'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' set visit

Mark Salisbury talks exclusively to Tim Burton and Johnny Depp on the set of their new film.

Jul 19 2005

The fevered imagination of Tim Burton has given rise to fantastically realised cinematic worlds, from the Day-Glo kitsch of 'Pee-Wee's Big Adventure' to the gothic Gotham City of 'Batman' to the pastel-coloured suburbia of 'Edward Scissorhands'.

But in an era where filmmakers are increasingly reliant on CGI, it takes a director of Burton's reputation and vision to insist on building real sets.

That's exactly what Burton has done for his version of Roald Dahl's children's classic 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory', shot at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire.

A trip around the production's many soundstages to view several finished and half-built sets reveals that Burton and production designer Alex McDowell ('Minority Report', 'The Terminal') are adhering closely to the spirit of Dahl's book.

There's the Nut Sorting Room (which will later be adorned with real squirrels) filling one soundstage, the all-white TV Room being built on another, with the Inventing Room still under construction.

All are enclosed, 360° environments that allow for no unwanted visitors and even fewer distractions. Meanwhile, Wonka's factory's stark exterior and the town surrounding it have been built on the studio's backlot, on the exact same spot where Burton's Gotham once stood.

Arguably the centrepiece set is the Chocolate River Room, which fills all 45,000 square feet of Pinewood's vast 007 soundstage and is a kaleidoscopic mix of exotic candy-coloured plants, bright green fake grass imported from China and bunkers made from scooped-out chocolate that Burton calls 'the largest miniature golf course in history'.

It's impressive not only because of its huge scale, but also in its painstaking detail. There are around 70 different varieties of plants dotted about – clusters of pink, purple and yellow-orange sherbet plants with marshmallow interiors; 30-foot candy trees; and black-and-white humbug plants.

Then there's the river itself: a chocolate canal that snakes through the middle of this garish, undulating candyscape, fed by a 70-foot high cascading chocolatefall at one end.

Today is the last on this soundstage and Burton, tousled-haired and clad in his usual all black, is filming a reaction shot involving Johnny Depp's Willy Wonka, the eponymous Charlie Bucket (played by Depp's 'Finding Neverland' co-star Freddie Highmore), his Grandpa Joe (David Kelly), plus the rest of confectionery genius Wonka's Golden Ticket winners and assorted parents.

The group has just seen fat German Augustus Gloop tumble into the chocolate and is now watching him journey up a Perspex pipe on his way to the Fudge Room. Decked out in purple top hat, velvet jacket, lavender Latex gloves and carrying a candy-filled cane, Depp's Wonka is something of a psychedelic dandy; but beneath the bobbed hair, pearly white teeth and strange glasses covering eyes decorated with lilac contact lenses, something else is going on.

'I think of Willy as the Citizen Kane or Howard Hughes of candy,' says Burton during a break, 'somebody who was brilliant but was then traumatised, and then retreats into their own world.'

Depp calls Wonka 'a bratty child'.

Dahl's book was famously filmed as 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' in the early '70s, with Gene Wilder as Wonka, painted orange dwarves as the Oompa Loompas, German locations and an Anthony Newley score.

While some consider it to be a kiddie classic, Burton isn't a fan – 'It has the oddest tone. I found it quite disturbing' – but he adores Dahl's book as well as the author's 'Tales of the Unexpected' stories and produced an adaptation of 'James and the Giant Peach'.

He and Dahl share a subversive streak as well as a twisted imagination and a view of kids as little savages. And, like Dahl, Burton's work isn't always politically correct.

'When you're a kid you like things that are dangerous and scary. That's part of what sparks your growth and creativity and points of view and development process.'

Burton had no fear about embarking on another version of 'Charlie', but insists this is no 'Planet of the Apes'-style remake. 'This is different to me, because I don't feel the same way about the first Willy Wonka movie as I do about 'Planet of the Apes'. That one I knew I was walking into an ambush.

'You can’t stop people saying, "It's a remake", but we're not remaking the movie, we're trying to go back to the roots of the book.'

Nor is it a musical – 'There are musical elements but [Johnny] doesn't sing 'Candyman' and 'Pure Imagination' – although the songs that signal the demise of each child remain intact, sung this time by Burton's Oompa Loompas, all of whom are played by 4ft 4in tall Deep Roy, who is being shrunk down further and replicated hundreds of times.

Dahl's novel takes place in a peculiar netherworld that's part America, part England. Burton has retained that mid-Atlantic sensibility in spirit and design, and has cast an English Charlie. For once, however, he didn't have to battle to cast Depp, whose stock, thanks to his Oscar-nominated turn in 'Pirates of the Caribbean', has risen since the days when Fox wanted Tom Cruise for 'Edward Scissorhands'.

Depp said yes without even reading the script. 'I got the call from Tim and went and met him for dinner in New York,' the actor recalls. 'He asked if I'd be interested and I just said "I'm in. If you want it, I'm in."'

Both Burton and Depp felt it necessary to give Wonka some kind of psychological reality, and so John August's script layers in a back-story involving Willy's dentist father, Wilbur, played by Christopher Lee, who, in an attempt to prevent his son from the horror of cavities, bans him from eating chocolate.

'I sort of took the tack of people who are considered geniuses or leaders of their field or creative or whatever; they're usually kind of crazy and they have certain spots that make them brilliant and certain spots that are giant blind spots,' says Burton, who always feels it necessary to relate to his characters.

What's his connection to Wonka then? 'The slightly antisocial behaviour, the living in your own world aspect, kind of having trouble dealing with people,' he says. 'There's a certain aspect of the character not dissimilar to Edward Scissorhands, a fear of human contact in a way and kind of living in your own head.'

The coming few months will also see the release of 'Corpse Bride', a stop-motion animated film along the lines of his 'Nightmare Before Christmas'. Burton insists that making two children's movies on the bounce is more a matter of timing than intent. 'Corpse Bride' has been in the works for a decade, and shouldn't be seen as any indication that becoming a father has altered his direction.

'I don't feel like it's affected me at all other than just physically,' he says, running a hand through his salt-and-pepper stubble. 'Obviously it's emotional and an amazing experience and it takes up some mental and physical time, but I don't foresee it changing in any way, shape or form the kind of movies I'd wanna make.' He pauses, a mischievous glint in his eyes. 'In fact, they might get more harsh in some ways.'

'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' is released on July 29.

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