Who can take a sunrise, sprinkle it with dew, cover it with chocolate and a miracle or two? That would be Timothée Chalamet, although the Wonka trailer only hints at its star's song and dance skills. Instead, Hugh Grant's Oompa Loompa gets the standout musical moment in this first preview.
Wonka is an origin story set before the events of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Here, Willy (Chalamet, an Oscar nominee for Call Me by Your Name) has just returned home from his wondrous travels abroad with hopes of starting a candy shop unlike any other. First, he must take on the Chocolate Cartel. The cast includes Calah Lane as Willy's sidekick, Noodle, as well as Keegan-Michael Key, Rowan Atkinson, Natasha Rothwell, Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins and Oscar winner Olivia Colman.
Paul King, who directed both Paddington films, helms from a screenplay he wrote with Simon Farnaby and Simon Rich. Alexandra Derbyshire, Luke Kelly, and David Heyman — a three-time Oscar nominee for producing the Best Picture nominees Gravity, Marriage Story and Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood — serve as producers.
For King, Wonka very much serves as a prequel to 1971's Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, which starred Gene Wilder in the title role. "What I wanted this movie to be was like a companion piece to that movie," the director told Entertainment Weekly. "If you imagine those people in that world 25 years earlier, that was my starting process. Eventually, he would grow into that person and that factory."
Wonka opens in theaters on Dec. 15. Watch the trailer below.
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