Citizen Cane

Johnny Depp, Hollywood's hottest eccentric, meets his match playing Willy Wonka in Tim Burton's 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.' How sweet is that?
By Sean Smith
Newsweek

July 4 issue - Playing Willy Wonka is not for the timid. It requires courage, imagination and flawless fashion sense. "I like these heels," Johnny Depp says, pulling up his pant cuff to reveal a sleek boot emblazoned with a swirly W. "I wanted Wonka to be this long, string-beany kind of figure, and give him these unbelievable cha-cha heels." It's late September, on a soundstage outside London, and Depp is taking a break in the inventing room of Wonka's factory. Nearby, director Tim Burton sets up for the scene in which gum-smacking Violet Beauregarde will meet a violet end. "This is our fourth movie together," Depp says. "I'm so honored that he asked me to play Wonka. I just hope I'm in the right arena here. My first concern is always, 'Jesus, I don't want to let Tim down'." Or the rest of the world, for that matter.

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is a movie that divides people even before they've seen it. Stand in any theater lobby near the film's poster—with Depp in his merlot velvet coat and top hat—and the passing comments soon take on a consistent rhythm. For every person who cheers "I can't wait!" another jeers "How dare they?" The 1971 film version of Roald Dahl's classic children's book, starring Gene Wilder, was not a box-office hit, but through television and video it has become a Gen-X fave. On the other hand, the Wilder movie was not quite faithful to Dahl's book, which has sold more than 13 million copies worldwide, and it was made on the cheap by a food company eager to use it as a tool to sell candy bars. "People want to pit the two movies against each other and turn this into 'Celebrity Deathmatch'," says an exasperated Burton. "Like we're wiping out three generations of childhood memories. It's not like we're burning DVDs of the old movie. Anybody who loves it can watch it."

Dahl himself, who died in 1990, did not love the old movie. There were changes to his screenplay that he didn't approve of, but mainly, says his widow, Liccy Dahl, "there was a falling-out over the casting. Roald was desperate for Wonka to be played by an English comedian named Spike Milligan. You may not be old enough to know who Spike Milligan was, but he was an amazing, incredible man." The filmmakers humored Dahl—"'lip service' I think you call it in L.A.," Liccy says—and auditioned Milligan, but cast Wilder instead. The author never quite forgave that slight. After Dahl's death, Liccy took over his estate, and has exercised exacting control over film adaptations of his work. When Warner Bros. first approached her eight or nine years ago about making a new film version of "Charlie," she turned them down. "I'm always a little bit worried about remakes," Liccy says. "I wasn't convinced it was the right thing to do." Armed with script, director and star approval, she put the studio through its paces for years.