Acclaimed director Tim Burton brings his vividly imaginative style to the beloved Roald Dahl classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, about eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka (Depp) and Charlie, a good-hearted boy from a poor family who lives in the shadow of Wonkas extraordinary factory. Long isolated from his own family, Wonka launches a worldwide contest to select an heir to his candy empire. Five lucky children, including Charlie, draw golden tickets from Wonka chocolate bars and win a guided tour of the legendary candy-making facility that no outsider has seen in 15 years. Dazzled by one amazing sight after another, Charlie is drawn into Wonkas fantastic world in this astonishing and enduring story.
First things first: This is not Gene Wilders Willy Wonka. Rather, "its going more in the direction that [author] Roald Dahl intended," says Johnny Depp, who, in his fourth collaboration with director Tim Burton (and second with his Finding Neverland costar Freddie Highmore), plays the eccentric confectionary genius as a "game-show host"–cum–"bratty child." Although theyre adhering closely to Dahls text, Burton and screenwriter John August (Big Fish) have added a backstory for Wonka, revolving around his relationship with his dentist father (Christopher Lee). There are also several Danny Elfman–penned songs. "Anything new, we tried to run it through the thing of, Is it in the spirit of the book? " says Burton, who insisted on real squirrels whenever possible for the Nut Room sequences and non-CG Oompa-Loompas, each of which is played by the diminutive actor Deep Roy, shrunk to 30 inches onscreen. The elaborate sets, built at Englands Pinewood Studios, are also very real. "It was important to have sets," says Burton, "just so you feel like youre there more. And having a bunch of kids in a blue-screen room would be a nightmare for everybody."