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Timothee Chalamet to play young Willy Wonka in musical 'Wonka', upset fans say 'leave the classics alone'

'Who the hell is this for?? Who is asking for these movies?' a social media user shared noticing the remake of the classic children's story

Academy Award-nominated actor Timothee Chalamet continues his golden run in Hollywood and has nabbed the role of the world’s famous chocolatier in ‘Wonka’, a musical based on the early life of Willy Wonka.

Based on the popular children’s book written by Roald Dahl, the movie will reportedly be exploring the upbringing of the fictional character who later went on to open an elaborate house of confectionary treats. The ‘Call Me by Your Name’ star will be singing and dancing in the upcoming adaptation according to the star's reps. 

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The popular children’s book follows a boy named Charlie Bucket, who wins a golden ticket to tour the famous chocolate factory run by Wonka. As the tour proceeds, four of the children are eliminated, leaving Charlie as the winner. However, the upcoming film will be taking place before the character opened up the factory. So, any chances of Charlie making an appearance in ‘Wonka’ look really bleak.

Legendary actor Gene Wilder was the first person to play the chocolatier in the 1971 movie adaptation movie 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' and Johnny Depp went on to play the iconic character in 2005 reboot 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'. 

Since the announcement, there have been a lot of mixed reactions from social media. On one hand, people are really excited to see Chalamet playing the role, but on the other, they are not that thrilled about another adaptation made on the famous character who first appeared in the 1964 children’s novel ‘Charlie and The Chocolate Factory’.

‘Bet SNL hosting was demo tape'

Social media has gone berserk after the casting announcement and flooded the micro-blogging platform Twitter with crazy reactions. One of the users wrote, “This is excellent and fun news! Timothée Chalamet was the ONLY actor @wbpictures wanted to play Wonka. I bet his @nbcsnl hosting duties in December was a demo tape for his superb talent to play baby Wonka.” Another user said, “This is the casting news announcement I've been waiting for! Timothée tipped us a couple of weeks ago! This is perfect, I'm so thrilled for him!!!”

“YUP TIMMY!!! HE IS GONNA KILL THIS ROLE,” another user wrote. Meanwhile, another one shared, “Incredibly good casting uncanny similarities to the legend that is the gene.” Another user noted, “Ahh @RealChalemet will be amazing. He is such a diverse actor so this will be awesome to watch!”

However, there were many who believed that no one asked for another movie on Wonka and urged Warner Bros. to “leave the classics alone.” One user wrote, “Hollywood, come up with something else. Not interested. Leave the classic alone.” Another user stated, “Who the hell is this for?? Who is asking for these movies??”

“This just feels like a disaster waiting to happen,” said another one.

Meanwhile, one user feels that making sequels and prequels has made the cinema experience really boring. The user shared, “Wouldn’t it be interesting if Hollywood made an effort to focus more on original stories and ideas? Between prequels, sequels, origin stories, and Marvel, the cinema experience has become one big repetitive bore. There is no “art” to any of this.”

Another one wrote, “Nobody wants to see the origin of Willy Wonka. I say this as a big fan of the original film.”

The movie is being directed by Paul King, who is known for making ‘Paddington’ films. King has also written the current draft of the upcoming project along with Simon Farnaby. Renowned writer Simon Rich penned the original draft.

The movie is scheduled to debut theatrically on March 17, 2023.