Most of you might be familiar with the 1971 Gene Wilder or the 2005 Johnny Depp film, but I've found a lot to explore behind the book that you might have missed while watching, or that hadn't been included in the films.
1. A Brit Named Roald Dahl
Dahl was one of the most well-known British authors of the 20th century, also writing such works as James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and The Witches. However, he started off like many British authors of the time -- enduring high-society education before being shipped off to war. It wasn't that simple a journey for Dahl, though, so a quick read on Wikipedia will be enough to satisfy. I will say that as a child, he liked candy a lot. He was aware of the espionage rivalry between the Cadbury and Rowntree's chocolate factories, and he was often part of surveys for testing Cadbury samples as a schoolchild. He held on to these memories and eventually used them to form the book we know today.
2. Enter Wonka's Factory
I'm going to try something a little different here -- I'll just try to summarize certain parts of the book and analyze it from there. The book focuses on Charlie Bucket, this week's diamond in the rough, who lives with his extended family in a run-down house dreaming of one day getting closer to Wonka's locked-up factory. Wonka's factory (which was the largest in the world) had been closed down 15 years earlier after spies from rival factories started trying to steal his recipes, and reopened without any trace of new employment or activity other than smoky chimneys and departing candy.
One day, a message from the long-reclusive owner Willy Wonka reaches the world that he had hidden 5 golden tickets among the many chocolate bars sent worldwide, which will allow a child and his parents to be part of a factory tour for a day, with a lifetime supply of chocolate at the end.
It's pretty clear that Dahl had other ideas in mind for more kids before narrowing the list down to the final 5. It's also clear what he had in mind for the message of eliminating the kids through the story. The additional 4 kids act as embodiments of various sins who are pruned and eliminated by Wonka using their sins against them -- German portly kid Augustus Gloop represents gluttony, gum-chewer Violet Beauregarde represents pride and egotism, British spoiled brat Veruca Salt represents overindulgence, and TV lover Mike Teavee represents ignorant addiction. On the other hand, Charlie (and Grandpa Joe) represents humility and the qualities of innocence and playful curiosity that a child retains when they are not exposed to the temptations that overcame the other 4 kids.
One of the other interesting themes in the book is how Wonka's inventions always seem to be physical embodiments of metaphors that in real life would not work, but ends up making the final candy better. Still, the parents are the most shocked at how Wonka operates his factory -- some of these ingredients Wonka puts in would likely have him shut down by the health department.
If you read the book without watching any of the movies, you'd have thought that the story was quite gruesome. And if you also looked into the creation of the book, you'd be quite right. We know Wonka to be quite strange in his methods however we view him, but had some of the chapters cut out been kept in the book, who knows what filmmakers might think about the message Dahl tried to portray.
There was one chapter kept on Dahl's desk after the book was published called "Spotty Powder". It featured one of the lost kids called Miranda Piker, accompanied by both her parents, who is practically a smug teacher's pet. Wonka shows them a room with pipes that spray "spotty powder" around, which makes kids look sick so they won't have to go to school. I'll stop there, 'cause I almost vomited at the notion that followed while researching this. But if you're really daring, you can read the lost chapter here.
3. A Musical Marketing Scheme
I'm going to take a break from the book, and I'm sure you will too, but after reading the lost chapter above, I'm pretty surprised that the idea for a movie version first came from the 10-year-old daughter of its eventual director. That director was Mel Stuart, a small-timer probably best known for directing the JFK documentary Four Days in November in 1964. His daughter also asked him to have his friend David L. Wolper to produce it. Wolper was a long-time TV producer known for being part of such works as Biography, North and South, LA Confidential, and Adventures of Superman with George Reeves, who was conveniently talking with Quaker Oats at the time to pitch a new candy bar for subsidiary Breaker Confections to sell. Stuart showed him the book, and he convinced Quaker to finance an adaptation of the book to be tied to the release of a new Wonka Bar brand.
Dahl had agreed to be the screenwriter of the new film, which was called Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory to tie in better to the new candy. He was joined by the uncredited David Seltzer (who would later write The Omen and Bird on a Wire), who worked in Slugworth as a major character and suggested that Willy Wonka should spontaneously make literary quotes in his dialogue.
Casting was a bit harder, especially in the case of Wonka himself. After 4 rejected choices, Gene Wilder was chosen at a casting call in New York. He agreed on the condition that the film include the iconic introduction scene where he walks out with a cane and somersaults off it. In addition, Slugworth was taken up by Günter Meisner, best known as the portrayer of Hitler in many small films around that time.
I had lived in the middle of the German state of Bavaria for a few years, so it's interesting that this film was primarily made in Bavaria's capital city Munich. In addition, I found it quite odd that tourist-town Rothenburg (a nearby town we often visited on the weekends) was often mistaken for the town seen from above at the end of the film, which was actually sister town Nördlingen. Rothenburg was otherwise known for inspiring the town in Disney's Pinocchio, and being filmed for the recent Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows films among many other references.
There've been quite a lot of changes to the story that added a different feel to it. The introduction of the Slugworth subplot changed the nature of the kids' motivations by giving each of them (including Charlie) an additional temptation. In addition, Charlie and Grandpa Joe were given yet another temptation for their curiosity (this time in secret rather than the others) with the Fizzy Lifting Drink room, but they are able to save themselves by reversing their actions rather than succumbing to further arrogance. Then, the contract the kids sign before the tour adds a final road block for Charlie to overcome, which forces him to give back the gobstopper (meant for Slugworth) as an apology, allowing him to win despite Wonka saying the Fizzy Lifting Drink scene made them forfeit.
Surprisingly, Dahl himself did not like the final film. He was behind schedule in writing, which allowed Seltzer to rewrite it himself. Dahl did not like many of the changes to the story as a result, and as a result he did not let them make a sequel with his follow-up book Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. (Just to sum up for those who are curious, this next book continues after the end, where they try to get everybody to the factory, but Charlie's other grandparents put them into many weird hijinks much like in the first book without Wonka's sadistic elimination game.)
While it was positively received by critics and earned $4 million (making up for its $2.9 million budget), it was a financial failure and Paramount dropped out of distributing the film afterwards. Quaker sold their share of the film rights to Warner Bros., and later sold the Wonka candy brand and its subsidiary to Nestlé where you find its ads coming out today.
4. Warner Takes On a Remake
Starting in 1991, Warner Bros. took their newly acquired rights and kept in touch with Dahl's estate (he died a year earlier) for the next decade trying to start the production of a new adaptation of the book. After several changes to the script and the director spot, both parties eventually settled on Tim Burton as director. If you don't know who Burton is, then welcome to Planet Earth! Hope you enjoy your stay here. What I can say other than that is that Dahl let him produce an adaptation of James and the Giant Peach for Disney in 1996, so the estate was happy to have him on board.
Anyway, after Burton came on, he suggested Johnny Depp star as Wonka, collaborator John August write the final script, and Danny Elfman helm the score. In addition, Depp considered Freddie Highmore (who worked with him on Finding Neverland) play Charlie.
Again, you can't really have an adaptation without adding or removing something from the book's story. In this case, Burton and August decided to add a backstory and subplot for Wonka, involving a dentist father played by veteran actor Christopher Lee. In addition, Mike Teavee was made into a video game addict, and Wonka was written to be somewhat crazier in nature.
Nonetheless, regardless of how close the plot was, the movie ended up being much more removed than the previous film -- fewer metaphorical ingredients, no demonic boat ride (made merely a roller coaster-type with some side rooms), more awkward behavior from all characters, and giving a reason behind Wonka's madness. In both the book and the films, Wonka was supposed to be crazy merely as being a self-made inventor and proprietor of dreams. Not that the sideplot is a bad thing, but it kinda takes away from the magical nature of the factory, and it again puts too much emphasis on Wonka himself rather than Charlie.
Well, I did not start this to review films, so I'll stop there. I'm pretty bad at writing conclusions, but I hope you liked looking a little deeper into something that might not have crossed your mind as a casual observer. Hope to see you again, eh, soon.
