Whew! That was tough!
Now, I want it to be known that I am a huge Johnny Depp fan. I think that he is one of the most amazing actors out there and that every time I watch him in a role I forget that I’m watching Johnny Depp. But it’s just that Charlie and The Chocolate Factory was one of my favorite books as a child and I have very specific ideas in my mind as to how Willy Wonka should behave.
Willy Wonka, in the book, is a small, elfish man with a goatee and big ass top hat. He is sly, somewhat aloof and wanders life with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. I’ve always imagined him as a devilish sort of character; I don’t think that he necessarily wants to hurt bad children (scare them yes, but who doesn’t), but doesn’t necessarily dislike it when bad things happen.
This is what he looked like in the battered book I had as a child, and still have:
Mischievous, and just a little bit wrong.
And granted, I’m only gathering my opinion on Mr. Depp’s portrayal from the commercials that I’ve seen, but he seems to be playing it like a whacky, childish guy with a high voice. I see these commercials and it just doesn’t jive with my precious memories of Mr. Wonka.
He looks dandy, but it’s not my Willy.
I should probably replace that sentence, but I won’t.
I’m sure it will be fine. I’m sure it will be great actually. I cannot think of a better director to tackle this film than Tim Burton, and I have yet to be disappointed or short of amazed when seeing Johnny Depp. I guess I just get a little twitchy when people mess with my childhood heroes.
I’m totally looking forward to it, just a little bit nervous.
3 comments:
I never read the book, but I did see the original movie. And as nervous as I am that they are remaking an already pretty damned perfect movie... Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are the only two people who could be trusted to do such a remake successfully.
Funny how humans can attribute SO much emotion into a fictional story/character/movie. (Kinda like the feelings we all had when GL went back into the original Star Wars and added more lame CGI characters/scenes to make it fit his new storyline.)
I think I always have this inevitable fear when a favorite book is made into a movie.
I have constant anxiety over a film version of Confederacy of Dunces.
It's a true rareity when a movie comes close to being as good as you imagined the book.
I heard an NPR interview with Douglas Adams right before Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy came out, and he made the point that the best one can hope for with a movie interpretation of a book is that the movie version just doesn't destroy the original intent.
Because a book exists visually only in our imagination, it is nearly impossible to acurately represent that on film. Also, because you read a book a lot more slowly than you watch a movie, there is more time to develop intricate visualizations and relationships with the people and places you encounter.
Therefore, by definition, no movie will ever be as good as the book it originally was inspired by.
Then again, I never read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in book form, and thus I am just hoping for a movie equal to, or better than the original... which isn't too much to hope for. I hope.
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