Innocent Timothee Chalamet's Wonka Statement Sparks Outrage Among Fans
Many of them seem surprisingly enraged by a rather mild statement.
Wonka, an upcoming film that will tell the origin story of Willy Wonka, one of the main characters in Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which has been adapted twice for the big screen, will be released later this year.
This time, the titular chocolatier will be portrayed by Timothée Chalamet, whose career has been on the rise in recent years, and the actor shared his reasons for portraying the iconic character.
But the revelation has sparked an unexpected reaction from fans.
In a recent interview, Chalamet said that he was drawn to a project with "an uncynical young audience" and that in these troubled times, "this is hopefully going to be a piece of chocolate."
For some reason, however, fans didn't take this lightly and erupted in a flurry of angry comments.
They claim that the actor completely misunderstands the purpose of the original book, which was intended to be cynical by its author, as it depicts a group of obnoxious kids who pay the price for breaking the rules, and there is a lot of sarcasm in Wonka's lines.
So to say that the audience will not be sarcastic is quite ignorant, and given the fact that this is a third adaptation, there is a chance that the audience will be even more cynical than before.
They also accuse the actor of typical "PR talk" and believe that Chalamet only said it because of contractual obligations.
In their opinion, he is only in the project for the money, and they are angry that he is "trying to pass it off as a charitable act for humanity."
Such a heated response is definitely unexpected. Of course, there are those who have left neutral or positive comments, but the amount of negativity is just baffling.
Timothée Chalamet is a young actor without any notable misdeeds in his career, it's not like everyone really knows that he's a bad person.
So it seems a bit much to make such unfounded allegations out of nowhere, and even if the source material does have a cynical undertone, that doesn't mean it isn't great material for children.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a children's classic, so there is absolutely nothing wrong with using it as inspiration for a movie aimed at a young audience. After all, it is not made exclusively for grumpy adults.
Wonka will premiere on December 15, 2023.