You already know the one.
“Pure Imagination” maintains a firm presence in the film, opening in theaters Dec. 15.
“Definitely that music ofWilly Wonka and the Chocolate Factorywas the launchpad,” directorPaul Kingtells EW.
Timothee Chalamet’s Willy Wonka sings atop a chocolate tree in ‘Wonka’.Warner Bros. Pictures
“We worked with this great songwriter, Neil Hannon, who’s in this band The Divine Comedy.
There’s the great line in that song that really stuck with me: ‘Want to change the world?
There’s nothing to it.’
Mathew Baynton as Mr. Fickelgruber, Paterson Joseph as Mr. Slugworth, and Matt Lucas as Mr. Prodnose in ‘Wonka’.Warner Bros. Pictures
The song had some of the clues for the story we wanted to tell.”
“It’s kind of like that perfect taste of childhood,” King says.
“The highlight of the prep for me was our weekly chocolate tastings,” King agrees.
Willy Wonka (Timothée Chalamet) shows his friend Noodle (Calah Lane) a world of pure imagination.Jaap Buittendijk/Warner Bros.
Cugno had to rely on her own pure imagination.
“One of the variations would be a really wacky version or a really soft version.
I would look at Paul and what’s he gravitating towards for this particular scene?
Each chocolate is so different.
I would slowly understand what his vision is.”
Many of King’s daydreams ofWonkacame from King’s time perusing the Dahl archives in Great Missenden, England.
And not just with the mythology of the original bookCharlie and the Chocolate Factory.
But the 1971 movie was always his “guiding light,” according to King.
It’s the reason why he decided to makeWonkaa full-fledged musical.
(It explains whyKing compares Chalamet’s performance to Bing Crosby.)
But when you’re creating aWonkamusical, “Pure Imagination” looms large over the songs.
“But we knew we wanted to have it.
It was about finding the right place for it.”
Chalamet’s rendition comes at the end of the movie, which King found appropriate.
“Willy starts the film [wanting] to fit into somebody else’s world,” King says.
“He’s very much rejected by that world.
So then he realizes that he’s going to have to carve his own route forward.”
Wonka says it best: “There is no life I know to compare with pure imagination.”
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