Get ready for an origin story based on Willy Wonka. Speaking with Collider, producer David Heyman revealed that the upcoming Willy Wonka movie from Paddington director Paul King will be a prequel focused on the chocolate factory owner’s early life.
Heyman said: “We are still trying to figure out how to tell that story, what the story is. It’s a prequel, it’s not a sequel. What makes Willy—when we find him at the chocolate factory doing the golden ticket, where is he before that? What leads him to that place where he’s locked himself away?… It’s how does he get there? So we’re playing around with that.”
According to the report, King is still in early negotiations to direct the film, and is prepping a new adaptation of Pinocchio, which means we’re still a long way out from seeing the chocolate factory open its doors again.
David Heyman of the Harry Potter franchise is set to produce the new film from a screenplay to be penned by Man Seeking Woman series creator Simon Rich, who also contributed material to Inside Out and The Secret Life of Pets. Courtenay Valenti (Mad Max: Fury Road) is overseeing the project for the studio.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has been twice adapted for the big screen, including a hit 2005 version — also released by Warners — starring Johnny Depp and directed by Tim Burton, and most famously as 1971’s Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory starring Gene Wilder in his most iconic role. No direct feature adaptation has been made of Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (though elements of it were used in both films), and Dahl was developing a third Wonka book titled Charlie in the White House before he passed away in 1990.
Are you guys interested in Willy Wonka prequel? Are you looking forward to seeing the beginnings of the eccentric chocolatier? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
