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Wonka Director Paul King Is "Not Very Interested in the Real World"

Wonka director Paul King admits that he's "not very interested in the real world" when it comes to his movies, and we don't blame him.

Of the two musicals coming out in December, The Color Purple seems much more like a sure thing than Wonka. However, if there was any reason to have faith that Wonka will turn out all right, it's director Paul King. King has made some of the best feel-good movies of the last decade and seems to know how to hit that soft spot we all have. It doesn't matter whether or not you were a fan of Paddington Bear as a kid; you walked out of those movies feeling the world was good even if, in the back of your mind, you know that it isn't. It takes work to make your audience completely forget how terrible the world is around them, and it very much seems like King is attempting to do that again with Wonka. When Empire spoke to him about his aesthetic, King replied, "It's not a wilful attempt to build a brand or a style. I want to make films that have, hopefully, some visual fun and that take you on a ride. I'm not very interested in the real world." The world is terrible; no one should be interested in it, so we don't blame him.

King, like most people working in Hollywood, is a complete nerd when it comes to movies in general. The concept of references and homages has always been present in films, but now that more and more people have access to old catalogs with more ease, filmmakers can add more obscure references, and people will understand them because there is a chance people have seen the films. For Wonka, the formative movie is likely not one you expect; it's Delicatessen from directors Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet that was released in 1991.

"I'm always thinking about Delicatessen, my formative movie," King said. "Having comprehensively homaged Amélie in the Paddington movies, I'm now homaging Delicatessen. One day, I must write a letter of apology. 'Cher Monsieur Jeunet…'"

Not the movie we expected to hear, but if anything, a black comedy that includes cannibalism, murder, and a group of underground vegetarian rebels in a post-apocalyptic world where grain is the currency being the source of homage for Wonka just made the film way more interesting.

Wonka: Summary, Cast List, Release Date

Based on the extraordinary character at the center of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl's most iconic children's book and one of the best-selling children's books of all time, Wonka tells the wondrous story of how the world's greatest inventor, magician and chocolate-maker became the beloved Willy Wonka we know today.

From Paul King, writer/director of the Paddington films, David Heyman, producer of Harry Potter, Gravity, Fantastic Beasts and Paddington, and producers Alexandra Derbyshire (the Paddington films, Jurassic World: Dominion) and Luke Kelly (Roald Dahl's The Witches), comes an intoxicating mix of magic and music, mayhem and emotion, all told with fabulous heart and humor. Starring Timothée Chalamet in the title role, this irresistibly vivid and inventive big-screen spectacle will introduce audiences to a young Willy Wonka, chock-full of ideas and determined to change the world one delectable bite at a time—proving that the best things in life begin with a dream, and if you're lucky enough to meet Willy Wonka, anything is possible.

Starring alongside Chalamet are Calah Lane (The Day Shall Come), Emmy and Peabody Award winner Keegan-Michael Key (The Prom, Schmigadoon), Paterson Joseph (Vigil, Noughts + Crosses), Matt Lucas (Paddington, Little Britain), Mathew Baynton (The Wrong Mans, Ghosts), Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water, the Paddington films, Spencer), Rowan Atkinson (the Johnny English and Mr. Bean films, Love Actually), Jim Carter (Downton Abbey), with Oscar winner Olivia Colman (The Favourite). The film also stars Natasha Rothwell (White Lotus, Insecure), Rich Fulcher (Marriage Story, Disenchantment), Rakhee Thakrar (Sex Education, Four Weddings and a Funeral), Tom Davis (Paddington 2, King Gary) and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (Paddington 2, Zack Snyder's Justice League, Mary Poppins Returns).

Warner Bros. Pictures Presents, in Association with Village Roadshow Pictures, a Heyday Films Production, a Paul King Confection, Wonka, set to open in theaters and in IMAX internationally beginning in December 2023 and in North America on December 15, 2023; it will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures.

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