Timothée Chalamet’s mom finally got a lighter project from her movie star son.
IN Wonkathe Academy Award nominee stars as a magician-chocolatier who dreams of opening a cake shop to make his mother, played by Sally Hawkins, proud.
Chalamet, 27, tells PEOPLE that the family film, in which he sings and dances, is now his mother Nicole Flender’s favorite movie he’s made so far.
“This might be her favorite thing I’ve ever been in,” he says, joking about his R-rated 2022 cannibalism film: “I think she’s seen Bones and all and said, ‘You need to be happier in your movies!’ ”
“But,” adds Chalamet Wonka“this is a tradition. I come from a musical theater family, and this is more in line with the kind of film I would have thought I’d be doing 10 years ago, if I’d been lucky enough to do it at all.”
He says, “This was so much fun to work on. I don’t think this was like anything I’ve ever worked on.”
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Timothee Chalamet November 28, 2023
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The star is mostly known for dramatic, more adult roles, from Beautiful Boy to Call me by your name and King — so much so that his young co-star, Calah Lane, was unfamiliar with Chalamet before he was cast as Noodle in Wonka.
“Actually, I didn’t know who he was. Not in a bad way; I really love him now. But I never got a chance to see his work because I was only 12,” says Lane, now 15. he was too old for me. But after I met him, we became great friends.”
Chalamet admits that Willy Wonka is a change of pace for him, in terms of the characters he takes on. He says the film is “old” and “honest”.
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Timothee Chalamet and Hugh Grant in the movie “Wonka”.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc
“[Director] Paul King thinks of his stories. As Paddington and Paddington 2, these are not cynical Hollywood movies. They are extremely warm and sincere,” says Chalamet. “The main message of this film is that you never give up on your dreams. And that may seem like a tired, old Hollywood slogan, but it’s meant to be because Paul King means it. As funny as that sounds.”
King says he was “delighted” by how much Chalamet “owned the character.”
“How he just managed to channel the spirit of the character, paying homage to the great Gene Wilder, but not in any sense acting or anything like that,” says King. “He just became Willy Wonka and it was a pleasure. What was so strange was seeing him without a costume at the end of the day because I just started to believe he existed in this plum coat and brown top hat.”
The actor, who next returns for a Dune sequel in 2024, admits it was “definitely scary” to step into the iconic role, previously played on screen by Wilder and Johnny Depp.”Whenever a character is beloved, people feel protective of them, which is understandable. But I feel that is a character that was created before I even got involved. That’s another story,” he said of the origin story.
Chalamet adds: “I think Paul King has done a wonderfully smart, heartfelt and honest story here of a young Willy Wonka who is ambitious and full of ideas and dreams, rather than the broken man we’ve seen in other films.”
Wonka it’s in theaters on December 15.
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Source: HIS Education