‘Wonka’ Trailer Features Hugh Grant as Singing Oompa-Loompa
The new trailer for the Warner Bros. musical Wonka features Hugh Grant singing as an Oompa-Loompa. The origin-story movie based on Roald Dahl's beloved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory stars Timothée Chalamet as candymaker Willy Wonka and is directed by Paul King.
At the end of the new Wonka trailer featuring dazzling Skittles-colored special effects, Hugh Grant sings the beginning of the Oompa-Loompa song. Aside from that moment, you wouldn't know that Chalamet sings in the movie… or that it is even a musical at all. The trailer is edited in a way to highlight the colorful spectacle and downplay the singing-and-dancing numbers for potential moviegoers who have an allergic reaction to characters suddenly bursting into song between dialogue.
Dahl's book was previously adapted for the big screen for 1971's Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory starring Gene Wilder and Tim Burton's 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory starring Johnny Depp. The latter had a darker tone and used Oompa-Loompa singing numbers for comic relief.
Wonka Is an Origin-Story Musical Fantasy
The official plot synopsis of Wonka reads,
“Based on the extraordinary character at the center of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl’s most iconic children’s book and one of the best-selling children’s books of all time, Wonka tells the wondrous story of how the world’s greatest inventor, magician and chocolate-maker became the beloved Willy Wonka we know today.
“From Paul King, writer-director of the Paddington films, David Heyman, producer of Harry Potter, Gravity, Fantastic Beasts and Paddington, and producers Alexandra Derbyshire (the Paddington films, Jurassic World: Dominion) and Luke Kelly (Roald Dahl’s The Witches), comes an intoxicating mix of magic and music, mayhem and emotion, all told with fabulous heart and humor. Starring Timothée Chalamet in the title role, this irresistibly vivid and inventive big-screen spectacle will introduce audiences to a young Willy Wonka, chock-full of ideas and determined to change the world one delectable bite at a time—proving that the best things in life begin with a dream, and if you’re lucky enough to meet Willy Wonka, anything is possible.”
Also starring in Wonka alongside Chalamet and Grant are Calah Lane, Keegan-Michael Key, Paterson Joseph, Matt Lucas, Mathew Baynton, Sally Hawkins, Rowan Atkinson, Jim Carter, and Olivia Colman.
Wonka premieres in theaters on December 15.
Robert DeSalvo is a professional writer and editor with over 25 years of experience at print and online publications such as Movieline, Playboy, PCH, Fandango, and The A.V. Club. He currently lives in Los Angeles, the setting of his favorite movie, Blade Runner. Robert has interviewed dozens of actors, directors, authors, musicians, and other celebrities during his journalism career, including Brian De Palma, Nicolas Cage, Dustin Hoffman, John Waters, Sigourney Weaver, Julianne Moore, Bryan Cranston, Anne Rice, and many more. Horror movies, sci-fi, cult films as well as gothic, postpunk, and synthwave music are what Robert geeks over.
