Yahoo Movies Wonka chocolate in new film is all real, director reveals
Never mind using “pure imagination”, as the song goes in the original screen version of Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory.
The latest film based on Roald Dahl’s much-loved tale features only real chocolates for the elaborate confections in the story.
Director Paul King revealed that, unlike in previous adaptations, every sweet in the new film can be eaten - as his waistline now proves.
He told the Radio Times: “Everything consumed in the movie is properly edible and tasty, even the flowers and leaves.
He added: “My favourite part of the whole process was tasting (which I did far more often than was technically necessary) — I think I gained about 50 pounds.”
Speaking ahead of the release of the film on December 8, Mr King explained he put so much importance in creating authentic chocolates for the movie he employed a full-time chocolatier on set.
The Paddington director said: “Well, the ‘hoverchocs’ are fantastic. Sadly, they don’t literally make you fly, but Gabriella Cugno, our very own chocolatier, made the most exquisite creations.
“And I can personally vouch for the fact they are also the most delicious chocolates I’ve ever had.”
Cardiff-based chocolatier Ms Cugno, has previously said there were around 10 different chocolates from the script she had to recreate, providing at least five different versions of each one, so Mr King could pick the right one.
This also sometimes involved the crew providing her with 3D-printed moulds to speed up the process.
Starring Timothée Chalamet in the title role, the new film is the third time Roald Dahl’s character has been brought to the big screen.
It comes after the 2005 Tim Burton version of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, starring Johnny Depp, and the 1971 film of the same name, where Gene Wilder plays Wonka.
But unlike the 1971 version of the film, which had Mr Wilder sinking his teeth into an “edible” teacup which was actually made out of wax, all the teapots in Mr King’s film are of the cocoa variety.
Mr King told the Radio Times: “There was an amazing thing on set one day. I was remembering the bit [in the 1971 movie, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory] where Gene Wilder eats a teacup. And I was like, ‘Oh, if only I’d thought of this, we could have a chocolate cup that Willy could make’.”
Turning to his on-set chocolatier, they set to making it a reality.
He said: “We only had an hour before we had to film the scene — possibly with multiple takes — but she was unfazed. And she went away and created half a dozen perfect little cups and saucers, made of what looked like different blue leaves.”
However, it was the green-winged hoverchocs that Ms Cugno put as her biggest challenge, with the chocolatier having to make between 700 and 900 during her time working on the film.
The latest version of the Wonka story is set to be the one made with the highest real chocolate content, with the original version famously made with a combination of edible and non-edible elements.
Stars of the film have revealed in recent interviews that while there were some edible elements, the majority of the set could not be consumed. The edible elements did include the memorable “three-course” gum which tasted like a three-course meal, which was made out of taffy.
However, the river of chocolate which the greedy Augustus Gloop nearly drowned in was also not chocolate but instead water, with food colouring.
Paris Themmen played Mike Teevee in the 1971 film. The former child actor recalled decades on: “The river was made of water with food coloring. At one point, they poured some cocoa powder into it to try to thicken it but it didn’t really work. When asked [what the river was made of], Michael Böllner, who played Augustus Gloop, answers, ‘It vas dirty, stinking vater.’”
Tim Burton, whose 2005 film relied heavily on computer-generated imagery (CGI), did fill Wonka’s river but this was with 206,563 gallons of fake chocolate.
