Timothée Chalamet didn’t want second Willy Wonka reboot to feel like a “money grab”

Despite being the lead in Wonka, Timothée Chalamet has reservations about the reboot feeling like a “money grab.”

The second reboot of the 1964’s classic children’s book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Wonka, is set to premiere this winter and fans couldn’t be more excited.

Starring Timothée Chalamet, the film follows a young chocolatier Willy Wonka as he begins to build his candy empire from the ground up.

While fans are excited to see this new musical, Chalamet had a few hangs up on playing the movie’s lead as he didn’t want it to see inauthentic.

Warner Bros.

Chalamet said reboot could be money grab before reading script

As he’s doing promo for the upcoming film, Chalamet spoke to Games Radar and got candid about his first impressions on a new Willy Wonka reboot and how he was skeptical on accepting the role.

“Like many people, when there are remakes, I feel very protective over the original character and versions you love,” Chalamet said, “Your eyebrows go up with skepticism about [whether] this is a legitimate, worthwhile story or a cynical money grab.”

However, his tune quickly changed upon learning more about the movie stating, “But I was reading the first three pages of the script, and the song ‘Hat Full of Dreams’ was in there, and there was no music to accompany it, but the lyrics were so clever.”

“[It’s] about this young Willy, who was definitively not the crazy, cynical, kind of jaded, brain-fried version that we see in the two prior films but was very hopeful, young, ambitious, won’t-take-no-for-an-answer, maybe a little naive. I think that’s very clever.”

Chalamet went on adding, “I love musical theatre and I love song and dance. And I love old Fred Astaire movies and the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Gene Wilder. I didn’t think I’d get a chance to do it, not like this. But Paul King is one of these directors that you don’t say no to.”

Though Wonka stick out in Chalamet’s filmography, it’s not surprising he would be cast in such a colorful and song-filled film as his many viral high school musical videos suggest that he was born to play Wonka.

Wonka premieres in theaters on December 15 in the US. To check out more of Dexerto’s TV and movie coverage, click here.