaker Willy Wonka-a figure shrouded in mystery, whose immense wealth shields him from members of the public to whom he hasn’t granted a “golden ticket”-looms large in the imagination of each character in the film. The following is excerpted from LIFE’s new special issue celebrating the 50th anniversary of Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, available here online and at newsstands.īefore we ever see Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, we hear about his character’s legend.
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