Timothee Chalamet’s “digital footprint” helped him land his role in ‘Wonka’.
The 27-year-old actor needed to be able to sing to play chocolatier Willy Wonka in the ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ prequel, and fortunately, thanks to old footage from his time at LaGuardia performing arts school in New York already being shared online, director Paul King was already aware his musical abilities wasn’t something he’d have to worry about.
Explaining he cast Timothee on the strength of “all the great movies he’s been in”, Paul added to The Times newspaper’s Saturday Review: Because we live in this ridiculous century, some of Timmy’s high school performances are on the internet and have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.
“If mine were on the internet I would never work again.”
Timothee laughed: “Digital footprint. I grew up in the arts district in New York and I went to performing arts high schools, so I feel lucky that I didn’t have a traditional upbringing in that way.”
But the actor insisted his teenage experiences didn’t “really prepare” him for the scale of the performances in the film.
He said: “It was a brand new challenge. I sang a little bit in high school, but that doesn’t really prepare you.”
While Timothee was very familiar with Gene Wilder’s portrayal of Wonka in the classic 1971 adaptation of Roald Dahl’s beloved story, he didn’t think it was a bad thing to have the performance on his mind when he was filming his own scenes.
He said: “The Gene Wilder film I grew up on, like many kids in America. That is the quintessence of a magical, mysterious, wonderfully light but also dark figure.”
Asked if it was hard to get the movie out of his head, he replied: “No because this movie is really the companion piece to that film.”
And the ‘Call Me By Your Name’ actor thinks he has a lot in common with his confectioner alter ego.
His co-star Keegan-Michael Key noted: “There’s a wiliness to Gene Wilder’s portrayal that Timmy also has, but at the same time being very optimistic and childlike. Timmy found that balance beautifully.”
Timothee replied: “I’d like to think maybe I have that quality in life. But I could be dead wrong. Time will tell.”