Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the new movie)
Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka This movie adaptation of the 1964 classic by Roald Dahl, was released in July of 2005. It features Johnny Depp as the eccentric Willie Wonka, owner and proprieter of a candy factory in England. Willie Wonka is what Johnny Depp refers to as an “iclonic loner”, which are the types of characters he typically likes to play. After decades of staying behind the gates of his factory, he decides to open up to a select seven people who find golden tickets hidden inside the wrapper of their Wonka Bars.
We see immediately that Johnny’s portrayal of Willie Wonka is much different than Gene Wilder’s from a few decades earlier. Depp appears much younger, and much more eccentric than Wiler’s version of Wonka. Depp’s Wonka also explains to what lengths he has traveled to find the most bizarre and exotic and wonderful tastes from around the world. Depp’s adaptation of Wonka also seems to appear even more apathetic than the book version of Wonka, as well as Wilder’s version of Wonka. While all show a genuine distaste for intruders–especially spoiled little children, Depp’s character shows a more sadistic loathing than any other portrayal of Wonka.
Depp as Wonka seems to dislike his mission of finding a successor to his factory more than any other portrayal of Wonka in the past as well. He seems to have taken his mission as more of an afterthought. While all portrayals of Willie Wonka show the character as a loner who dislikes the company of others, Depp’s portrayal of Wonka is more insulting regarding the intelligence of the winners of the golden tickets. I truly enjoyed watching Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka. It seems to fit right in with his regular film repertoire of unusual, loner characters. Who would have thought the boy who lived across the street from Nancy in Nightmare On Elm Street in 1984 would have turned out to have such an aspiring career as an actor? Johnny Depp certainly has come a long way from Glen Lantz in the early 80′s, to a now world renowned, critically acclaimed, Academy Award nominated actor.
