History Trivia / CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory

!!The [[CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory novel]]

* AdaptationOverdosed: In addition to the two films and the West End musical, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_and_the_chocolate_factory#Adaptations there's]]:

** ''Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka'', a 2005 stage musical. It uses the 1971 film's songs and adds new numbers by Leslie Bricusse, the film's lyricist, but is a closer match to the book plotwise. Productions were mostly mounted by regional/amateur companies before the title was retired by the licenser in 2014 (owing to the 2013 musical superseding it).

** ''The Golden Ticket'', a 2010 opera.

** MartinScorsese was reportedly considered for the director's job. Music/MarilynManson was rumored to be his choice for Wonka, and Manson ''did'' campaign for it in any case.

** According to Douglas Hodge (who originated the role of Willy Wonka), "It Must Be Believed to Be Seen" was almost a CutSong, as the songwriters came up with a far more bombastic number to take its place. That song made it to the workshop stage, but Hodge wasn't happy with it and wanted something cheekier...so the writers, who felt much the same way by that point, played "It Must Be Believed to Be Seen" for him, and with further tweaking, the song was back in the show.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen:

** Before Burton was signed on, other rumored Wonkas ranged from RobinWilliams to WillSmith to NicolasCage. And once he was, he considered Christopher Walken before going with Depp.
** Music/MichaelJackson, according to his brother Jermaine's book ''You Are Not Alone'', was all set to campaign for the Wonka role -- and then he was charged of child molestation for the second time and had to give up that idea. Colleague/producer Marc Schaffel goes further with this, claiming that Michael wrote a '''whole soundtrack''' for the movie and submitted it to WarnerBrothers in 2000, figuring that they would give him the lead on the basis of it. But though executives loved it, they were not comfortable casting him as Willy Wonka, and offered to find another role in the film for him in exchange for the soundtrack. Michael was too dead set on the lead role to allow this, so it fell through. A few weeks before the movie hit theaters in July 2005, Jackson had been declared not guilty of the charges after a high-profile trial, so the unintentional, superficial resemblances between him and Depp's take on Wonka were brought up in ''many'' reviews and commentaries.
** [[Series/{{Merlin}} Sam]] [[Film/JurassicPark Neill]] auditioned for the role of Mr. Salt, but Burton said he wanted JohnnyDepp to be the only name actor in the movie. (As for Christopher Lee's appearance, that may be a case of CreatorThumbprint.)

** Brad Pitt wanted to play the role of Wonka as well, but was turned down.
* IWantYouToMeetAnOldFriendOfMine: Johnny Depp was so pleased with Freddie Highmore's work in Film/FindingNeverland that he asked Tim Burton to let Highmore screen test.

** ''Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka'', a 2005 stage musical. It uses the 1971 film's songs and adds new numbers by Leslie Bricusse, the film's lyricist, but is a closer match to the book plotwise. Productions have mostly been mounted by regional/amateur companies.

** MichaelJackson, according to his brother Jermaine's book ''You Are Not Alone'', was all set to campaign for the Wonka role -- and then he was charged of child molestation for the second time and had to give up that idea. Colleague/producer Marc Schaffel goes further with this, claiming that Michael wrote a '''whole soundtrack''' for the movie and submitted it to WarnerBrothers in 2000, figuring that they would give him the lead on the basis of it. But though executives loved it, they were not comfortable casting him as Willy Wonka, and offered to find another role in the film for him in exchange for the soundtrack. Michael was too dead set on the lead role to allow this, so it fell through. A few weeks before the movie hit theaters in July 2005, Jackson had been declared not guilty of the charges after a high-profile trial, so the unintentional, superficial resemblances between him and Depp's take on Wonka were brought up in ''many'' reviews and commentaries.

* AdaptationOverdosed: In addition to the two films, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_and_the_chocolate_factory#Adaptations there's]]:

** ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'', a 2013 West End musical with a score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, the composer and lyricists of ''Hairspray''.

* Johnny Depp was so pleased with Freddie Highmore's work in Film/FindingNeverland that he asked Tim Burton to let Highmore screen test.

* AdaptationOverdosed: In addition to the two films, there's:

** ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'', a 2013 West End musical with a score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, the composer and lyricists of ''Hairspray''. (The actor who originated the role of Wonka here, Douglas Hodge, also recorded an unabridged audiobook of the novel [and its sequel] that year. Previous audiobook versions were narrated by Dahl himself in TheSeventies [abridged] and [[Creator/MontyPython Eric Idle]] in 2002 [unabridged].)

** A stage play that's extremely faithful to the book.

** ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'', a 2013 West End musical with a score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, the composer and lyricists of ''Hairspray''. (The actor who originated the role of Wonka in this production, Douglas Hodge, also recorded an unabridged audiobook of the novel [and its sequel] that year -- the ''third'' audiobook version to date, after an abridgement read by Dahl himself in TheSeventies and an unabridged 2002 effort read by [[Creator/MontyPython Eric Idle]]. The story really gets around.)

** ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'', a 2013 West End musical with a score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, the composer and lyricists of ''Hairspray''.

** MichaelJackson, according to his brother Jermaine's book ''You Are Not Alone'', was all set to campaign for the Wonka role -- and then he was charged of child molestation for the second time and had to give up that idea. A few weeks before the movie hit theaters in July 2005, Jackson had been declared not guilty of the charges after a high-profile trial, so the unintentional, superficial resemblances between him and Depp's take on Wonka were brought up in ''many'' reviews and commentaries.

** MichaelJackson, according to his brother Jermaine's book ''You Are Not Alone'', was all set to campaign for the Wonka role -- and then he was charged of child molestation for the second time and had to give up that idea.

* Johnny Depp was so pleased with Freddie Highmore's work in Film/FindingNeverland that he asked Tim Burton to let Highmore screen test.

!!The 1971 [[Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory film]]
* BreakawayPopHit: A temporary case. For a little while, the opening number "The Candy Man" was better known than the film when it became a big hit for Sammy Davis, Jr., but once the movie became VindicatedByCable, the cover version was dismissed as kitsch later.
** The Sammy Davis, Jr. version has found use as a jingle/theme by Chris Evans on his BBC Radio 2 breakfast programme.
* DisownedAdaptation: Roald Dahl '''hated''' the original movie adaptation of his book, to the point where he refused to allow the movie of the sequel to be made. However, his widow also said he would have loved the Tim Burton adaptation if he had lived long enough to see it, though some doubt that on basis of Roald Dahl being as the type who dislikes film and TV in general (see AuthorFilibuster.)
* LifeImitatesArt: Sort of. Julie Dawn Cole, who played Veruca, swiped a few props from the set, including a Golden Ticket and an Everlasting Gobstopper. However, she lost the mink coat that was made specifically for the movie, having apparently left it on the back of her chair when she went to lunch. The director yelled at her until she cried when he found out- it was real fur.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[AllInTheFamily Jean Stapleton]] was offerred the role of Mike Teevee's mother at the same time she was also being offered the role of Edith Bunker. Even the director, who begged her to be in the movie, later admitted that she made the right choice.

** [[Series/{{Merlin}} Sam]] [[JurassicPark Neill]] auditioned for the role of Mr. Salt, but Burton said he wanted JohnnyDepp to be the only name actor in the movie. (As for Christopher Lee's appearance, that may be a case of CreatorThumbprint.)

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The original concept for the story didn't even have any children in it! After that, there were multiple drafts, each with different numbers of children (anywhere from five up to ''thirty'') with different personalities and fates (explained below). The general plot was different too: in an early draft the factory tours were a weekly event, [[TheWonka Willy Wonka]] had a son called Freddie, and the story ended with [[PinballProtagonist Charlie]] getting his own chocolate ''shop''.

*** Nestlé supplied all of the edible prop candy for the 2005 film.

** MartinScorsese was reportedly considered for the director's job. Music/MarilynManson was rumored to be his choice for Wonka.
** Burton considered Christopher Walken before going with Depp.
** Before Burton was signed on, other rumored Wonkas ranged from RobinWilliams to WillSmith to NicolasCage.
** [[Series/{{Merlin}} Sam]] [[JurassicPark Neill]] auditioned for the role of Mr. Salt, but Burton said he wanted JohnnyDepp to be the only name-actor in the movie.
*** If that's the case, why is Christopher Lee in the film?
** GregoryPeck was first offered the role of Grandpa Joe, and told Warner Brothers that he'd consider it. Sadly, he died before he could give his answer, but his family has revealed he was very eager to play the part. The only reason he didn't say yes right away was because he was afraid it would make him seem desperate and cause the studio to give him a lower paycheck.
** Michael Keaton was the original choice to play Wonka.

** The Sammy Davis Jnr version has found use as a jingle/theme by Chris Evans on his BBC Radio 2 breakfast programme.

*** Also Ironically, for a brand of candy made by a British company based on an Book from a British writer, they seem much more popular in America.
*** Their most notable original creation? [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerds_(candy) Nerds.]]

** GregoryPeck was first offered the role of Grandpa Joe, and told Warner Brothers that he'd consider it. Sadly, he died before he could give his answer, but his family has revealed he was very eager to play the part. The only reason he didn't say yes right away was because he was afraid it would make him seem desperate and cause the studio to give him a lower paycheck.

* [=~Hey, It's That Voice!~=]: The Narrator is Geoffrey Holder, better known as [[Film/LiveAndLetDie Baron Samedi]].

** MartinScorsese was reportedly considered for the director's job. MarilynManson was rumored to be his choice for Wonka.

** [[{{Series/Merlin}} Sam]] [[JurassicPark Neill]] auditioned for the role of Mr. Salt, but Burton said he wanted JohnnyDepp to be the only name-actor in the movie.

** GregoryPeck was first offerred the role of Grandpa Joe, and told Warner Brothers that he'd consider it. Sadly, he died before he could give his answer, but his family has revealed he was very eager to play the part. The only reason he didn't say yes right away was because he was afraid it would make him seem desperate and cause the studio to give him a lower paycheck.

* [=~Hey, It's That Voice!~=]: The Narrator is Geoffrey Holder, better known as [[LiveAndLetDie Baron Samedi]].