Dwayne Johnson Says Tim Burton Considered Casting Him in The Role of Willy Wonka
Before director Tim Burton unsurprisingly cast Johnny Depp in the role of Willy Wonka in his adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, he was looking at and considering other actors as well. One of those other actors he considered for the role was Dwayne Johnson!
The actor recently shared a brief video of the original 1971 Gene Wilder film, Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, which he was showing to his kids and it’s in this video that he drops the news that Burton briefly considered him for the role of Wonka.
Burton’s film came out in 2005, which means Johnson must’ve been considered for the role around 2003 or 2004 when his movie career was just on the cusp of blowing up. Johnson knew that the odds of landing the role were not good. But, it’s still interesting and weird to imagine Johnson as Willy Wonka! He said in the post:
“Some cool history - back in the early 2000’s, iconic director, Tim Burton had considered me to play Willy Wonka is his remake, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I remember thinking “HOLY SHIT, IM IN” But that was many years ago when I was just starting out in Hollywood with no foundation of global box office strength or any real acting experience to even pull it off. The role, of course went to Johnny Depp, who at that time was the biggest star in the world. The rest was history. And down the road I went. The fact that Tim even considered me (albeit I’m sure he considered for all of 7 seconds:) sure meant a helluva lot to me as I was just breaking in to the business with no idea what the future had in store. I’ll always raise a glass to the dreams that don’t come true, because sometimes they’re the best thing that never happened.
Can you even picture it in your mind!? What would that have been like!? I’d at least love to see some of Burton’s concept art imagining Johnson in the role, something like that has to exist!