Johnny Depp Says He Developed the Character Willy Wonka After the Shows He Watched as a Child

We are about to see the third big screen iteration of author Roald Dahl’s iconic character Willy Wonka. He first appeared in the beloved 1971 film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, portrayed by Gene Wilder, and that set the standard for the fan-favorite role. Next up was Johnny Depp as Wonka in the 2005 remake Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which did put a new spin on the story, giving context to the backstory of Willy Wonka. Depp definitely took the character in a new direction, which some found a little unsettling, but the actor says he based his portrayal on some of the children’s show hosts he watched when he was a kid.

Depp told IGN (via cheatsheet):

“On this film with Willy Wonka there wasn’t specifically any one or two guys that were models, so to speak, for the character, but there were memories that I have of when I was a little kid of watching children’s shows and children show hosts. And I distinctly remember, even at that age, their speech pattern and their kind of musical quality of the way they’re speaking to the camera, to the children. I thought, even then, it was really strange. I thought it was super bizarre because it was all, ‘Hello, children. How are you??’ You know, that kind of thing.”

Depp drew inspiration from the shows he watched as a child.

“Guys that I watched like Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Rogers and Uncle Al became that main part of the ingredient. And game show hosts that I remember seeing and watching and thinking, ‘My God! They can’t be like that at home. They can’t actually be like that.’ Which sort of led me to believe that they put on a mask to get that all-important positive smile. So, that was the other side of Wonka. And then doing stuff for the look of Wonka was incredibly important. It was incredibly important to have a feel for it and to be able to put that costume on and click those veneers into my mouth and the teeth, which actually changed the shape of my face a little bit.”

Depp used children’s shows to craft his version of Willy Wonka, but he said his mother thinks there is a good amount of Wonka inside him.

“As a kid, from what I understand, I’d like to think I was like Charlie, but I don’t think I was. My [mother] says that I was… she uses the term hellion. I wasn’t obnoxious or precocious, but I was curious. A lot of practical jokes and stuff like that. I got on her nerves, basically. I pissed her off quite frequently.”

Depp also touched on the idea that he was inspired by Michael Jackson for the character:

“The weird thing is, that actually never occurred to me, that there would ever be any kind of connection to Michael Jackson. It never entered my mind. I still don’t quite understand it. I guess I can on one level because of the make-up and the children and the fantasyland kind of thing. But it seems weird to me. I say if there was anyone you’d want to compare Wonka to it would be a Howard Hughes, almost. Reclusive, germaphobe, controlling.”

Whatever it was that made Depp develop the character the way he did, it was certainly an original! The third version of Willy Wonka will be seen this December 15th in the film Wonka, starring Timothée Chalamet.