Wonka Director Raves About How Good the Chocolate Was on Set

There may not be a Willy Wonka in real life, but the production of the new apparently felt like the fictional candy-maker was present on the set. Paul King, the film’s director, as revealed that there were all sorts of sweets and chocolates available during the production, made for the characters to eat on-screen. While speaking with People for a new interview about the film, which opens in December, King talked about eating a ton of chocolate alongside star Timothee Chalamet.

“I think I’ve [gained’ about 50 pounds, but I hope I can lose it before [the movie] comes out,” King joked. “It’s a miracle Timmy remains so slim and handsome. I’m trying to fatten him up, but it’s hard to do.”

King went on to say that the production had an “incredible” chocolate maker, who designed and delivered a number of chocolates and candies for the film. 

“We had this incredible chocolatier,” King said. “She made these incredible concoctions and we would taste them.”

“Obviously, actors are good at pretending things,” the filmmaker added, “but the miracle was they tasted every bit as good as they looked.”

In one scene, a character falls into a giant vat of chocolate, and that was made of real chocolate as well. An entire container of not-so-hot chocolate was made for the scene.

“We actually made an enormous vat of hot chocolate — not scalding, just warm hot chocolate for them to immerse themselves in,” he said. “So there was a lot of chocolate around.”

Chalamet Didn’t Have to Audition for Wonka

Even though the role of Willy Wonka is an iconic one — thanks to the performance of Gene Wilder in 1971’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory — Chalamet didn’t have to audition to play the character. King saw videos of the actor singing and dancing, and that was enough for him.

“It was a straight offer because he’s great and he was the only person in my mind who could do it,” King told Rolling Stone. “But because he’s Timothée Chalamet and his life is so absurd, his high school musical performances are on YouTube and have hundreds of thousands of views. So I knew from stanning for Timmy Chalamet that he could sing and dance really well.” King added, “I knew that was in his arsenal, but I didn’t know how good he was. When I spoke to him he was quite keen. He’d done tap dancing in high school and he was like, ‘I’d quite like to show people I can do that.’”

Wonka is set to hit theaters on December 15th.