In Gene Wilder’s book Kiss Me Like a Stranger, he describes his first meeting with the director Mel Stuart, before he had decided to do it. He had reservations. He had an idea for what would dispel those reservations. Listen, and learn. This is how specific he was. This is how much IN the dream-space he was of the character, before he had even agreed to do it. This is how smart he was about script and character analysis. Those who think actors just do what the director tells them … well, they can’t have ever been involved in a creative process, ever. But this? Gene Wilder here?
This is a unique level of engagement with a script, make no mistake.
Although I liked Roald Dahl’s book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to play Willy Wonka. The script was good, but there was something that was bothering me. Mel Stuart, the man who was going to direct the movie, came to my home to talk about it.
“What’s bothering you?”
“When I make my first entrance, I’d like to come out of the door carrying a cane and then walk towards the crowd with a limp. After the crowd sees that Willy Wonka is a cripple, they all whisper to themselves and then become deathly quiet. As I walk towards them, my cane sinks into one of the cobblestones I’m walking on and stands straight up, by itself … but I keep on walking, until I realize that I no longer have my cane. I start to fall forward, and just before I hit the ground, I do a beautiful forward somersault and bounce back up, to great applause.”
” … Why do you want to do that?”
“Because from that time on, no one will know if I’m lying or telling the truth.”
Mel Stuart looked a little puzzled. I knew he wanted to please me, but he wasn’t quite sure about this change.
“You mean – if you can’t do what you just said, you won’t do the part?”
“That’s right,” I answered.
Mel mumbled to himself, ” … comes out of the door, has a cane, cane gets stuck in a cobblestone, falls forward, does a somersault, and bounces back up …” He shrugged his shoulders. “Okay!”
Imagine Willy Wonka without that trip. Imagine Willy Wonka without that disturbing first entrance. Impossible. Best of all: Mel Stuart filmed it exactly as Gene Wilder told him to. Shot for shot.
This is Wilder’s daunting level of understanding what was RIGHT.
This included, later, his thoughts on Willy Wonka’s costume. Mel Stuart sent Wilder some sketches. Wilder looked them over, and wrote Stuart a note back with his thoughts.
Don’t miss this letter. “The hat is terrific, but making it 2 inches shorter would make it more special.”
My sister had such a terror of Willy Wonka when she was a kid that she wouldn’t even eat Wonka brand candies. It makes sense, I think, in that he’s a member of a particular fraternity of children’s book characters that exist as amoral chaos forces, invading the lives of the characters for who knows what reason. Like the cheshire cat, the pied-piper, or the cat in the hat, whatever logic he’s operating by isn’t quite our own.
He really can be quite scary – especially how unpredictable he is! how he can just turn on Charlie! Also, that tunnel-ride … I mean, he looks totally psychotic.