Xixax Film Forum

Seems like Tim Burton is in negotiations to direct an "updated" version of this movie. It seems like the perfect movie for him to direct, I wonder if he still has enough gusto to pull it off though (Planet of the Apes anyone?)

I remember John C. Reily saying how badly he would love to play Willy Wonka. I hope Burton considers him...

Tim Burton Directing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Warner Bros. has tapped Tim Burton to direct Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the second live-action adaptation of the Roald Dahl classic children's novel, reports Variety.

It is one of two projects Burton will make back-to-back at the studio, as he's signed to next do the stop-motion animation feature The Corpse Bride.

"Charlie" has long been considered one of WB's most promising properties, one that the studio hopes will lead to a Broadway musical, adds the trade.

Burton's has not made a deal yet, but it's close after a very positive meeting between the director and WB's Alan Horn, Jeff Robinov and Kevin McCormick. The Dahl estate has already approved Burton as the director they wanted most.

Hey how bout not ruining a classic with CGI and MTV promotion....

Quote from: Duck SauceHey how bout not ruining a classic with CGI and MTV promotion....

But ruining a classic = $$$  :shock:

You should know that's all they care about. If they really want to redo Willy Wonka dark, hire America McGee and have him redesign the cast. I'd be very interested in his version of the Oompa Loompas.

I find Tim Burton to be quite overrated regardless of what classic he's ruining... I thought Beetlejuice was alright, liked Ed Wood, but haven't really noted anything so very special about him. His reputation- the concept of Tim Burton- exceeds anything he's put onto celluloid, in my opinion. So I have no strong feelings about this new adaptation. If nothing else is playing, I might go see it.  :|

Quote from: godardianI find Tim Burton to be quite overrated regardless of what classic he's ruining... I thought Beetlejuice was alright, liked Ed Wood, but haven't really noted anything so very special about him. His reputation- the concept of Tim Burton- exceeds anything he's put onto celluloid, in my opinion. So I have no strong feelings about this new adaptation. If nothing else is playing, I might go see it.  :|

Wonka should be left alone.  How could a new one possibly improve on the original?  How?   Can't be done.

I dunno; I can't put Burton up there with the "greats" but his Greatest Hits album would be damn fine:

PeeWee's Big Adventure
Edward Scissorhands
Beetlejuice
Ed Wood
Batman
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Sleepy Hollow
Mars Attacks!

....all, IMO, good to excellent films.

Please God, keep obnoxious CGI out of this movie



but also, if this movie HAS to get made, which it will no matter what. I wouldnt want anybody but Burton doing it.

Quote from: Satcho9I remember John C. Reily saying how badly he would love to play Willy Wonka. I hope Burton considers him...

Oh yeah, that was hilarious. Said something like "just show me who I have to blow to play Willy Wonka." He's such a funny guy.

Quote from: Duck Sauceif this movie HAS to get made, which it will no matter what. I wouldnt want anybody but Burton doing it.

I can think of many people I'd like to see do this instead of Burton.

Harmony Korine?
Martin Scorsese?

Of course, none of these would make it "work", but damn it'd be fun to watch.

So who you guys bet is going to play Wonka?

Jim Carrey, Depp....?

:?

Mike White

I'd love to see Johnny play it, either him or John Turturro. Or John C.

Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston are producing this.

There was a rumor about this last year. It claimed Burton was considering and Marilyn Manson wanted to star. I figured it was fake and the Manson part was thought up because of his "Dope Hat" video.

I wouldn't be surprised if Jim Carrey got it. He could work but my money would be more on him sucking. I could go for Depp. I actually would kinda like to see Dave Foley though they'd have to do something about his 12-year old look.

If Burton did this, which I doubt anyways, I can't see him even doing much to move away from the original. I keep thinking of how bad the movie Sleepy Hollow was in being updated because it was the typical story only with some scenes of typical Burton imagery used for flashback scenes to this character. That did little in adding anything to the movie and just seemed like it was a director with little ideas in how to bring the story into new and rested upin the laurels his weird imagery may be confused for something profound. Burton is a greedy stylist ruining a lot of movies because he gets the role of director but never acts as one.  Any Burton movie I liked? Sure, but only Ed Wood.

~rougerum

They should get Johnny Depp to play Wonka. Isn't John C. Reilly a bit too overweight to portray the character? (look who's talking though, I'm about 5-10 pounds overweight, but I'm not in line to play Wonka)

Quote from: MrBurgerKingThey should get Johnny Depp to play Wonka. Isn't John C. Reilly a bit too overweight to portray the character? (look who's talking though, I'm about 5-10 pounds overweight, but I'm not in line to play Wonka)

What is Wonka like in the book? If skinny, put JCR on a treadmille and low-carb diet.

Quote from: Duck Sauce

Quote from: MrBurgerKingThey should get Johnny Depp to play Wonka. Isn't John C. Reilly a bit too overweight to portray the character? (look who's talking though, I'm about 5-10 pounds overweight, but I'm not in line to play Wonka)

What is Wonka like in the book? If skinny, put JCR on a treadmille and low-carb diet.

Good point! I don't understand how he can go from skinny (in Boogie Nights) to huge (in everything else). I guess he probably ate out at McDonalds a lot (shame on him.. McDonalds' food has a lot of fat content).

I have to admit, if this goes ahead, I wouldn't mind seeing Manson play the role. The tale of Willy Wonka is dark, and Wonka is a dark guy, and Manson could definitely give us that, a real level of intensity.

Ultimately, if it goes ahead, which I would prefer it doesn't, I just hope that:

a) they don't try to rip off the Oompa Loompa songs, which can never be outdone and;
b) they actually title it Charlie And The Chocolate Factory after the book, and that they focus on Charlie as the lead.

Quote from: The Silver BulletI have to admit, if this goes ahead, I wouldn't mind seeing Manson play the role. The tale of Willy Wonka is dark, and Wonka is a dark guy, and Manson could definitely give us that, a real level of intensity.

yeah, but how well can Manson act?

Oh, that would be fucking awesome. I'd love to see a really DARK version of it...Marilyn would be great. He's a cool guy. I can't believe how nice and intelligent he seems to be...anybody see him on Dinner for Five? Some of his music rocks too. I'm kinda hoping he gets it...that would be something weird to look forward to. Either him or Johnny should get it. JCR would work too though...so I don't know, there's too many good choices.

Manson was in the Sundance entry Party Monster, and played [or is playing] Frank N. Furter [who is very much like Willy Wonka in many a disturbing way] in a TV version of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. That what the IMDb says though, and often you can't trust them as far as you can kick them. But really, I don't think the part would be much of a stretch. And why not use him, anyway? Try new things. It could work wonderful wonders.

i think its funny because even if Tim Burton did make Charlie and the Chocolate Factory withe someone like Marilyn Manson as Willy Wonka,  i doubt that they will be able to do anything creepier than the "boatride scene" in the original!  how freaky is that scene!?! thats not in the book.  whos idea was that anyways? it always creeped me out when i was a kid.  has anyone seen the SNL skit where Jeff Richards does like a perfect impersonation of that scene? its pretty fucking funny.

and the fires of hell are growing! theres no earthy way of knowing...

Quote from: themodernage02i think its funny because even if Tim Burton did make Charlie and the Chocolate Factory withe someone like Marilyn Manson as Willy Wonka,  i doubt that they will be able to do anything creepier than the "boatride scene" in the original!  how freaky is that scene!?! thats not in the book.  whos idea was that anyways? it always creeped me out when i was a kid.  has anyone seen the SNL skit where Jeff Richards does like a perfect impersonation of that scene? its pretty fucking funny.

and the fires of hell are growing! theres no earthy way of knowing...

wait, this is a kid's movie, right?

Quote from: bonanzataz

Quote from: themodernage02i think its funny because even if Tim Burton did make Charlie and the Chocolate Factory withe someone like Marilyn Manson as Willy Wonka,  i doubt that they will be able to do anything creepier than the "boatride scene" in the original!  how freaky is that scene!?! thats not in the book.  whos idea was that anyways? it always creeped me out when i was a kid.  has anyone seen the SNL skit where Jeff Richards does like a perfect impersonation of that scene? its pretty fucking funny.

and the fires of hell are growing! theres no earthy way of knowing...

wait, this is a kid's movie, right?

yeah, so whats your point?

That scene is indeed one of the most trippy and frightening things you'll ever see in a children's film. I still watch it and think, "What the fuck were they thinking?"

I love it, but still. Zuh?!

Dark Horizons says Michael Keaton is up for the role of Wonka.

Quote from: DerekDark Horizons says Michael Keaton is up for the role of Wonka.

This is a great thing if true.

Quote from: ebeamanOh, that would be fucking awesome. I'd love to see a really DARK version of it...Marilyn would be great. He's a cool guy. I can't believe how nice and intelligent he seems to be...anybody see him on Dinner for Five? Some of his music rocks too. I'm kinda hoping he gets it...that would be something weird to look forward to. Either him or Johnny should get it. JCR would work too though...so I don't know, there's too many good choices.

Yeah, I caught him on Dinner.  He seems to be very interesting, very well spoken, and he likes Sweet and Lowdown.  
Plus, his music's pretty fucking nice to listen too.  If I'm in the mood, that is...

Michael Keaton??!?! Yessssss!

id like to see someone like christopher lloyd play wonka.

i'd like to see someone like christopher walken play wonka.

After seeing the original again, I think a Burton remake is necessary if the focus is on Willy Wonka, and less Chocolate Factory.  You know the scene where he introduces everybody to the main area where there are rivers of chocolate and all the plants are made out of candy?  Wilder starts to sing, while all the kids run out and have a blast with the place.  There's a moment where Wilder looks so infinitely sad sitting next to a piece of mushroom-looking candy, that I thought it was hands down the most touching and honest moment in the film.  His face said it all.  It was an instant, and then the film resumed with the usual kids-get-into-trouble fare.  But for that moment of time, this film could have gone into many cool places exploring Wonka's psyche.  I felt that in subsequent scenes, he was just hiding his sorrow with the magic of the place, hoping to convince a kid of its magic and find its future owner.  And for some reason, I felt that still wasn't enough.  There had to be more to his sorrow than just finding a kid with an innocent mind to replace him as the new owner.  And in the end, when you discover there's not, well.  It brings the whole thing down.  Wilder's performance was outstanding.  And from that ending, I can only decide that the moment in the candy factory, sitting next to the mushroom, was a fluke.  If Burton knows what this movie is missing, I'd gladly see his remake.  The real trouble is finding someone as good as Wilder for Wonka.  Biggest casting decision he'll probably make.

yeah with tim burton doing it, i'd be interested in just about anything.  i would however like to point out, that the interest level for this topic has swirled above that of the third lord of the rings installment, which is very funny to me for some reason.  its strange what people want to talk about isnt it?

They should have Wilder as Wonka again...

aw

He'll have a cameo, no doubt.  

I think everyone is missing the point.  Don't you think Burton has done enough remakes?  This will be his third.  

Sal made some good points about what he would like, but is it really necessary to make another movie about it?  What's wrong with the original?  

Let's just hope that a producer came to Burton with this project, and not the other way around.

Quote from: Pawbloe
I think everyone is missing the point.  Don't you think Burton has done enough remakes?  This will be his third.  

Hes got to compete with Mark Wahlberg

Quote from: Pawbloe
Let's just hope that a producer came to Burton with this project, and not the other way around.

If its going to get made Id rather have Burton be the one who wanted to do it first, he'd be more passionate about it it seems.

Quote from: bonanzatazi'd like to see someone like christopher walken play wonka.

Judging from the casting buzz being overheard by Cinescape and Dark Horizons, it looks like the search is well underway to find the new Willy Wonka in Tim Burton's remake of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY.

According to one of our scoopers, Christopher Walken (CATCH ME IF YOU CAN) is one of the leaders emerging from the acting talent pool. It wouldn't be the first time Walken's worked with Burton; the actor played the part of scheming industrialist Max Schreck in BATMAN RETURNS.

But here's where it gets stranger: yesterday Dark Horizons ran a rumor that Walken's adversary in BATMAN RETURNS, namely Michael Keaton himself, is also being considered for the role of the candy tycoon.

I'd watch the film with pleasure if Walken played Wonka. It could be a bad movie and everything, but the idea of Walken playing Wonka would be great.

~rougerum

Now that's a dilemma...Walken or Keaton?  They'd both be equally perfect, though each would give the movie a very different feel...with Keaton, the film would be a little less dark, a little more upbeat...and with Walken, well shit, that'd just be a weird (but no less excellent) version.

There are supposed "sketches" of some concept designs for the Wonka movie at www.mukpuddy.com.

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Quote from: MacGuffinChristopher Walken

would rule.

Quote from: MacGuffinMichael Keaton

would suckkkkkkkkkk...

Walken would be pretty creepy.

QuotePawblow said: Don't you think Burton has done enough remakes? This will be his third

Wait... Planet of the apes and what else?

Off the top of my head...Bicycle Thief/PWBig Adv?

Oh God, I would definitely see the Wonka remake if it had Christopher Walken

Quote from: RegularKaratePlanet of the apes and what else?

i believe that was a RE-IMAGINING.

I would loooooooove Michael Keaton to do the Wonka in a Tim Burton remake. I think I'd just love a recollabo with them period.

Keaton's a chameleon.  To be Beetlejuice, Batman, and like, recessively bad copies of himself in Multiplicity...I can definitely see the reason for choosing him.

Quote from: oakmanc234I would loooooooove Michael Keaton to do the Wonka in a Tim Burton remake. I think I'd just love a recollabo with them period.

Good call.

i pick keaton, because he needs the fucking work.  walken is going to have work whether or not he's wonka, recently up for an oscar in cmiyc, and coming out in a few more movies this year.  whereas keaton, fucking fell off the face of the earth a few years ago, and needs to get back in the game.  there's nary been a word from him since jackie brown.  (i thought a quentin tarantino movie was supposed to re-vive your career? not kill it?)

Keaton for President....and the role of Wonka. THe problem with Walken, albeit he is a good actor and all, is that he will not be able to consume the role on the level Keaton could. As good as Walken could do, you will still look at him and think "thats chris walken"...whereas Keaton could just fucking absorb wonka and hopefully approach it from a different perspective.

So thats that.

Eh, maybe.  I think both would be great, but as I said earlier, each one would the film a different feel.

I'm really liking the idea of Keaton. I also had been rooting for Alan Cummings, but he probably came too close to the role already in the first Spy Kids.

I think the other remake Mac was referring to was Sleepy Hollow, which wasn't really a remake since it was never a feature, unless you're counting that eighties version starring Jeff Goldblum.

Abe Vigoda could play Wonka. Mwa-ha-ha...

Why pick an actor, Keaton, in the hope he will mask himself and become Wonka? What use is there in that when you can just watch the original or see it start playing typical Burton dumb and look as something not really good, but creepier only. I'd feel like I was watching Beetlejuice again and seeing the typical of both Burton and Keaton. Walken seems like he wants to move into a happier role to savour, given Catch me if you Can and that FatBoy Slim video, and the idea of him being given two hours to run through such a role of glee and happiness is to exciting of an idea to miss. Walken smiling and talking is just a great thing to watch. When it comes down to that for me, I see no thinking about who should get this role and where it should go.

~rougerum

Yeah, what GT said.  

Let's see who we've got:

Michael "You wanna get nuts? Let's get nuts!" Keaton

or Christopher "I need more cowbell!" Walken

or Pikachu!  I choose you!
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Johnny Depp Frontrunner to Play Willy Wonka!
Source: Variety

The success of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and past collaborations with director Tim Burton make Johnny Depp the front-runner to play Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the second live-action adaptation of the Roald Dahl classic children's novel.

"Charlie" has long been considered one of Warner Bros.' most promising properties, one that the studio hopes will eventually lead to a Broadway musical.

:shock:

Depp? Whaaaaa? What about the age thing?

Quote from: mindfuckDepp? Whaaaaa? What about the age thing?

Depp is 40, which is 2 years older than Gene Wilder was when he played the role.

Johnny Depp is perfect, and will add the necessary other-worldliness with his supernatural beauty. There's a detachment about him that is perfect for Wonka, the same quality that Gene Wilder had, where you don't feel he's a threat to the kiddies but one of them in a parallel universe of unpolluted, sweet strangeness.

Whereas, although I long to see him in another Pennies From Heaven, Christopher Walken is on the too dad-like/too scary border, and too old.

And Michael Keaton is too fat and too tetchy. If he tries not to be nasty he'll be sentimental, which would be disastrous, for Burton and for the movie.

Quote from: themodernage02

Quote from: mindfuckDepp? Whaaaaa? What about the age thing?

Depp is 40, which is 2 years older than Gene Wilder was when he played the role.

Wow. I assumed he was much younger.

One of my goals has long been to look that good when I'm forty.

depp is fucking 40 years old????  holy shit..........

DEPP FOR WONKA!!!

Quote from: budgieJohnny Depp is perfect, and will add the necessary other-worldliness with his supernatural beauty. There's a detachment about him that is perfect for Wonka, the same quality that Gene Wilder had, where you don't feel he's a threat to the kiddies but one of them in a parallel universe of unpolluted, sweet strangeness.

This is simply a perfect statement

Johnny Depp Continues Talks for Chocolate
Source: Variety

Johnny Depp will be meeting for a third time with director Tim Burton for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the Warner Bros. adaptation of the Roald Dahl classic in which he has been offered the role of Willy Wonka.

Depp and Burton, who previously made Edward Scissorhands and Ed Wood together, came away from their meeting sparked to make the film and talks are expected to begin shortly. If everything goes ahead, the Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl star could be filming the movie next year.

The studio is eager to revive 1971's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, about a mysterious chocolate maker's attempt to find a worthy successor. Scott Frank wrote a draft of the script, followed by Gwyn Lurie, and Pamela Pettler was hired to write the latest version.

Pettler wrote The Corpse Bride, the Mike Johnson-directed stop-motion animation film for Warner Bros. about a man who inadvertently marries a corpse. Burton produces that film as well.

Hands down...I am all for Burton and Depp being invloved with this...but why touch the original is beyond me.

they are either gonna fuck this up big time, or make a pure madness "om pa om pa om piddity umm" piece that finally makes me realize that. yes, in fact, they might possibly be the best actor/ director pair of this time.  Either way, I am thinkin' if you were ever gonna a pick a moment to try drugs in your life...this might be an ideal situation.

Quote from: aclockworkjjHands down...I am all for Burton and Depp being invloved with this...but why touch the original is beyond me.

they are either gonna fuck this up big time, or make a pure madness "om pa om pa om piddity umm" piece that finally makes me realize that. yes, in fact, they might possibly be the best actor/ director pair of this time.  Either way, I am thinkin' if you were ever gonna a pick a moment to try drugs in your life...this might be an ideal situation.

i agree, as PTA said on remakes, "My feeling about remakes is: Just rip it off. Don't call it a remake. Don't bastardize it. Just give it another title. Isn't re-creating and rehashing and ripping off and riffing off patterns that have already been created part of what we do? So just make it your own and call it something else. Without trying to insult anyone, and unfortunately Gwyneth is in this movie, I'm not sure about the thinking behind remaking Dial M for Murder. Do they think they can do it better? On second thought, maybe all those Hitchcock movies can be done better. Yeah. He's overrated, that Hitch guy."

Quote from: meatballa detached, supernatural beauty about depp?

o, come on. i like the guy but... no.

that's like a tiny frog sitting beside a nipple.

beauty.eye.

And frogs and nipples have their places too. A nipple on a leaf, a frog against a creamy white (male) breast.

Quote from: IHeartPTAi agree, as PTA said on remakes, "My feeling about remakes is: Just rip it off. Don't call it a remake. Don't bastardize it. Just give it another title. Isn't re-creating and rehashing and ripping off and riffing off patterns that have already been created part of what we do?

Yes, Paul.

QuoteSo just make it your own and call it something else. Without trying to insult anyone, and unfortunately Gwyneth is in this movie, I'm not sure about the thinking behind remaking Dial M for Murder. Do they think they can do it better? On second thought, maybe all those Hitchcock movies can be done better. Yeah. He's overrated, that Hitch guy."

{sigh} It doesn't have to be about better, or ratings. Doesn't anyone but me, and Gus Van Sant, understand that?

I understand. I am a closet Psycho 98 fan.

Quote from: budgieJohnny Depp is perfect, and will add the necessary other-worldliness with his supernatural beauty. There's a detachment about him that is perfect for Wonka, the same quality that Gene Wilder had, where you don't feel he's a threat to the kiddies but one of them in a parallel universe of unpolluted, sweet strangeness.

I disagree. As a natural performer with accepted qualities of physical beauty, he comes off as an average man of good looks. For most of his performances of playing something different, he has to work hard in changing his appearance in every way to achieve something else. If Depp didn't make this a priority, I'd imagined he'd be written off as another good looking guy doing some movies.

With Walken, I don't think he comes off as too scary at all for the kids. With most of his movies and characters, sure, but in a movie like Catch Me If You Can, I didn't see it. Also with the Fatboy Slim video. I just think he's been pigeonholed as a type of character and his own life is now seen through that. As a natural performer given lines, I think Walken sums up an "other worldiness" way more than Depp could. I classify Depp in normal circumstance as "attractive man who speaks in a tone of keeping it cool". Personally, budgie, I think you are tickled pink by Depp and a lil bias. But your argument still stands and like old times, I disagree.

~rougerum

Yeah I agree with GT and PTA. Depp wouldn't fit in a Wilder role. Wilder had a charm as Wonka that Depp can't match. So it's silly to do.. which leads me to PTA's quote. Just change it. Make it something fucked up that'll lead critics calling it "a dark Willy Wonka" or I dunno.. just not an obvious remake of the film. I probably won't go see it because I hate films being remade like that. Bad films, okay. Remake them; improve them. Classics like Willy Wonka (and Psycho) just shouldn't be touched.

I'm not going to make any comment on the remake of Psycho and I encourage everyone else not to do so as well. To all those who were not born on XIXAX at the time to witness the multiple arguments (yes, multiple) that were so long and explained out, let it be known the members in those arguments (they know who they are) still carry scars from them. Its not worth it. I'd rather someone of Mac's talent ship it into a redirect so everyone can read it themselves if they choose to. At your local bookstore, you could likely buy it book form for $10 to $20. The amount of words in the arguments could have made one.

~rougerum

My apologies. Seeing "I am a closet Psycho 98 fan." just forced me to make a small reference to it. Won't happen again...


Hopefully.....

Quote from: The Gold TrumpetI'm not going to make any comment on the remake of Psycho and I encourage everyone else not to do so as well. To all those who were not born on XIXAX at the time to witness the multiple arguments (yes, multiple) that were so long and explained out, let it be known the members in those arguments (they know who they are) still carry scars from them. Its not worth it. I'd rather someone of Mac's talent ship it into a redirect so everyone can read it themselves if they choose to. At your local bookstore, you could likely buy it book form for $10 to $20. The amount of words in the arguments could have made one.

I didn't realize it was quite such a lacerating experience for you or I would have drawn more blood. Thoughts of your scars almost tickle me as much as Mr. Depp. Yes, of course I think he's a peach, but that is how it goes after all. Nothing to do with him being physical though, everything to do with his inbetweenness: sexual and yet not, ethereal and yet earthy, male and female, never one type. Super-natural.

I contemplate an article inspired by our Psycho conversations (your lunatic raving, my appreciation), it's that worthy. It was on tv here a short time ago and I have to say I love it. Cinephile, closet-lover, tell budgie.

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wb b.

fuk! lu p.

I knew much couldn't come out of a Depp argument, its personal affection and can't be really debated, but just stated why. No scars really on the Psycho debate, just sarcasm and an interest in not letting someone roll right into another one. As fun and painstaking as they were, an easy going return to one even if not influenced by me would pull me in. I just want a warning before the next one.

But, Budgie, if you are writing an article and all on it and need some more info, give me a heads up and we can share knuckle marks to the face one more time.

~rougerum

Quote from: The Gold Trumpet
But, Budgie, if you are writing an article and all on it and need some more info, give me a heads up and we can share knuckle marks to the face one more time.

Gee thanks. Really it would depart from the movie and our conversations were just a jump off, but I might enjoy another bruising sometime for the pleasure.

Johnny Depp Talks Chocolate Factory
Source: Entertainment Weekly

While he's signed for a sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, one other project on Johnny Depp's mind is Tim Burton's adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

It's not a done deal, but Depp sees "Wonka" as the ultimate without-a-net challenge. "You'll never escape that memory that's seared into your consciousness of Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka," he admits. "It was really amazing to watch as a kid growing up, and I've watched it with my kids. So it's just, Okay, where do I go from there? Gene Wilder did something very beautiful and it's time to take it somewhere else."

Depp doubts that Burton will make him belt out musical numbers like Wilder did in the original, but he's not exactly opposed to the idea, either.

Quote from: MacGuffinGene Wilder did something very beautiful and it's time to take it somewhere else."

Oh and you know they'll take it somewhere else
unlike Gus Van--ah fuck the Psycho debate

But will they take it somewhere else just for the sake of taking it somewhere else?

I dunno. I just wonder where this remake can go. For me, Wonka is such a perfectly realized universe and set of performances, that I'm not sure I want to see a variation on the theme.

Nobody ever remake "The Wizard of Oz," did they?

I'm not saying that Wonka is as brilliant as Wizard, but I think it's just as unique.

Quote from: Find Your MagaliBut will they take it somewhere else just for the sake of taking it somewhere else?

I dunno. I just wonder where this remake can go. For me, Wonka is such a perfectly realized universe and set of performances, that I'm not sure I want to see a variation on the theme.

Nobody ever remake "The Wizard of Oz," did they?

I'm not saying that Wonka is as brilliant as Wizard, but I think it's just as unique.

http://imdb.com/title/tt0078504/

Quote from: Find Your MagaliNobody ever remake "The Wizard of Oz," did they?

Star Wars...

Quote from: tremolosloth

Quote from: Find Your MagaliBut will they take it somewhere else just for the sake of taking it somewhere else?

I dunno. I just wonder where this remake can go. For me, Wonka is such a perfectly realized universe and set of performances, that I'm not sure I want to see a variation on the theme.

Nobody ever remake "The Wizard of Oz," did they?

I'm not saying that Wonka is as brilliant as Wizard, but I think it's just as unique.

http://imdb.com/title/tt0078504/

Oh, dear lord, "The Wiz"

(1) I feel like an ass
(2) There goes the 20 years of therapy to block out the memory of that flick

:(

Burton on Chocolate Factory & Planet of the Apes 2
Source: Calgary Sun

The Calgary Sun talked to director Tim Burton who says he's unsure when Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will start.

"I have no idea when we'll begin on Willy. It will all depend on the script. I won't be tied down to a release date ever again." Burton says he chose Depp over actors like Michael Keaton because "he's always surprising and funny and right now he's a big star."

"Chocolate Factory" is being written by John August, who also wrote the screenplay for Burton's Big Fish.

Burton says he won't be involved in any sequel to his Planet of the Apes, which starred Mark Wahlberg. "No, no, no, never. After having made Batman Returns, I realized it's not a good idea for me to do sequels."

Quote from: Tim BurtonBurton says he chose Depp over actors like Michael Keaton because "he's always surprising and funny and right now he's a big star.

whats wrong with michael keaton?!?  he's not surprising and funny?  he's not a big enough star?!? who are you, the goddamn studio!?!?

Quote from: Tim BurtonNo, no, no, never. After having made Batman Returns, I realized it's not a good idea for me to do sequels.

WHATS WRONG WITH BATMAN RETURNS?!?!  uhh, tim i think you got it all wrong.  i think you need to realize after doing Planet of the Apes, its not a good idea for you to do REMAKES!!!  batman returns is classic, planet of the apes is junk!  whats wrong wiht you!??!

I wish it was Christopher Walken doing Willy Wonka, because I do such a great impression of him as Willy Wonka...it's really great. I'll be sure to have it whatever movie I post on Xixax someday.

I'd pay anything to see that in a theatre.

Quote from: CinephileI'd pay anything to see that in a theatre.

Which? Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Christopher Walken as Willy Wonka or my movie with me doing an impression of Christopher Walken as Willy Wonka?

Hmm. Either one, I guess.

this remake scares me. i love the original so much. it's so unique, and like most have said, you can't touch Wilder's performance (especially that intro on the red carpet). buttttttttt, if anyone touched it, i'm glad it's Burton/Depp.

i had read that Dahl was disappointed with the original. this surprises me since it lists him as the screenplay writer of the original.

so i ask this question to those who have read Dahl's original book:

How different was the film from the book? were there major characters/plots scrapped or added?

Tim Burton on His Version of Chocolate Factory
Source: Chicago Sun-Times Wednesday, December 3, 2003

Big Fish director Tim Burton talked to the Chicago Sun-Times about his upcoming Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, in which Johnny Depp will play Willy Wonka. Burton says while the 1971 Gene Wilder film was a bit on the sappy side, the new version won't be so much.

"Well, I don't want to crush people's childhood dreams, but the original film is sappy," Burton says. "It's sappy when it shouldn't be sappy and it's weird. Let's just say it's not one of my personal favorites. I'd rate 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' much higher."

Burton says he has wanted to do the remake for years. "I responded to the children's book because it respected that children can be adults, and I think adults forget that. There can be darkness and sort of foreboding. Very sinister things are very much a part of childhood. I like that sort of humor and emotion put together."

And why did he pick Depp, who has starred in various Burton films, for the role? "I just like working with him. He's always surprising and fun."

Quote from: themodernage02Burton says while the 1971 Gene Wilder film was a bit on the sappy side, the new version won't be so much...

"I responded to the children's book because it respected that children can be adults, and I think adults forget that. There can be darkness and sort of foreboding. Very sinister things are very much a part of childhood. I like that sort of humor and emotion put together."

Sounds like it's going to be a very dark film.

I was excited about this news at first, but for some reason when I hear Burton talk about it, I feel he should just leave the original be.

Yeah, he's dissing the original hardcore.  I don't recall it being THAT bad... :?

i think its a great story. i think now that it shouldnt be kept from being retold just because another version was already good, This will be different and at least its burton

Quote from: Duck SauceThis will be different and at least its burton

Planet of the Apes.

That's why I have much fear for this project.

yeah, it could blow like POTA or be worthwhile in its own new way.  but the original doesnt suck, so why an unneccesary remake?  its just a waste of his time when it'd bbe so much more interesting to see him doing fresh material: ed scissorhands, big fish (better rule).

has anyone ever read the book?

i just wondered how different the original movie was from the book. apparently Dahl was unhappy with it, but this confuses me since he wrote the screenplay

Quote from: bigideasapparently Dahl was unhappy with it, but this confuses me since he wrote the screenplay

maybe he wrote a dark script, with johnny depp in the lead. and they changed it all.

i read the book several times when i was little, although i dont know that i could recall any specifics now.

John C. Reilly? Not eccentric-looking enough, or skinny for that matter. Gene Wilder was the perfect Wonka. I found him so sexy and enigmatic. He also had a fatherly touch to him at times. I can't see Johnny Depp pulling it off. I prefer Christopher Walken!

foray

i read the book too, but havent seen the film in many many years. nothing really stood out as a big change

John August Penning Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Source: The Hollywood Reporter

John August, who wrote the current Tim Burton film Big Fish, is reteaming with the director to write the script for Warner Bros. Pictures' Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Johnny Depp is attached to star in the remake of the 1971 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and the studio is keen on getting the project before cameras early next year.

Scott Frank, Gwyn Lurie and Pamela Pettler previously wrote drafts of the "Charlie" script, but August is said to be starting from scratch by heading back to the original source material, the Roald Dahl classic novel. August also wrote the two "Charlie's Angels" films.

Three Charlie movies...weird. Tom Green would make a great Oompa Loompa.  :lol:

Johnny Depp rocks the hizzy.  I was always pulling for him to get the role (how do you think he got it?  ME).

I remember reading that Tim Burton wasn't always attached to POTA, and he came in fairly late, or at least later than ideal, and some people say that's partially why it wasn't so great -- he didn't get to put his heart into it.  Though he wasn't the first person attached to Big Fish either, so I dunno.

My g/f has the book, I'm hoping to read it soon.

I think they should have Gene Wilder as Grandpa, and, as someone else in a different board suggested, when he walks into the factory, he says "This all seems familiar..."

Badump CHING!

I wouldn't mind seeing Walken as Grandpa, either.  That'd be pretty cool.  But I want some hardcore child-acting.  That'd be awesome.  But I was (and still am) scared enough of the original one.  I can't wait for this one.

Freddie Highmore Visits the Chocolate Factory
Source: Variety

Variety has now confirmed that Johnny Depp's young J.M. Barrie's Neverland co-star Freddie Highmore was also cast in Depp's upcoming Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which Tim Burton is directing. Highmore also stars in the upcoming British film Five Children and It.

In "Chocolate Factory," he plays the poverty-stricken boy who stumbles across one of the five golden tickets that wins an exclusive tour of Willy Wonka's mysterious chocolate factory. The other four winners are grotesque brats who get their comeuppance in the course of the tour, leaving Charlie to become Mr. Wonka's heir.

Johnny Depp plays Willy Wonka with shooting starting this summer at London's Pinewood Studios.

TIM BURTON CASTS "GRANDPA JOE" FOR HIS "FACTORY"
Source: HollywoodReporter

The Hollywod Reporter reports that "Waking Ned Devine" star, David Kelly has been cast for the role of Grandpa Joe in Tim Burton's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" for Warner Bros. Pictures.

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.joblo.com%2Fnewsimages1%2Fnews-depp-wonka1.jpg&hash=ea835b4056a48212325dc1d1937c4d224645a818)

First pic of Depp as Wonka

That could easily just be him on a saturday night.

Quote from: EEz28(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.joblo.com%2Fnewsimages1%2Fnews-depp-wonka1.jpg&hash=ea835b4056a48212325dc1d1937c4d224645a818)

First pic of Depp as Wonka

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.geocities.com%2Fevelinous%2FImage.jpg&hash=4a9db375de6256adb882469ebd096b9116f1c02e)

Second pic of Depp as Wonka

First Poster

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dtheatre.com%2Fstory_images%2Fp-wonka.jpg&hash=18cf60ea7ccfedfb0b9daf02c527fb4fc88ad623)

question: why did the filmmakers enlist a chimp to do the art work?

Quote from: mogwaiquestion: why did the filmmakers enlist a chimp to do the art work?

Because the marketing dept. is bananas.

the coloring is creepy.

I like it.  *shrug*

Depp looks like Michael Jackson...(insert joke about fudge here)

Yes, unlike the Episode III poster, I think this is a pretty great marketing image. It's just about perfect.

Quote from: Gamblor geht weg....(insert joke about fudge here)

he loves it.

More pics here:

http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=18786

Depp looks perfect. The kids look mostly the same. The Oompa Loompas look like Ronnie Rocket.

AICN seems to have taken off the page  :cry:

But at least I got to see the pictures.  Anyone save them?  I loved Depp as Wonka, I can't wait!

Here they are:

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv167%2Fdriftofftosleep%2Fwonka3.jpg&hash=2edf23afb0e44ba3171fc3292c04bfa775f42ef9)

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv167%2Fdriftofftosleep%2Fwonka2.jpg&hash=f38da14f300f2f449d8614a0a3198c8324842ec7)

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv167%2Fdriftofftosleep%2Foompa.jpg&hash=5e90cccf53cfa997df246c40528cb724e93c12b2)

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv167%2Fdriftofftosleep%2Fviolet1.jpg&hash=cda821897e40e5bac0194d8b36f9130df2b28c78)

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv167%2Fdriftofftosleep%2Fveruca.jpg&hash=f89de0a565ff165ba326fd4397a3c1683d6a63ca)

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv167%2Fdriftofftosleep%2Faugustus1.jpg&hash=f94f7a2b2245200447544a9528d5f11b128c09c5)

I think the similarities to the original film are obvious.  The costume design is still very 70's, so I think Burton's not letting on as much as he claims.

Mmmmmmmmm, I like...

Thank you Sal!

My two cents: Utterly pointless remake.

Burton remains an enigma to me.

Quote from: SalI think the similarities to the original film are obvious.  The costume design is still very 70's, so I think Burton's not letting on as much as he claims.

Looking at these stills I wish Burton had reimagined the costume design, but maybe the film itself will be different.  Otherwise what's the point of a remake?

Quote from: Find Your MagaliMy two cents: Utterly pointless remake.

Johnny Depp is in it, therefore it's not pointless.



8)

Trailer at AICN...

http://www.aint-it-cool.com/display.cgi?id=18971

It looks weird....I really dont know about Depp, it looks like he can't pull it off. His makeup is creepy looking.

Yeah it looks like Tim Burton is trying to make a dark version of Willy Wonka. I'm predicting it would be anything brilliant or outstanding, but it might be interesting just to see.

You guys are nuts. This looks absoultely Burton-eriffic.

Teaser Poster:
http://chocolatefactorymovie.warnerbros.com/images/teaser_onesheet.jpg

Apparently Martin Scorsese was thinking about directing this at one point. It would've been really interesting to see his take on the story.

Yeah, got that poster on page 8.

Interesting campaign approach - "See the movie Martin Scorsese rejected to make some movie about planes."

I still don't know what to think just because I'm such a huge fan of the original.  This movie looks more focused on Willy Wonka than even the first movie, despite the title change.  Do you think that this movie will have the patience to wait 45 minutes before unveiling Depp?  Maybe it's just how they decided to market it... but you barely even see Charlie in the trailer.

wow. this looks really great. i was very skeptical of this at first, but now i'm very looking forward to it.

Quote from: bonanzatazwow. this looks really great. i was very skeptical of this at first, but now i'm very looking forward to it.

yes, this looks insane.  i'm a little worried about Depps acting from the trailer but the trailer itself is boss.

what happened when you clicked on the AICN link?
it looked like mine started to download, but it didn't play.
then i went to yahoo and play the 56k wmp, but it was just like watching a slide show with music.

Quote from: themodernage02yes, this looks insane.  i'm a little worried about Depps acting from the trailer but the trailer itself is boss.

actually, i was really worried about depp's acting before the trailer. i thought he was going to do his usual, overacting, annoying thing that he can sometimes do (pirates, anyone?), but then i saw him and he just looked so weird and funny and quietly creepy. i think he'll do a fine job.

Quote from: bigideaswhat happened when you clicked on the AICN link?
it looked like mine started to download, but it didn't play.
then i went to yahoo and play the 56k wmp, but it was just like watching a slide show with music.

Go here. (http://movies.yahoo.com/movies/feature/charlieandthechocolatefactoryqt.html)

that trailer for that chocolate movie just freaked me right out

that was interesting...

Quote from: russiasushathat trailer for that chocolate movie just freaked me right out

Had the same, ever seen Depp so freaky? :shock:

Depp's got his Ed Wood teeth back in I see.

thanks mac.
hmmm, the original film had tons of quotes from literature. i didn't know it until i watched the dvd with subtitles. unfortunately it still doesn't subtitle what Wonka says in German. anyone know?
anywho, this looks insane.
i haven't read the book so i don't know if most of the dialogue in the original film was taken from the book or made up. i do know there is no Slugworth in Dahl's book.

Well, whatever Burton's doing, that trailer made me a lot more interested in it. The fears I had of Depp doing his slightly-out-of-touch character routine, were put to rest by the already mentioned freaky make-up. Whatever he does, it'll make it a bit more interesting, if only to see him act underneath a slightly different face. Here's to hoping Burton goes Roal Dahl-crazy and decides to adapt all the big ones; they're made for each other.

I hope this movies rated r.

Very creepy. It's like the older lady with too much perfume who wants to smother you with hugs and kisses.

i guess mike tevee now plays video games instead of wanting a gun.
"not till your 12, son."

I fear for Johnny Depp these days.   He seems to be taking the outlandish roles that have now become predictable.  I don't know if that will work for me in a movie where I already know what is going to happen.  We will see soon enough I guess

Quote from: artfagI fear for Johnny Depp these days.   He seems to be taking the outlandish roles that have now become predictable.  I don't know if that will work for me in a movie where I already know what is going to happen.  We will see soon enough I guess

well he can't do any worse than 'The Astronaut's Wife'

A nuttier 'Chocolate'
Tim Burton thinks the 1971 'Willy Wonka' was too sweet. So the cranky filmmaker is revisiting the book of Oompa-Loompas and Gobstoppers. Source: Los Angeles Times

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Tim Burton manages nearly every possible filmmaking trick in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory": a candy palace that melts, a single Oompa-Loompa who's cinematically cloned into a fleet of miniature workers and specially trained squirrels that crack walnuts on cue. There's just one thing the director can't control on this fall morning: the dreary English weather.

Burton and "Charlie" star Johnny Depp have been working inside Pinewood Studios for four months on their version of Roald Dahl's children's masterpiece, and now the production has relocated outdoors to the studio's back lot. The day's scene calls for 500 extras to watch the five lucky winners of Willy Wonka's golden ticket giveaway run into his secretive candy factory.

The day dawned clear, but by midmorning clouds are barreling across the sky, yielding in the span of a minute either brilliant sunlight or dark gloom. Cinematographer Philippe Rousselot nervously eyes the scattered skies, looking for an opening to film the sequence in even light.

"We have three minutes," he calls out, as the sun emerges.

Burton orders his cast and crew to their places, and the scene begins. But before the gates to Wonka's factory have had time to open, a huge cloud blocks the sun. For the fourth consecutive time, Burton can't complete the take.

The director slams his microphone to the ground and storms off, swearing. A few people look at the cursed cloud, but most stare down, as if investigating their shoelaces. The sunlight vigil begins again.

As it turns out, clouds are only a portent of their problems. Minutes later, it starts to pour.

"It's so frustrating. We were all about to kill each other," Burton says later, having regained his composure and moved on to a scene that doesn't require sunlight. "You go through so many weather patterns that one day feels like about a week. But I'd rather go through that sort of torment than other types of torment."

That Burton is even making the movie, weather problems and all, represents a triumph of sorts. The pairing of Burton and Depp, the director's leading man in four previous collaborations, including "Ed Wood" and "Sleepy Hollow," would seem a no-brainer. But it has taken forever for "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," due in theaters July 15, to get this far.

Its evolution spans nearly a decade and includes numerous false starts, protracted negotiations, a contemplated and postponed Broadway musical, half a dozen screenwriters, and here-today, gone-tomorrow Wonka casting ideas, with prospects including Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler.

At the center of the film's twisted journey stands Dahl's widow. Much as J.K. Rowling guards her "Harry Potter" books, Liccy Dahl was determined to protect her late husband's literary legacy. But unlike Rowling, Liccy was able to bargain for explicit approval rights with Warner Bros. over all of the film's key creative talent and exercised that power repeatedly. She personally interviewed screenwriters, dined with actors and once blocked a directing choice proposed by the studio, "Bruce Almighty" filmmaker Tom Shadyac.

"It was a long fight," Liccy says from Buckinghamshire, England, where Roald's writing hut still stands. "But it pays to wait."

'CHARLIE' VS. 'WILLY'

It's not as simple a question as whether you like your chocolate with peanuts or without: Was the first "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" a movie landmark? Or a muddled misfire?

People inside Hollywood are divided over Mel Stuart's original adaptation, and the negative sentiment runs particularly deep on the set of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." Burton has called the 1971 movie "sappy," and his principal screenwriter, John August, says the film's relation to Roald's book is akin to "seeing 'West Side Story' after reading 'Romeo and Juliet.' "

Roald was "disappointed" by the film, Liccy says. While not originally a box-office hit, it nevertheless has proved remarkably enduring. "It's loved worldwide, and it's become a cult hit," she says.

That lasting appeal is mostly because of its celebrated performance by Gene Wilder as a mercurial Wonka, which continues to cast a long shadow.

"Regardless of what one thinks of that film, Gene Wilder's persona, his character, stands out," Depp says, relaxing in a candy store set, watching the skies. "It was brilliant but subtle. So that scares the crap out of you. Those are big shoes. So the only way to go is back to the book and try to figure out what Roald Dahl had in his head, and then make a series of left turns. And those left turns were to go as far away from Gene Wilder's interpretation as possible."

Burton wants to make his own kinds of departures too, and they are not limited to his dreaming up a Viking motif for Wonka's chocolate-river-navigating boat. More than anything else, the director wants to get as much of Roald's book as possible on screen.

"Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" undeniably left a fair amount of its source material behind. There is neither a visit to the book's whangdoodle-infested jungles of Loompaland, nor a glimpse of Prince Pondicherry's melting chocolate palace. With only $3 million to spend, Stuart also ditched Roald's nut-cracking squirrels, opting instead for a golden egg-laying goose.

Without the financial constraints faced by Stuart (thanks to European production credits, the film's net budget is about $150 million), Burton and his production team not only visited Loompaland and Pondicherry but also taught each of 40 squirrels how to sit upon a little blue bar stool, tap and then open a walnut, and deposit its meat onto a conveyor belt. In a regimen that would exhaust even Hilary Swank, the squirrels trained every day for 10 weeks before filming commenced. They began their coaching while newborns, fed by bottles to form relationships with human trainers.

"When we first read the script, we had our doubts, as Tim was very specific about what he wanted the squirrels to do," says animal trainer Michael Alexander. As Alexander speaks, several dozen of the film's squirrels jump somersaults in their cages. "They're not really good at taking verbal commands. And you have to acclimate them to a stage, and lights, and hearing things. They tend to panic."

By the time the cameras rolled, however, Alexander's schooling had taken, and the squirrels were ready for their close-ups.

Yet faithfulness to the book proved to create almost as many problems as it did opportunities. Roald's unsentimental 1964 novel tells of a poor boy named Charlie Bucket who is among a handful of children who find tickets inviting them to tour the cloistered Wonka's factory. Once admitted, the children and their parents witness all variety of wonders, including the diminutive Oompa-Loompas, but they also encounter any number of misfortunes under the guidance of their sometimes derisive host.

The novel is both a wild fantasy and a fable about greed, gluttony and pride. "It was not necessarily a politically correct book, which is what I and other certain kids liked," Burton says. "It was one of the first times you had children's literature that was a bit more sophisticated and dealt with darker issues and feelings. It's become a bit more commonplace now, but back then, when it was more of 'See Jane Run,' it felt like more of a rarity."

There are narrative issues, though. Charlie triumphs in Roald's book not by doing anything virtuous; he is merely the only kid who fails in doing something bad. Roald furthermore offers only fleeting character information, with just a quick clue about why Wonka became a Howard Hughes-style recluse. In Hollywood speak, Wonka has no "character arc."

Stuart's movie made one key departure from Roald's plot. It greatly expanded the character of Slugworth, who enlists the film's children as candy spies, urging them to poach Wonka's most important creation yet, the Everlasting Gobstopper. When at the end of the 1971 film Charlie returns his Gobstopper to Wonka, the candy maker, quoting Shakespeare, says to the young boy, "And so shines a good deed in a weary world." Charlie has restored Wonka's faith and has won his factory.

Burton and August didn't want to copy that embellishment. Indeed, they had to simultaneously disassociate themselves from the earlier adaptation, try to remain true to the book and, says August, "figure out how Willy Wonka got to be who he got to be."

Their answer had something to do with dentistry.

REALITY A CORE VALUE

"PEOPLE don't cross the street like that! What are they doing?," Burton complains to one of his assistant directors. It's earlier on the same day that Burton fights and loses to the clouds, and now he's battling a different force of nature: disorganized background performers.

For all the film's artificiality and style, the 46-year-old director wants some of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" to be anchored in reality. For instance, the clothes for Charlie Bucket, played by Freddie Highmore, Depp's costar in best picture nominee "Finding Neverland," don't fit and are filled with holes. That's how a poor person would look. And when Burton's extras cross the street, the director reasons, they should walk like real people, not automatons. "It's unbelievable," he mutters.

There's but one background player whose performance is winning the director's heart: his year-old son, Billy, who sits in a pram pushed by his mother, Helena Bonham Carter, who costars as Mrs. Bucket.

After staging the scene a number of times, Burton finally gets his extras to walk the proper way. Then he's off to the gates of Wonka's factory.

"You wouldn't think it would be that hard," producer Brad Grey, who after filming was completed was named the new chairman and chief executive officer at Paramount Pictures, says during a break in shooting. "It's such a simple book."

Grey's not talking about the background players. He's referring to the movie's lengthy itinerary. Warner Bros. spent half a dozen years sewing up "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" rights, and Liccy spent an equal length of time supervising the development of its script.

"Always my main concern in making any film based on Roald's books was the screenplay," Liccy says. "I think definitely the skeleton of the script must stick to the book, but [the failed scripts] almost tried too hard to stick to the book. It's a terrible task for a screenwriter."

Roald's movie track record is more mixed than his publishing performance. Despite some good reviews, 1996's "James and the Giant Peach," which Burton produced, wasn't a big hit, and neither was that year's "Matilda." Wes Anderson, the filmmaker behind "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou," is now developing a movie based on Roald's "The Fantastic Mr. Fox."

Among the people who tried but ultimately were unable to adapt "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" were screenwriter Scott Frank ("Minority Report") and director Gary Ross ("Seabiscuit"). They at least got a chance to try; others never met with Liccy's approval. Warner Bros., she says, "would suggest a director, and we would say, 'No, no, please, no.' And then up came Tim and Johnny, and that was it. Tim was the first and only director over whom we were all happy."

One person close to the production says Liccy was "reticent" to approve the 41-year-old Depp but was won over after meeting him at a charity dinner. Burton similarly almost didn't get the gig.

Warner Bros. wanted a filmmaker with a light, populist touch. Unlike the millions of young readers who buy every "Harry Potter" installment, there is not a huge core Roald Dahl audience waiting for one of his movies to land in the multiplex.

Warner Bros. President Alan Horn wanted "Bruce Almighty's" Shadyac to direct the film. His movie comedies, especially those starring Carrey, are consistently successful, and the studio believed Shadyac could make "Charlie" relevant to teen audiences. Only after Liccy nixed that choice did the studio turn to Burton.

Burton faced his own obstacles. While usually a favorite of critics, his movies are not reliable blockbusters. His 2001 remake of "Planet of the Apes," while all the rage with ticket buyers, was savaged by critics and killed off 20th Century Fox's plans to revive the franchise. What's more, Horn feared Burton might be too dark for Roald's words.

A meeting between Horn and Burton was arranged, and in walked Burton, dressed in his trademark outfit: black pants, black shirt, black coat, black sunglasses and black beret. Burton nevertheless got the job.

CLEAR ON THE CONCEPT

"IN a way, it's like 'Edward Scissorhands,' but with a more industrial look," says production designer Alex McDowell ("The Terminal," "Minority Report").

Burton's creative team has tried to marry the book's suggested designs with the filmmaker's peculiar sense of style, including his signature curlicues. The architecture of the Bucket family home was influenced by Burton's visit to Roald's writing hut.

Like the book, the film is not set in a specific time, nor a specific country: It might be Philadelphia, or it might be London. "We've tried not to pinpoint it to any place," McDowell says. "The cars, in fact, drive down the middle of the road." The town, whose design was shaped by the black and white urban photography of Bill Brandt, is arranged like a medieval village, with lord Wonka's estate on top and the poor Bucket shack below.

The boat, on the other hand, floats down a realistic chocolate river filled with 192,000 gallons of faux melted candy. "Having seen the first film, we wanted to make the chocolate river look edible," McDowell says. "In the first film, it's so distasteful." The production first considered a computer-generated river, but Burton was sold on the artificial goo when he saw how it clung to his Viking boat's oars. Nine shades of chocolate were tested before the filmmakers settled on the proper hue.

The art department also invented a blend that was nontoxic, so that Augustus Gloop could safely make his fateful plunge, although a camera that fell into the stuff didn't come out as unscathed as the young boy. (After a while, the concoction began smelling — "a cross between a sewer and a spoiled refrigerator," Burton says — and had to be siphoned off.)

The Oompa-Loompas remain, although their songs, spanning a variety of musical genres, are new, written by screenwriter August and frequent Burton composer Danny Elfman ("Mars Attacks!," "Sleepy Hollow"). All of the Oompa-Loompas will be played by one man, Deep Roy, who costarred in Burton's "Big Fish." Roy's performance will be reproduced through various movie tricks to create a mass of similar-looking factory workers.

While their third act departs from Roald's work, Burton and August believe their adaptation is more faithful than the first film. "I've adapted a lot of books," says August, whose credits include "Big Fish" and who as an 8-year-old wrote a fan letter to Roald (which the author answered). "And this is the only book were I could highlight en- tire sentences and say, 'I can use that exactly as it is.' "

All the same, Burton and August realized they had some scenes and characters to invent. "The book didn't give a place for [Willy] to go in the end," August says. "We needed to see where he came from in order to see where he wanted to go."

The two thus created a back story about Wonka's domineering dentist father. Dr. Wilbur Wonka DDS outfits his young son in torturous orthodontics and burns his son's entire bag of Halloween sweets in the fireplace. Willy's forbidden fruit, not surprisingly, eventually becomes his passion. And while he now has all the candy in the world, Willy has grown estranged from his dad.

"This is not meant to be a tear-jerker or an emotionally enveloping story," says producer Richard Zanuck. "It does have those elements, but that's not what it's about. It's pure entertainment, great visuals, Tim Burton at his imaginative best."

Perhaps the most jarring choice of Burton's "imaginative best" is Depp's appearance as Wonka, which has caused the most reaction in previews. With his oversized teeth and bobbed hair, he looks a bit like an asexual Anna Wintour, with a touch of Oscar Wilde.

"I did not know what the character was going to be, fully, until after the first take. You don't know what the thing is going to look like," Depp says. "I knew what I wanted him to sound like, to be like. But you don't really get the chance to be it until you're in the ring."

Although he appears relaxed, Depp is nonetheless nervous about his interpretation. "I don't want to do any damage to this great character Roald Dahl has created and have his widow say, 'Johnny Depp has ruined it!' "

Burton betrays no such anxiety. He says that while he knew he was in dangerous waters remaking "Planet of the Apes," which he calls a "classic," he feels less concerned tackling "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

"There are people who love ['Willy Wonka'], but it's such a different type of movie. It's not to me a classic. That will upset some people, because they love that original movie, but that's fine. It's available on DVD at your local video store."

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As usual, a quality post from McG.  :yabbse-thumbup:

Tim's looking a little long in the tooth in that picture.

I'm trying not to look forward to this.  I know it's probably not going to be another Planet of the Apes, but still...

As I've said elsewhere, I am absolutely GEEKED about this movie.  Loved the book as a kid, and the film is still one of my favorites.  Burton's snotty attitude to the old film makes me laugh; if I hadn't grown up loving that movie so much, I might not be the Burton fan I am today.  

And can I say THREE CHEERS for Liccy Dahl for faithfully defending the chocolate factory all these years??

here-today, gone-tomorrow Wonka casting ideas, with prospects including Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler

I would have killed myself.  

Horn wanted "Bruce Almighty's" Shadyac to direct the film.[...] the studio believed Shadyac could make "Charlie" relevant to teen audiences.

I'd have killed myself and made damn sure Tom Shadyac went with me.  

2LB

QuoteShowbiz Reporter

MADCAP movie-maker Tim Burton blew millions on new film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory — training squirrels to crack nuts.

The Batman director was determined to recreate the "nut room" scene in Roald Dahl's novel for his movie starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.

He spent six months teaching the 200 rodents to crack hazelnuts, sort them and load them on a conveyor belt.

He then spent ANOTHER ten weeks filming the scene at London's Pinewood Studios.

Burton, 46, said: "We used actual rodents. From birth, we sent them to training school for six months."

The 1971 film version of Dahl's bizarre book — Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory — did not have any animals in the scene.

But a source said: "Tim was determined to bring the nut room to life. Using squirrels proved too difficult in the first film, but he spent millions of pounds getting it right."

Burton spared no expense on the movie, in which Depp plays factory boss Willy.

He also created a chocolate river and an 80ft chocolate waterfall.

QuoteShowbiz Reporter

MADCAP movie-maker Tim Burton blew millions on new film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory — training squirrels to crack nuts.

they don't say if it worked or not. so i wouldn't say he blew it..

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Quote from: BethieMADCAP movie-maker Tim Burton blew millions on new film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory — training squirrels to crack nuts.

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Violet looks like a young Natalie Portman. :shock:

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i liked that image more when it said to me: 'very bad cunt'

The more and more I see/read/hear about this movie, the less excited I get. And I wasn't too excited to begin with.

there's something terrible about the Charlie poster. i'll report back if i figure it out.

it's cool that they now have custom ranks in hollywood posters.

Quote from: picolasthere's something terrible about the Charlie poster. i'll report back if i figure it out.

His Bill Cosby sweater?

Quote from: Bethie

Quote from: picolasthere's something terrible about the Charlie poster. i'll report back if i figure it out.

His Bill Cosby sweater?

hahaha exactly.

Quote from: picolasthere's something terrible about the Charlie poster. i'll report back if i figure it out.

He's supposed to be the nice one, and his eyes are just as evil as the rest. That and the Sideways-esque airbrushing.

New Trailer here. (http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/charliechocolatefactory/)

Quote from: MacGuffinNew Trailer

depp has two faces in that trailer.

and this is prolly the first time i've ever liked the score in a trailer, right about when the narrator is saying "only one will fondle his heart" there starts a quick little ditty that goes through to nearly the end. is that stolen from sumwhere, or an elfman original?

why is he acting like ace ventura and mike myers

because he's a mimic

That was really a strange but great trailer (high expectations are sinking in) and there were two shots that reminded me of him playing Hunter S. Thompson, the shots where he is in the forest with that jungle hat on.

Quote from: mbecause he's a mimic

Who isn't?

'Cause they're my only news source besides MacGuff: Twitch Film! (http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/002223.html)

Wilder to Wonka: It's all about the bling-bling!

You had to expect this to happen. Gene Wilder dealt a blow against the Tim Burton remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

He calls the remake, "Pointless... It's all about money. It's just some people sitting around thinking 'How can we make some more money?' Why else would you remake Willy Wonka? I don't see the point of going back and doing it all over again. I like Johnny Depp, and I appreciate that he has said on record that my shoes will be hard to fill. But I don't know how it will all turn out."

I can understand his point. After a time any movie fan themselves will gripe and bitch about who is remaking what and what are they doing that is different from the original. Can you blame the actors that starred in them? I watched the original CatCF on TV on the weekend by chance. Wilder is brilliant in it! It is a classic!

But despite Wilder's feelings, Time Burton insists his film will be closer to the original Dahl novel, than Wilder's musical version. Having not read the book I cannot comment on that. I wouldn't know how different the original film was from the book.

Fans of the book and the original movie will go and see CatCF, or not, and make up their own minds.

Quote from: ranemaka13Fans of the book and the original movie will go and see CatCF, or not, and make up their own minds.

well that was a completely necessary thing to say..

One film is about Willy Wonka and the other is about Charlie. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Tim Burton's a much more faithful adaptation of the work?

I don't know, I don't think anyone here has seen it yet..

Quote from: MyxomatosisOne film is about Willy Wonka and the other is about Charlie. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Tim Burton's a much more faithful adaptation of the work?

supposedly more faithful, but then they are adding all this wonka backstory about his dad so i doubt it.  perhaps more faithful in tone to the dahl book.  i dont think the other film was about wonka more though, it was a just a title change.  if anything, this looks to be more about wonka, but again, nobody has seen it yet.

The original wasn't all that unfaithful - I think they're just using that excuse to justify the remake to the public.

I really love a lot of the content of that trailer -- the visuals are classic Burton (and there's also a lovely shot that looks like it's ripped off from Episode III) --but it also leads me to believe that Johnny Depp is either going to be really creepy/dark in the role, or really annoying. Here's hoping for the former.

I enjoy the 2001 gag in the trailer and the look of the film looks fun, but it still doesn't look very good.

i don't know what 'look' means anymore.

Quote from: SHAFTRI enjoy the 2001 gag in the trailer and the look of the film looks fun, but it still doesn't look very good.

first look = aesthetic

second look = appear to be

third look  :shock:

Quote from: Pubrickthird look  :shock:

ugh, same as 2nd.

ugh, it was a joke from the beginning.

If you can't see the pic... (http://worldpeace.com/monolith.jpg)

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Yes, that was the part of the trailer that I enjoyed very much.

This looks much better than I expected, but it's still going to be bad.

Charlie And The Chocolate Factory Meets Danny Elfman
Oingo Boingo madman maintains his ongoing collaboration with Tim Burton.
 
Noted Hollywood composer Danny Elfman, who has maintained a long-standing professional relationship with director Tim Burton, continues his collaborative efforts by supplying the music to the upcoming film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Elfman's score to the film, which will be released by Warner Sunset Records on July 12th, 2005, just three days prior to the film's release, marks the 11th time that he and Burton have worked together.

For the film Elfman not only composed the entire film score, but also wrote the original song "Wonka's Welcome Song" (Elfman wrote the music and co-wrote the lyrics with screenwriter John August). Elfman has also wrote the music for four additional songs that feature lyrics based on elements of Roald Dahl's classic book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory book by Roald Dahl. These four songs will be the first time since The Nightmare Before Christmas that Elfman has sung the lyrics to some of his songs.

The four tracks in question will be Oompa-Loompa songs about four of the children who win tickets to tour Willy Wonka's incredible chocolate factory: "Augustus Gloop," "Violet Beauregarde," "Mike Teavee," and "Veruca Salt" set the mood for this visually stylistic film.

"The great part of working with Tim on the music was that he kept throwing me off center by suggesting different styles of music that I wasn't expecting. His ideas have so often led me to places that I wouldn't have thought of, but remain my favorites. In particular on the songs for Charlie, Tim and I worked very closely together and the challenge was to give each song for each child their own distinct feel," explains Elfman. ""Augustus Gloop" was inspired by big brassy Bollywood production pieces; "Violet Beauregarde," the gum-chewer, threw back to a retro 70's funk feel; "Mike Teavee," needed something frenetic and hyperactive like he is, the short attention spanvideo game rock kid; and "Veruca Salt" who goes down the garbage chute has lyrics about fish heads."

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Someone as beautiful, rich and famous Johnny Depp usually gets my blood boiling just from his existence, but his brilliant turns in some of my favorite films such as Ed Wood, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and now Charlie and the Chocolate Factory have changed all that. Also the fact that we got to go a press junket in the Bahamas because he is shooting both Pirates of the Caribbean sequels there didn’t hurt either.

Depp is a very soft spoken man who litters his speech with humor and goodwill and he was a pleasure to meet. He is very friendly even when many of the journalists were crowding him and surprising him with flash photography.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is the most faithful adaptation of a Roald Dahl novel ever onscreen. In fact, Dahl is even credited with the lyrics to the Oompa-Loompa songs.

Daniel Robert Epstein: Was it your idea to do this junket in the Bahamas?

Johnny Depp: No, I wish that I could take credit for it. It just so happened that we were doing Pirates [of the Caribbean] part two and three so it worked out that the dates were going to be all down around in this area. They said, “Well, why not do the press junket there?” I said, “Okay, done fine.” I just figured that everyone would enjoy that, too.

DRE: You worked with Tim Burton on two projects at the same time, The Corpse Bride and Charlie. How was that?

JD: It was very interesting because when we were doing Charlie, Tim came to me and said, “I have this other thing that I'm thinking about doing. It's a stop motion thing. I'd like to give you a script. Take a look and tell me what you think.” I read the script and I thought that it was amazing and brilliant. But I had no idea that he was going to be doing them simultaneously. He literally would leave the set of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and go into the recordings and the stop motion things. It's an incredible energy that he has. For me it was really strange. I'd literally leave the stage from playing Wonka and then have to go and find this other character on the walk to the studio. Though anything with Tim is always just a blast.

DRE: Why are you both drawn to such quirky characters?

JD: One thing that Tim and I share is a kind of fascination with the human animal. I think that we also share the idea that most people in life, especially the ones who are considered super normal, if you really take a step back and observe them and watch them a bit, you'll realize that they're actually completely out of their minds. Most people are really nuts and that's fascinating to me. I think that Tim feels the same way.

I just love and respect Tim so much that I would do anything with him. The thing that I most enjoy about our relationship, our friendship, is that there's a lot of trust. One minute he and I are talking very deeply about Captain Kangaroo and then the next thing I know, we're doing impersonations of Sammy Davis Jr. and Charles Nelson Riley. We can go anywhere.

DRE: You’re very open about who was the inspiration for your character in Pirates of the Caribbean. Was there anyone who was the model for Wonka?

JD: On this, there wasn't specifically any one or two guys that were models for the character. But there were memories that I have as a little kid watching children's shows and children show hosts. I distinctly remember, even at that age, thinking that their speech pattern and the kind of musical quality of the way that they were speaking to the camera and to the children that I thought was really strange. Guys that I watched like Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Rogers and all of these guys became that main part of the ingredient. Then also game show hosts that I remember seeing and watching and thinking, “My God, they can't be like that at home. They can't actually be like that.” That led me to believe that they put on a mask in a way, that all important positive smile. That was the other side of Wonka. Then doing stuff for the look of Wonka was incredibly important. It was important to put that costume on and click those veneers into my mouth for the teeth which actually changed the shape of my face a little bit.

DRE: Which of the children in the movie are your children most like?

JD: I think that they'd both be closer to Charlie and his personality. Luckily the kids are pretty well balanced and not monster like at all.

DRE: How about you as a child?

JD: I'd like to think that I was like Charlie, but I don't think I was, as my mom uses a term, “a hellion.” I wasn't obnoxious or precocious, but I was curious. There were a lot of practical jokes and things like that. I got on her nerves basically. I pissed her off quite frequently.

DRE: How was it working with the kids in Wonka?

JD: Freddie [Highmore] is pretty impressive. The first thing that struck me about Freddie when I met him on Finding Neverland was his eyes. It wasn't just because they're these piercing beautiful blue eyes, but there's a purity in Freddie that is astonishing. It's mesmerizing and it is like he's incapable of lying or telling a lie. Then you get to work with him and you see what his abilities are as an actor, which are endless. Beyond all of the great things that Freddie is, he wants to play football. He goes on vacations with his family and he plays games and he's just a really normal, very well grounded kid.

DRE: Did you get to know the Oompa-Loompa man himself, Deep Roy?

JD: He's a ball and a real force to be reckoned with. I started calling him the hardest working man in show business. I'd see him on a Tuesday, Deep Roy and he'd be in his red outfit and then on the Wednesday he'd be in his blue outfit and then on Thursday the white one and then on Friday he's dressed up as like this 80's metal star. He was all over the place and just incredible.

DRE: The flashbacks Wonka has to the memories of his father were not in the original novel, how do you think they deepened the character?

JD: The first thing that I thought was that it was very brave of [screenwriter] John August and Tim to make that decision but still be able to keep it in the spirit of Roald Dahl's intent. That was no small undertaking and in terms of cinema that's a great tool. It's a beautiful luxury that you have as an actor because it explains a lot of where Wonka comes from. But for an audience it gives you a little bit more insight to what this guy is and how he's become what he's become.

DRE: You’ve gotten Oscar nominations two years in a row, would you like to get another for this film?

JD: It’s not something that I think about everyday because I try not to think about that kind of stuff. I'm really flattered and honored that I've been able to get the nominations and various awards that I ended up getting. That was like totally unexpected and shocking to me. In fact that's sort of enough for me. The nominations are fine. I don't need more. I don't really want to go up in front of all those people and say thanks. That just scares the shit out of me. It would be nice, but I don't need it.

DRE: On the new Pirates movie sets, is there pressure since you are following up such a big hit?

JD: What was weird was that we didn't quite know what to expect before we went back into Pirates. A lot of things had happened. Orlando [Bloom] had some big movies and Keira [Knightley] had some big stuff too. Everyone is all over the map and we didn't quite know what to expect. [Director] Gore [Verbinski] obviously has been working like a demon. But honestly we stepped on the set for the first day and for me jumping back into the skin of Captain Jack felt like we'd had just a week off from the first one. It's been a really great time. Everything has been super good and fun. I think that it's going to be good, knock wood.

DRE: I heard that on the day that Hunter S. Thompson took his own life, you powered through and kept working.

JD: On the day that Hunter made his exit, I found out about an hour or two after it actually happened. It was and is devastating. Even though on one hand I understand that a guy who lived his life exactly the way that he wanted to live it, so he made his exit in the same way, but it doesn't make it hurt any less. He was a great hero and a great pal, a great friend. He was a father and a grandfather. He was so many things to so many people. I'll miss him everyday. I think about that bastard everyday.

DRE: Is it hard to be away from your family for so long while you are working?

JD: They're with me. The most that I've ever been apart from my kids and my girl has been like four or five weeks and that drove me mad. One shouldn't have to do that. I can't do it. So as much as is humanly possible I bring them with me on location. If Vanessa [Paradis] is doing a film and I'm not working, I'll go on location with her. I have to have them around.

DRE: What did you do here together?

JD: All the fun stuff like running around on the beach with the kids, going swimming, taking them out on a boat. We haven't swam with any dolphins and certainly not any sharks. I hope that we won't swim with sharks.

DRE: Why do you keep your house in France?

JD: I don't want to be stuck in one spot. My childhood was spent moving around and we were total nomads, man. We were moving from one place to another all the time and that's kind of ingrained into my psyche and my being. I couldn't stand being in one spot for too long a period. For example, we essentially split the year with six months in Los Angeles and six months in France. It just seems to work for us.

DRE: Which one do you like the most?

JD: I very selfishly and very simply like keeping a distance from Hollywood and the social expectations in Hollywood because I'm not good at it. I'm really not good at that kind of game. I find great comfort in having that distance because I don't have the pressure or the responsibility of knowing who's the top dog this week and who's out from last week. I don't know who anyone is and I really like that.

DRE: How was it dealing with the negative reaction to the film you directed, The Brave?

JD: I wouldn't say it was traumatizing, but we had the premiere of the film at night and the reception for the film was beyond any expectations that I had. I had no idea that I'd be looking at Bernardo Bertolucci sitting there watching my film then to have Michelangelo Antonioni say bravo to and to also to receive applause. Then the next day the majority of it was American press. and they just turned it into this horrible thing. Once again everyone is entitled to their opinion. Maybe it's a bad film. Maybe it's a good film. But to me it's just a film. It's something that I needed to make, but they were sort of vicious about it. One of my favorite reviews, someone said, “I haven't seen such an ugly group of people since Luis Buñuel.” I thought, “That's good. I like Luis Buñuel.”

DRE: Are you almost done with shooting the Pirates movies?

JD: We've been shooting Pirates for months and months now. We had a hiatus that was supposed to start tomorrow. But we went into hiatus a bit early because there were bits that we were going to shoot up in Grand Bahaman, but there were sets and stuff that weren't ready. More than that though, one of actors, one of our main guys, Kevin McNally ended up with a really nasty ear infection in both ears. He was in England and was unable to get on a plane. So they just weighed out all of the options and said, “Well, we'll just break now. Go on hiatus and when we start up again, we'll finish the bits from two.”

DRE: Is Keith Richards going to make a cameo?

JD: I don't know exactly. It looks like it's going to happen, but I don't know when. It's all going to depend on where we are and where he is because he's got a little thing called The Rolling Stones tour.

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Tim Burton’s new film, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, is his best work since 1994’s Ed Wood. I would say that casting Johnny Depp as the obsessive compulsive child hating Willy Wonka is an inspired choice but since this is their fourth collaboration that point appears to be moot. Depp has totally and completely entered himself into Roald Dahl’s universe and given himself over to this wild and wooly character with chocolate running in his veins.

Daniel Robert Epstein: Have you hit the waterslide yet?

Tim Burton: No, but I did go swimming in the shark tank the other night. That was fun.

DRE: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has a lot of references to Wonka’s dysfunctional relationship with his father. Why do so many of your films have that theme in them?

TB: Yeah, I've got some problems. You might've seen me enough to realize that by now though.

DRE: I know you were bricked up in your room as a kid.

TB: My parents are dead, so the answers about that will remain unanswered. I guess they didn't want me to escape. With these kinds of things in your life you try and work out your issues in the movie movies, but then you realize that those kinds of traumatic issues just stay with you forever. So they somehow keep reoccurring. No matter how hard I try to get them out of my head they sort of stay there.

DRE: Did you and Johnny Depp talk about the character of Willy Wonka?

TB: Johnny and I have this process where we speak in the abstract to each other and yet we can still somehow understand one another. But we never used one reference. I do remember that we had conversations and one of the things that we did talk about is that in our childhood, in every city child there is some weird children's show host that has a weird name. Usually they have a kind of funny haircut and then as you got older and thought back on them you go, “That guy was fucking weird, man. What was that guy all about?” Like Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Greenjeans, so we were kind of using that kind of reference point. I think that the great thing about [Roald] Dahl's writing is that he left that character kind of ambiguous. We did give him a little bit of backstory that's not in the book, but that weird, kind of mysterious nature of the character still felt important.

DRE: The movie feels very adult though.

TB: That's what I like about the book and Dahl's writing and why I wanted to do it. He was like an adult writer for children. He didn't speak down to them and it's kind of a book that you could read at any age and get something out of. He was very clever about being specific and subversive and off kilter and kind of leaving you guessing a little bit. We did try and keep that feeling in.

DRE: Do you think there are parts of this film that are too adult?

TB: No. That's the thing, I go back and look at the book and I look at the original movie and we're probably even lighter in a certain way. When you read the book it almost seems more traumatic and horrible and yet this is a children's classic. I think that adults forget sometimes what it's like to be a kid. Dahl explored those kind of edgier aspects of childhood.

DRE: What did you think of Gene Wilder’s portrayal of Willy Wonka?

TB: I think he was great. None of us on this production were ever trying to top that. Our goal was to try and be a bit more true to the spirit of the book. Instead of having a golden goose and an egg we have the squirrels and the nut room.

DRE: Would the project have been less attractive if you couldn’t add in Wonka’s backstory?

TB: It's fine in the book but we just felt that if you have an eccentric character you kind of want to get a flavor of why he is the way he is. Otherwise he's just a weirdo. If your father was a dentist and Christopher Lee you can see where that might cause you some traumatic experiences in your life.

DRE: Is Willy Wonka just nuts?

TB: No, I think that he comes across as emotionally repressed and stunted. When people get traumatized they just sort of shut down. I've met people who are kind of geniuses in one area but are completely deficient in all other areas of their life. So it's sort of the mixture of those things.

DRE: How was working with the Oompa-Loompa man himself, Deep Roy?

TB: To me there were three options. You either hire a cast of Oompa-Loompas or the more modern approach would be to make them all CG. But I've worked with Deep Roy before and to me he's just an Oompa-Loompa. There was no question in my mind and to have it all not be CG was important. In a technical manner it was more cost effective than doing all special FX shots because we could actually use him in certain shots with certain lenses and camera angles so that he could interact with Johnny and the kids on occasion so that he didn’t always have to be added in later.

DRE: How was it casting all the kids for the movie?

TB: Casting kids is harder than casting adults. I hadn't seen Finding Neverland, but when Freddie Highmore walked into the room I just knew that he was right. It was like that with all of the kids. These kids all had what I'd call a cinematic quality. Even though they're all good kids, there had to be a seed of what they are. I tried to find the seed of what they were especially the ones that hadn't acted before. It was important that they had something of their character in them as people.

DRE: What was the inspiration for the sets?

TB: It's all organic. The blueprint of the book was there, but the great thing about Dahl’s writing is that he leaves a lot open for interpretation. We had sort of complete freedom to devise what each of the rooms and the Bucket house looked like. It didn't feel like we were constrained by anything. It had quite an experimental feel as we were making it and that was fun. I enjoyed finding the right consistency for the chocolate so that it didn't look like a brown water.

DRE: Was doing the chocolate river fun?

TB: If you'd been in the chocolate room like in the last week we were shooting in there it started to smell so bad. Literally you’d open up the stage doors and people were complaining.

DRE: Did you save any of the props?

TB: I don't try and save too much. I did keep the Oompa-Loompa psychiatrist chair which is very appropriate and very comfortable actually.

DRE: Dahl wrote a sequel called Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, are you interested in that?

TB: No and you can count on it.

DRE: Was there ever any question in your mind that Johnny Depp was going to play Wonka?

TB: No, but it was the first time that I didn't have to talk anyone into it. Before I could even open my mouth the studio goes, “What about Johnny Depp?” I said, “Well, okay. If you're going to force him on me.”

DRE: What makes Johnny Depp the ideal actor for your films?

TB: He's a character actor in a leading man's body. He's ready to do anything. He's probably more like Lon Chaney than he is a leading man. He wants to transform and be different characters. He's an actor that you think about perhaps even for female roles. He can do it all.

DRE: How is The Corpse Bride going?

TB: We're still finishing that. It was good because we could only work with the kids on Charlie so much during the day so sometimes we'd work a day and then we'd go over to the sound booth and do some voice work on Corpse Bride. It was kind of a chaotic situation but I'm excited about that one.

DRE: Did one film affect the other?

TB: No because animation is such a slow motion process. Sometimes there would only be a few seconds a week to look at. It was good in a certain way because I was obviously hardcore on Charlie but Corpse Bride is slower so I can have a bit more objectivity on it.

DRE: I still meet people that think that you directed The Nightmare before Christmas instead of Henry Selick. Did you take a co-directing credit on The Corpse Bride to circumvent that notion?

TB: No and this is hard to explain but I'll try. With Nightmare it was so completely my developed thing so I felt so comfortable about what it was and it was so clearly delineated in my mind that I just felt comfortable and I knew Henry [Selick] could pull it off. With Corpse Bride there was a seed of an idea and so it took more development therefore I had to be involved at a slightly different level so to speak. That's why I got a little more in depth into this one.

DRE: Sidney Lumet wrote in his book, Making Movies, that he’ll do two studio movies then one personal film. It seems that you adhere to that as well.

TB: I try and treat each time as though it's personal for me. You spend so much time on it that you have to personalize it. But after doing a big one it's kind of like you do get traumatized by it a little bit and maybe the next time you think about perhaps not doing that again. So it's not necessarily a hardcore rule but I can certainly understand that.

DRE: Has having your first child made you want to do more films for children?

TB: No, I don't think that it has anything to do with that. It's not like all of a sudden I'm going to be making the Teletubbies movie or The Wiggles feature film any time soon. I don't think it has altered my thinking. In fact I'm more inclined to think about making porno movies or something than I am children's films.

DRE: What would a Tim Burton porno film be like?

TB: I'd only make G rated porno movies.

DRE: Are you interested in seeing Batman Begins?

TB: I have interest but literally on my way to the Bahamas I was in the screening room finishing up this one. So after you spend 15 hours a day working on your film you're not going, “Okay, lets go see a movie.”

DRE: Have you met any of your Goth fans?

TB: I live up in North London near Camden and it's like we're back in the late 70's and it's beautiful. I was out in the English countryside a few weeks ago and I just ran into a girl with a Nightmare before Christmas purse and it was just so beautiful and touching. That's the amazing thing. I encounter people every now and then that make me realize who I make movies for.

DRE: What do you think about the way Disney turned the Haunted Mansion theme ride into the Nightmare before Christmas?

TB: It makes me laugh because when we first made the movie they didn't even want to put out a trailer. It went from that to what it has turned into. I'm just a little upset that they didn't invite me to the opening so I have a little bit of an issue with them. But it's also great too.

DRE: How is it working with Todd McFarlane on the Corpse Bride toys?

TB: I haven't seen anything yet. I'm hoping that it turns out good. The good thing about a stop motion puppet is that it's different from live action. You can look at the puppet and go, “Just make it look like that.” It's quite easy or it should be anyway. Hopefully it'll turn out because the puppets are really beautiful.

MacGuffin:  Visits SuicideGirls for the articles.

Quote from: GoneSavageMacGuffin:  Visits SuicideGirls for the articles.

I can't afford the $4 a month.  :yabbse-undecided:

Many clips.

http://www.iesb.net/wb2005/062905.php

Quote from: MacGuffin

Quote from: GoneSavageMacGuffin:  Visits SuicideGirls for the articles.

I can't afford the $4 a month.  :yabbse-undecided:

I'm not surprised, given your posts in I Just Bought.

Jacko and the "Chocolate Factory"
Source: E! Online

The longish black hair. The pale skin. The ornate suit jacket. The--how should we say?--less than traditional adult male speaking voice.

That is fabled candymaker Willy Wonka as embodied by Johnny Depp in director Tim Burton's new take on the children's classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

One problem: "I think the casual viewer is going to see Michael Jackson."

So says Patrick Lee, news editor of online's Sci Fi Wire. And chances are the casual viewer wouldn't disagree.

"It's very scary," laughs Houston-based blogger Laurence Simon.

Like other moviegoers, Simon made the Depp-Jackson-Wonka connection almost instantly when he saw the Chocolate Factory trailer. An offhanded remark last month on his blog, This Blog Is Full of Crap (IsFullofCrap.com), about how much he wasn't looking forward to Burton's film led one commentator to crack, "What's the problem...? Don't have the stomach for Michael Jackson and the Chocolate Factory?"

The properly titled Charlie and the Chocolate Factory opens July 15. In a summer dominated by bad buzz about the less than blockbuster box office, it is one of Warner Bros.' brightest hopes, along with Batman Begins and The Dukes of Hazzard.

Having one of its prized properties--much less, a PG-rated kids' fantasy--linked to a fallen pop star with longish black hair, pale skin, a whisper for a speaking voice, a penchant for military garb and a recent acquittal on child-molestation charges is likely not what the Hollywood studio had in mind when it turned Burton and company loose on author Roald Dahl's beloved, if preternaturally creepy, tale.

And, according to Depp, who openly copped to stealing riffs from rocker Keith Richards for his turn as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, it is absolutely not what the actor had in mind when he was conjuring the eccentric first brought to the big screen by Gene Wilder in 1971's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Children-show hosts like Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Rogers, these are the innocuous sorts who inspired Depp's Wonka, he has said.

"Everyone is entitled to think what they want," Depp said last week in a news conference in Nassau, Bahamas, "even while being violently wrong."

Wrong or no, the suspicions abound. At that press conference, Lee says the Jackson question came up "a lot."

Lee, for one, is more willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the filmmakers, perhaps because he's seen the movie in its entirety. "The nature of the character Willy Wonka is not Michael Jackson," he says. "Willy Wonka hates children--that there sets him apart from Michael Jackson."

Box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian also has seen the film. Depp's Wonka, he says, "comes off more as Mr. Rogers than Michael Jackson."

If the trailer is creeping out audiences, says Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations Co., then that might not be such a bad thing for the film's box office. Dahl's tale of gluttony, greed and Oompa Loompas, after all, has never been confused for a Disney fairy tale. As such, the trippier the trailer, the potentially more intrigued the audience.

"They have come to expect the unexpected with Johnny Depp," says Dergarabedian. "Were it another actor, maybe it wouldn't come off as well."

The last time Depp arguably veered into Jackson territory, in Finding Neverland, the 2004 biopic about big-kid-at-heart Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie, the actor earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination.

As long as Depp doesn't earn sustained unwanted comparisons to Jackson in Chocolate Factory, the Oompa Loompas likely will go along their merry, vaguely unsettling way.

Interview: Tim Burton
We talk with the director of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
 
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory isn't Tim Burton's first foray into the world author Roald Dahl. In 1996 he produced James and the Giant Peach. When the opportunity was presented to re-envision Charlie, Burton welcomed it. "Working again with Johnny [Depp] again made it even better," he says. "Plus it was one of those things where the timing with our schedules just worked out perfectly."

As Depp is currently filming sequels to Pirates of the Caribbean, he invited Tim Burton, Freddie Highmore (who plays Charlie) and a number of television, print and Internet journalists to the Bahamas to talk about the upcoming release of Charlie. IGNFF's Steve Head participated in this group interview with Burton in which we discussed the making of Charlie, the status of his next film, The Corpse Bride, the enduring phenomena of The Nightmare Before Christmas and the advent of Batman Begins.

Q: One can kind of see why a movie such as a new version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory would be brought to your attention. Stylistically one could tell you might have an affinity for it. Plus, you'd already produced a film [James and the Giant Peach] based on one of Roald Dahl's books. How did Charlie come to your attention?

TIM BURTON: The project had been floating around for a while and studio offered it to me and it was a project that I was interested in. It's all about timing and fate sometimes I think in all about how a movie gets made.

Q: Like many of your films, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and its main character has father issues.

BURTON: Yeah, I've got some problems. (He laughs) You might have seen me enough to realize that by now.

Q: You'd said living in Burbank was idyllic even though your parents boarded you up in a room. Well, what's going on with that? Why did this happen?

BURTON: My parents are dead, so I guess the answer will remain unanswered as to why they sealed me in a room. I guess they just didn't want me to escape. I don't know. Those kind of things in your life... in movies you kind of work out your issues, but then you realize, those kind of traumatic issues stay with you forever so somehow they kind of keep reoccurring, no matter how hard I try to get them out of my head they sort of stay there.

Q: Was there ever any doubt in your mind that Johnny Depp could play Willy Wonka? Did you have the idea of him playing the character to the studio?

BURTON: No, it was the first time where I didn't have to talk anybody – the studio – into it. (He laughs) It was like before I could even open my mouth, the studio goes, "What about Johnny Depp?" And I was like, "Well, OK, if you're going to force him on me." (He laughs) Johnny is like a character actor in a leading man's body. He's like ready to do anything. He's probably more like Lon Chaney. He's a leading man and he want to transform. He wants to be different characters in different movies. He's an actor that you think about perhaps even for female roles. I don't know. He could do it all. He's very versatile that way.

Q: How did you and Johnny come up with the look for his interpretation of Willy Wonka?

BURTON: Johnny and I have this sort of process where we sort of speak in the abstract with each other and yet can still somehow sort of understand each other. But we never like to use one reference. I never say to Johnny, "Let's just make it like this." But I remember we did have conversations and we kind of liked the same kind of things. But one of the things we did talk about was that in our childhood, in every city, and I talked to other people about this, too – in every city when you're a child there's some weird children's show host that's got a weird name and he usually has kind of a funny haircut. And we'd watch him as a child, and then as we got older and thing back on him you'd think, "That guy was f***ing weird. What was that guy all about?" It's like Captain Kangaroo? Mr. Greenjeans? Who are these people? Each city had their own kind of regional one that kind of spooked you out a little bit. So, we were kind of using that kind of reference point. The great thing about [Roald] Dahl's writing is that he left that character kind of ambiguous. There's a sort of mysterious quality, nature to that character, that even though we gave him a little bit of a back-story that's not in the book, there's still that kind of weird, mysterious nature of the character that felt important.

Q: People are going to say, "What the hell is wrong with Willy Wonka?" Well, what's wrong with him?

BURTON: I think he just comes across as really emotionally repressed and stunted. When people get traumatized they just sort of kind of shut down. Also related to that, I've met people that are kind of geniuses in one area but are completely deficient in all other social or every other area of their life. (He laughs) So, the mixture of those things was what I sort of thought of him as.

Q: And some people are already making comparisons between this version of Wonka and Michael Jackson.

BURTON: Here's the deal. There's a big difference: Michael Jackson likes children, Willy Wonka can't stand them. To me that's a huge difference in the whole persona thing. (He laughs) We never talked about that at all. Honestly, I never made that connection for the very reason I just said to Steven; it's like Willy Wonka really can't stand children if you really look at it in a certain way. You know? He's got some problems. I guess you could say they both have problems, but we all have problems, you know? It says more about the people making that reference. I can't think of any larger difference. It's almost like night and day if you look at what I'm saying about the response to somebody liking children and somebody who can't stand the sight of them. That to me is like night and day.

Q: You and Johnny felt that you needed to deepen the character of Wonka by adding the back-story. Would the movie have been as attractive if you couldn't make Wonka more of a rounded person in that way?

BURTON: We just felt that is was if you have an eccentric character, it's fine in the book, but it just felt for the movie that if you've got a guy that's acting that strange, you kind of want to get a flavor of why he's the way he is, you know? Otherwise he's just a weirdo. You kind of want to at least have a sense as to why he's acting so strangely and why he's got some problems. If your father were a dentist and Christopher Lee, you know, you can see where that might cause you some trauma. (He laughs) Some traumatic experiences in your life.

Q: What's so enjoyably weird about Wonka is he doesn't talk down to children. He's sort of careless in the way with what he has to say.

BURTON: What I love about the book in Dahl's writing, that's why I wanted to do it. He didn't speak down to children. He was like a adult writer for children. It's the kind of a book where you could read it at any age and get something out of it. He was clever at being both specific and kind of subversive and off-kilter and kind of leaving you guessing a little bit, and we did try to keep that feeling in what we were trying to do.

Q: What'd you think of Gene Wilder's take on the character? Was there any thought that you might pay homage to Wilder's performance in any way?

BURTON: I think he's great. None of us on the production were either trying to top that or look at that. Our goal, except for the little bit of back-story, was to try to be a little bit more true to the spirit of the book. Instead of having the golden goose and an egg, have the squirrels and the nut room. In some cases we tried to be a bit more true to the spirit of the book.

Q: Your portrayal of the Oompa-Loompas is based on one guy: Deep Roy. Why did you opt to cast one person and replicate him?

BURTON: To me there were three points: you either hire a cast of Oompa-Loompas; you make them all CG; but I've worked with Deep before, and to me he's just an Oompa-Loompa, you know? There was no question in my mind. So, to have the human element and not the all-CG special effect was important to this. Also, just from my own feeling, it felt to me kind of Dahl-ist, kind of surreal to make him be everybody just because something felt light about that. And also from a technical standpoint it was also more cost effective than to doing this with all special effects shots. We could actually use him in certain shots with certain lenses and camera angles that could interact with Johnny and the kids on occasions. So he wasn't always having to be added in later. Those were the reasons that felt right to me.

Q: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is the first movie from Plan B productions, Brad Grey's production company. Was he involved at all? Did you ever meet with them about it?

BURTON: No, I mean, Brad Grey was around a bit, but then he got another job. (He laughs)

[Editor's note: Brad Grey is now in charge of Paramount Pictures.]

Q: Ironically, the studio wanted a different version of the character Charlie?

BURTON: Yes, they were like, let's make Charlie more proactive, or let's take the father and make Willy Wonka the father figure. And I'm like, "Willy Wonka is not a father figure, I'll tell you right now!" So, with John [August], we go, "Let's go to the book and just try to start fresh." All the stuff is in the movie to some degree. They're like, "Charlie is just a normal kid and he has to do something and you want to see connection between him and Willy Wonka." And I'm like, "No, you don't." That's why I was lucky to get Freddie. The physicality of him was important. He had to look like he was undernourished and his grandparents are really old and they didn't have much to eat, and if a strong wind blew, Freddie might just blow away. Those are important elements. The simplicity of that character was important to me. [Freddie Highmore] just has that gravity and that's what's really important.

Q: Can you tell us about the casting of the kids, the golden ticket holders? They play an important part in making this movie work the way you were hoping it would.

BURTON: Casting kids is harder than casting adults. I find it difficult. But the good news is, it's like Freddie... I hadn't seen Finding Neverland, but when he walked in the room I knew he was right and I was glad I hadn't seen the other movie. And it was like that with all the kids. You see, a lot of kids, they could be good, and the meat of almost like if you were doing it for a television movie. But these kids all have a cinematic quality. You can see them on the big screen and they are the more cinema version of those characters. You also have to find... even though they're all good kids, there had to be a seed of what they are. I tried to find the seed of what they were, especially for the one's who hadn't acted before. It was important that they had something of their character in them as people.

Q: Do you think the squirrel sequence might present something a little too dark for kids?

BURTON: No, because I mean, that's the thing. I go back and I look at the book and I look at the original thing and we're probably even lighter in a certain way. When you read it in the book it almost seems more traumatic and horrible, and yet this is a children's classic. I think adults forget sometimes what it's like to be a kid. That's why I like the book and that's why I think it remains a classic. You kind of explore those kind of edgier aspects of childhood.

Q: Did you have any aversion to the idea that this was a remake? But again, what it is for you is a re-envisioning of the source material, not a remake of the 1971 movie.

BURTON: I felt for this book, I didn't feel as daunted by the movie because I didn't have quite the same impact for me as other movies and things. So, the intent for me was to try to, even though we changed things, it was like I said to try to be more true to the spirit of the book.

Q: And your design influence, as always, is there. Could you just take things in any direction you wanted?

BURTON: We had sort of complete freedom. For example, we devised sort of what each of the rooms in the factory look like and the Bucket house and the town and all of that. That was just fun because we didn't feel like we were constrained by anything. It had a quite experimental feel to me as we were making it. I enjoyed not quite knowing what kind of plants we were going to make or finding the right consistency with the chocolate so it didn't look like a brown water.

Q: Sidney Lumet wrote in one of his books that it's like he does two for the studio and one for me, and it seems like you adhere to that pretty well since you've got your more personal movies. Do you see this as something that is more for them or more for you?

BURTON: No, for me each time is a personal thing. It has to be because you spend so much time on it you have to personalize it. But yeah, after doing a big movie it's like you do kind of get traumatized by it a little bit and maybe next time you do think about maybe on doing that again. It's necessarily a hardcore rule, but I can certainly understand that.

Q: You're still working on The Corpse Bride with Johnny?

BURTON: We're still finishing that.

Q: And you were making it at the same time you were filming Charlie?

BURTON: Yes. It worked well because you could only work with the kids so much during the day. So, you know, we'd work the day and then just go over to the sound-booth and do some voice work on [The Corpse Bride]. It was kind a chaotic situation, but it worked. I'm excited about that one.

Q: Did you ever find it difficult to separate making the two films at the same time?

BURTON: No, because animation is such a slow-moving process sometimes it would be only a few seconds in a week to look at. So, no, it wasn't. In fact it was good in a certain way. For me, I was obviously hard core on Charlie, with The Corpse Bride being a bit slower I could have bit more of an objective feel for it. So in some ways it was really good.
 
Q: Charlie marks your eleventh collaboration with [composer] Danny Elfman. You guys have been working together for such a long time. Maybe twenty-five years. Now you've got a movie where you've worked some of his Oingo Boingo influence in there with the songs for the kids.

BURTON: That was fun because I used to go see Oingo Boingo in clubs when I was student never even knowing that I would be able to make movies. So, it was kind of fun because it did kind of remind of going back into those sleazy clubs and hearing him play.

Q: Have you reached a point where you two can sort of assume you're going to work together?

BURTON: No. I mean, I enjoy working with him and he's my friend. Who knows, we may have a huge fight one day and who knows. (He laughs) I doubt it. I love working with him. He's like another character in the film, I always feel.

Q: A Nightmare Before Christmas appears to have such a lasting appeal. What's strange is so many people think you directed it.

BURTON: Yes. This is hard to explain – I'll try to explain it quickly. With Nightmare it was completely my developed thing, so I felt so comfortable about what it was; it was so clearly delineated in my mind that I just felt comfortable. With Corpse Bride there was a seed of an idea and so it took more development, therefore I had to be involved in more slightly different level. So that's why I got a little more in-depth with this one and got a little more into that side of it as well.

Q: How much do you really encounter your Goth fan people? Do you see them around very much?

BURTON: Well, I live up in sort of north London near Camden and it's beautiful. They're like they were back in the late '70s and it's beautiful. In fact I was out in the English countryside just a few weeks ago and I just ran into a girl with a Nightmare Before Christmas purse. And it was just so beautiful and touching. I mean, that's the amazing thing. I encounter people every now and then that make me realize that's who you make movies for.

Q: What's next for you?

BURTON: I've no idea. I mean, I have interests. But literally, before being on my way to the Bahamas here, I was in the screening room just finishing up this one. After you spend fifteen hours a day working on your film in a screening room, it's not like, OK, let's go see a movie.

Q: Will Charlie influence the direction of any of your future features?

BURTON: It's not like all of a sudden I'm going to be making the Teletubbies movie or The Wiggles feature film debut anytime soon. I don't think Charlie has altered my thinking. I fact, I'm more inclined to think about making porno movies than I am children's films. I don't know. (He laughs)

Q: What would that be like, a porno movie from you?

BURTON: I only make G-rated porno movies. (He laughs)

Q: If this film does well enough would you be interested in doing Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator?

BURTON: No, and you can count on that from me.

Q: Did you save any props from the movie?

BURTON: I don't try to save too much. I did keep the Oompa-Loompa psychiatrist's chair, which was very appropriate, and it's very comfortable actually. (He laughs)

Q: Any plans for Oysterboy?

BURTON: Oh, I don't know. I think I saw him out there in the fish tank earlier, floating around.

Q: Where are the Golden Tickets right now?

BURTON: You'll have to ask the Warner Brothers people. I don't know. They're on eBay. (He laughs)

Q: What did you think about Batman Begins?

BURTON: It makes me laugh because, when we first made the first movie they didn't even want to put out a trailer for the movie. So, it was like that it went from that to what it has turned into... I was just a little upset that they didn't invite me to the opening of it. It's like, I have a little bit of an issue with them, but it's also great, too. And they just did it in Tokyo which I wish I could have gone to. I was invited to that, but I couldn't go. I saw a tape of it. It was very touching. Very good.

Q: Do you still feel a sense of attachment to the Batman film franchise? Do you feel like you'd like to see it do well?

BURTON: When you're working with the studio you want them to do well because if they're happy, you're happy. And if they're not happy, you know, you may feel their angst a bit more. So, yeah, of course. You want them to do well. All I can say is I felt lucky to do it back then when there hadn't been what I would call a darker, slightly psychology-lite, kind of dark vision of a comic book from that time on. Now, you've seen so many, kind of, dark comic book adaptations I'm looking for the next guy to come in the pink tights and yellow cape. You know? Let's go in the other direction now for a change, shall we?

Quote from: MacGuffin[img]
DRE: What do you think about the way Disney turned the Haunted Mansion theme ride into the Nightmare before Christmas?

TB: It makes me laugh because when we first made the movie they didn't even want to put out a trailer. It went from that to what it has turned into. I'm just a little upset that they didn't invite me to the opening so I have a little bit of an issue with them. But it's also great too.

[/size]

Quote from: MacGuffinInterview: Tim Burton
Q: What did you think about Batman Begins?

BURTON: It makes me laugh because, when we first made the first movie they didn't even want to put out a trailer for the movie. So, it was like that it went from that to what it has turned into... I was just a little upset that they didn't invite me to the opening of it. It's like, I have a little bit of an issue with them, but it's also great, too.[/size]

What's the deal??  :saywhat:

PS: how do you put two quotes from two diffrent pages on the same post?

Quote from: 72teethWhat's the deal??  :saywhat:

Quote from: MacGuffinIGNFF's Steve Head participated in this group interview with Burton

Quote from: 72teethPS: how do you put two quotes from two diffrent pages on the same post?

Copy and paste.

Quote from: MacGuffinCopy and paste.

and (https://xixax.com/templates/xixax/images/lang_english/icon_edit.gif)

To explain,

Quote from: MyxomatosisPut text here.

Repeat until you've got all the quotes you want. I pretty much just copy the first part with the user name in it and then manually type the [/quote] at the end of each portion of text I'm quoting.

Quote from: 72teethThanky!

My Pubrick-esque review:

worked
Everything outside the factory (which is more than in the original)
Parents/grandparents/house
Depp's initial greeting to the children
85% of the rest of his performance
Burn ward for dolls
Cannibalism
The Oompa Loompa's third song (all of their songs sound like Oingo Boingo, which is cool, but this is the only one that's funny enough not to be a distraction)
Violet's inflation

failed
CG elevator
boat scene
2001 scene (mixed feelings)

winner
Christopher Lee
Corpse Bride trailer

I cant say that I hated it.
It is not, however, something that Ill want to see ever again.

And the songs were dreadful.

I can't wait to see this. It's gotten great reviews so far.

haha

Depp and his wonderful psychological moments made the movie. There's not much else that I loved.

It all seems a little cold and derivative in the end.

I really think the editing was problematic. Just a constant awkwardness and choppyness in what should be a flowing thing. Hopefully someone agrees with me. I'm mostly talking about the editing within scenes. Like the musical scenes, especially the one with the squirrels. That editing was horriffic.

The oompa loompa duplication, among other things, really bothered me. The world was deeply synthetic where it should have been organic. Because this kind of transparent synthesis is mostly underwhelming.

Also, it really tries too hard to be funny.

Quote from: Ghostboyfailed
CG elevator
boat scene
2001 scene (mixed feelings)

I'll agree with all of that, especially the 2001 scene. When I first saw the apes, I was actually thrilled because I thought that was it. But it just went downhill from there. Must be the most gaudy homage I've ever seen.

Also, I'd like to say that I did pick up on the Michael Jackson connection without reading the above article. (These kids have chaperones, though.)

Quote from: Jeremy BlackmanLike the musical scenes, especially the one with the squirrels. That editing was horriffic.

Actually, that particular musical number was the only one I liked. It was fucking hilarious. But other than that, I think I know what you mean.

I also thought that was the best musical scene, and I don't think the editing ruined it, but it was still intensely awkward. I didn't like the camera swinging around and cutting randomly with squirrels constantly popping in and out of frame.

When "Harry" Met "Charlie"

Will Harry steal Charlie's golden ticket at the cash register?

That's the tantalizing new question gripping Hollywood now that the great box-office slump has been busted.     Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,     J.K. Rowling's sixth installment in her mega-selling magic boy franchise, arrives in bookstores at the same time Warner Bros. is unspooling     Tim Burton's update of Roald Dahl's kids classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory hits movie theaters.

Warners execs have good cause for hand wringing. The heavily hyped Half-Blood Prince goes on sale at 12:01 a.m. Saturday with more fanfare than all the previous Potter books combined.

Rowling's U.S. publisher, Scholastic, has ordered a record-setting initial print run of 10.3 million copies of the 672-page tome, and booksellers nationwide are gearing up to host Midnight Magic Parties. The buzz is so great that book chain Barnes & Noble plans to celebrate the landmark release with Potter gatherings at more than 670 of its outlets, according to PotterParties.com.

And both the book and the movie target the same family-friendly demo.

While it's hard to compare rival media like books and movies, especially with differing price points, recent history has shown that Harry has some serious sales magic no matter the competition.

The fifth chapter, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, was released in 2003. Retailing for $30, it sold a whopping 5 million copies its first 24 hours. That $150 million in first-day grosses for Scholastic far surpassed that revenue generated by the weekend's blockbuster movie opening: Universal's The Hulk, which took in $62 million in its three-day debut weekend.

"It's an interesting concept that people even acknowledge that the Potter books are so popular that they have an effect on other media," says Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. "But that said, the people who want to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will see Charlie. There's plenty of time for both."

Dergarabedian believes that Charlie has a built-in audience of those adults who grew up with Dahl's book and the 1971 adaptation, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, who are now parents who want take their children to see it.

Then there's the     Johnny Depp factor, says Gitesh Pandya, editor of BoxOfficeGuru.com. The Oscar-nominated actor, whose quirky take on Willy Wonka sparked talk in recent days over whether he based the candy man on     Michael Jackson, is a big draw for cinephiles who enjoyed his previous collaborations with Burton (see Edward Scissorhands and     Ed Wood).

"You have two giant audiences [the filmmakers] are tapping into," Pandya tells E! Online, "the family audience that loves all those lavish effectsand the audience which loves to see Tim Burton and Johnny Depp together."

Both Dergarabedian and Pandya conclude that Harry won't dent Charlie's box office. Traditionally, they say, competition among various media hasn't stopped moviegoers from flocking to the megaplex because people can usually squeeze both events into a weekend.

"If you look at past history, Disney and DreamWorks tend to fight it out a lot," explains Pandya, "so you'll see Shrek 2 come out on DVD the same day The Incredibles hit theaters. You might think people will stay home for the weekend and watch Shrek 2, but The Incredibles grosses $70 million its opening weekend."

Adds Dergarabedian: "You can counterprogram a book or video to a movie opening, but once people make a decision to go see that movie, they'll do that--and buy whatever competing property is out there. To me [the Half-Blood Prince] is less problematic than two movies chasing the same audience."

That's one thing Warners won't have to worry about. The only other big release this weekend targets a more adult audience, not families: The Wedding Crashers, starring     Vince Vaughn and     Owen Wilson. The R-rated film is being released by New Line, which also happens to be owned by Time Warner, parent company of Warner Bros.

Besides, Warners owns the movie rights to all the Harry Potter books. (The next celluloid installment, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, based on the fourth of Rowling's books, is due out in November.)

Well, that was a worthless read. I doubt people are going to spend a whole weekend reading a book. Why couldn't you see the movie and spend time reading the book? Might as well say nobody is even gonna read that article cause they are either seeing wonka or reading harry potter. Also, I didn't read the article.

Quote from: StefenI doubt people are going to spend a whole weekend reading a book.

RK, what are your plans this weekend?

oh tim burton, what the fuck happened to you?  

the buzz was mixed to negative.  my expectations were low.  the movie still underwhelmed.

i loved everything until they got to the factory and then the movie fell apart.  i really tried to convince myself before we went in that i would do my best to seperate this movie from the original and during the entire opening i thought it would actually succeed.  i was thinking that burton was a perfect match for this material and this WOULD be able to stand on its own as a unique interpretation of the story.  but then they got to the factory and everything else pretty much sucked.

i love depp but i think this performance was not his best.   the songs were not very good and did not seem to fit the film.  i know elfman can do better.

one thing that bothered me was mike teevee is a genius who figured out how to buy ONE wonka bar and get the ticket? and then in his oompa song they're calling him dumb?  thats completely contradictory.

SPOILERS

things i hated:

1. when the kids started 'getting theirs' nobody hardly blinks.  theres no panic or 'what the fuck are you doing to my kid?!?!'  'save him please!' just calmly watching them being possibly killed.  AWFUL.  and seeing the kids walk out at the end was also unneccesary.  just let charlie know they're okay but dont show us that they're still bastards.   and i guess they are all still getting free chocolate for life?

2. the worst part of the whole film was the EXTREMELY protracted ending.  JEESUZ CHRIST, i cant believe the nerve of tim burton to say that HE was sticking to the books tone not like that other unfaithful film and make a change as HUGE as making WONKAS BACKSTORY THE POINT OF THE WHOLE FILM!!!  its not like making the squirrels golden gooses here!  he changed AND drug out the whole ending of the movie so wonka could reconcile with his father!?!? fucking terrible.  and him being schooled by charlie?  not letting his family live there nad being wrong and then having to re-invite them.  what are they doing to this character?  he's no longer a wonderful layered enigma.  he is a fucked up dude that we can see right through.  

this movie was okay at best, but because it is indeed a pointless remake that has not improved upon the original film or added anything new to the book or its own interpretation it makes me want to grade it even harsher.  C-, but deserves a D.  tim burton, why are you wasting your career?  what the fuck happened to you, man?  (corpse bride had better rule.)

I saw this tonight and was pretty disappointed with the whole thing. Johnny Depp was more goofy and annoying than compelling the way Gene Wilder was in the original. I didn't think much of the first one but it was better than this. The musical numbers were awful, unmemorable and just poorly contrived. And the Willy Wonka flashbacks go on forever. It looks interesting and the beginning was fine, but I thought it was disappointing and ultimately pointless.

Quote from: StefenI doubt people are going to spend a whole weekend reading a book.

Quote from: MacGuffinRK, what are your plans this weekend?

You know me so well, Mac...  I haven't seen Charlie... right now I'm just taking a break from the book.

i've been goiing into movies in completely the right mood.  I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, plus i thought war of the worlds was one of the best of the summer.  Other people's reviews have made me second guess myself, but i liked the musical numbers, and i thought Depp was childishy hilarious as Wonka.  He had no parents and therefore no transfer into adulthood.  The oompa loompa numbers just made this movie plain goofy and calling them out on how rehersed they seemed made it even better,


I donno maybe i've lost my film snob touch, but blockbuster movies are catching my eye this summer.

couple things i didn't like:
Mike tv being a genius and not even liking candy.
the boat scene wasn't even remotely insane.

Boy, was this a mixed bag.  Some things worked, but the factory scenes were oddly uninspiring.  The songs weren't very good, and the flashbacks didn't work at trying to flesh out Willy Wonka's background.  The best stuff was in the little house, and Tim Burton cast some interesting looking faces, but overall it was not a memorable experience.

The Oompa-Loompas all look the same in the book, I've heard, but on film it just looks like a special effect.

For some reason I really liked seeing the Rock'em Sock'em Robots.

Absolute dreck. I don't think there was one thing that worked about this movie. It's not 'Glitter' bad, but just a flat, boring joke of a remake. I nearly fell asleep during one musical scene, something that has never happened before. Nothing had personality. Even Depp, who did the best job aside from Charlie, was mostly two dimensional. There was no depth (pardon the near pun) to any of the characters and they all seemed like xeroxes of their previous incantations.

There was one predominent thought after 45 minutes of this movie. When... will... this... be... over?

The original was magical. It had this insane premise and odd WTF type of feeling, but it clicked. Wilder was fantastical. The boys and girls were stereotypical to the point of joyousness. There's just a wonderful sense about the original that's nearly undefineable.

This was just a waste. It captured nothing the original even brushed upon. The whole movie was like looking at a beautiful landscape painting - it looked pretty, but there was nothing to see beyond the trees.

I didn't necessarily hate this movie, but I definitely didn't like a lot of the aspects of it. The score at the beginning was phenomenal, but when the oompa loompas started to sing, I wanted to shoot myself. Especially that horrid disco song when Violet was blueberry'd (see: punk'd.)

The children seemed well casted, and I thought Charlie and his family did a phenomenal job. I wish Depp wasn't casted for the roll. Depp was too childish in my opinion and could've portrayed Wonka better had his voice not seemed so childish and immature. I also think that the factory's inside seemed too dark. It just wasn't happy enough to be a chocolate factory.

I agree with Raikus in that it was boring, but I definitely think it wasn't fall-asleep worthy.

The cutscene of how Wonka discovered the oompa loompas was probably my favorite part.

This post is very ADD and not very conclusive/well stated/backed up but it's 2am so.

What a dissapointment... fuck it

Quote from: RaikusThere was one predominent thought after 45 minutes of this movie. When... will... this... be... over?

Yup.  I started to nod off.








SPOILER

Best part... burning puppets.  That at least had me laughing.

I've been in the right mood too or something cause your comments, right now as I've just seen the film and had a blast, make you look like you all lost your sense of humour...but then I remember that half of the people around xixax found the pt anderson short "Couch" to be some sort of comic mini masterpiece and argued about it endlessly for days about how great was this and that and I sort of relax and enjoy the irony of it.

Back to Charlie, those Oompa Loompa songs where hilarious, Depp was pretty good, all the family scenes were great...I don't know, it seems that me and the rest of that theatre were having a pretty good time...

Another thing is, I guess you all watched the Gene Wilder movie as children and that's why you love it so much, cause when I watched it at 17 I was like: "what is it that everyone see in this boring piece of shit? that chocolate river looks like a sewer, everything looks like a third world disneyland..." The only good thing about that was Wilder, and I'm not that big of a fan. This one is funny, and at least, differing from every other "children" movie around, tries to say something of interest about the way parents are educating their childrens and how a fucked up adult just raises another...

The 2001 homage was not that funny, but I admire Burton's balls to just do it and fuck with the Kubrick like that. I'm not sure the K would've liked it, and that makes me admire it a little more.

It had some problems, I didn't like the wonka background completely. I mean, Christopher Lee is always cool and all, but that final sentimental scene was fucked up. And the structure did had some moments where it just felt too predictable: "so now what kid is gonna sufer and what kind of song they're gonna come up with?", but for me at least, it wsn't such a serious problem...

And why is it that every movie at xixax has 12 pages of especulative comments and only two of actual opinions of the films??? I wanna know your opinions, damn it!!!

Quote from: AlexandroAnd why is it that every movie at xixax has 12 pages of especulative comments and only two of actual opinions of the films??? I wanna know your opinions, damn it!!!

hahaha. prolly cos it's easier to bitch about sumthing before u see it, afterwards u might hav to start backing up ur statements.

Quote from: pic olastime once again for a magical
out-of-context-quotation

Quote from: AlexandroI admire Burton's balls

I saw this on our IMAX screen tonight here in Oregon. It was my first 70mm print experience.

The kids were great.
Depp was great.
My neck hurts.

It was fun but it doesn't beat the original thanks to Gene Wilder singing Pure Imagination and Charlie returning the chewing gum (was it?) at the end.

Quote from: ®edlumCharlie returning the chewing gum (was it?) at the end.

Everlasting Gobstopper.

Thank Ye!

something looks familiar

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Uh, no Pegg

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::flush::

huh?! come on

Quote from: GaramThis film had an amazing cameo from both Kevin Eldon and Mark Heap. Highlight of the film for me.

when two people nobodies ever heard of are the highlight of your tim burton/johnny depp film, you KNOW something has gone awry.

This movie was all right.  The score is probably my least favorite of Elfman's (unless you count Oingo Boingo).  I liked how they got into Willy Wonka's life but...

SPOILERS


The ending seemed so forced.  It was like they shot the film, put it together and agreed that they should shoot a little more of Willy Wonka reconciling, and everything working out in the end.

I did laugh a few times throughout, but the one thing that sticks out in my mind was the 2001: A Space Odyssey reference.

When the song chimed in and they began carrying the chocolate bar so it looked like the monolith I was laughing really loudly, but other people in the theater were staring at me like they didn't get it.

Then when they showed the placement of the candy bar around the apes, so it was the monolith in 2001, I stopped laughing and realized a good joke had just been killed.

Ummm... yeah.

Pretty much agree with the concensus. Being a HUGE fan of the original (one of my favorite films of all time), I was not in favor of this remake, but decided to give it it's due. Without making comparisons to the original, here's my take on this version: The movie overall has no sense of fun. I didn't like how the kids were already prejudged just from seeing the way they won and that Wonka already knew about them. Charlie himself made me dislike him when he won the ticket and he wanted to sell it right away (I assume if he had a computer, he would have ebay'ed the ticket without telling his... ppppppppppparents). The kids and parents questioned him and his factory, when he's the world's leading chocolate maker. Why? He obviously knows what he's doing. It's probably because Wonka comes off as clueless. It's explained why Wonka is the way he is - childlike, but it made for the kids and the parents to be smarter than him. I could see how they percieved him as weird and would be easy to be picked on (much like Michael Jackson receives). The songs were too overproduced; you couldn't hear the lyrics, not that they were anything memorable or catchy (Where is the Elfman from the Nightmare/Christmas days?). Mike Teevee sums it up when he points out that everything was "pointless."

I saw this in the theatre and enjoyed it, I didn't like it nearly as much this time around.  The Psycho/2001 references are obvious, but I felt the Wonka entrance to the children with his little machine reminded me of Rules of the Game, anyone else catch that?

I saw this movie in the theater with a group of people who loved it, which made me feel like a real dick when I had to tell them how bad it was.  I can't remember being more bored or annoyed by a movie in the last year.  The music was awful.  Just awful.

Burton used to have a real sensitive side, but there's been a serious cynical streak running through his last crop of movies ("Big Fish" being the exception that I thought would get him back on track).  This flick just continued that streak.  I got the sense that Burton not only doesn't care about any of these characters, he actively hates them.  And not just the "bad" kids.  Everyone in the movie is disdained by the filmmakers, and that disdain was transferred, as though through an I.V., to me in the audience.

My grade: D+ (the "+" is for the German kid with no eyebrows)