Let it be known that even though Wonka will have singing and dancing and Timothee Chalamet in a fancy lil hat galavanting across faraway lands, it is not a musical. At least that’s what director Paul King seems to think, probably so that people take this Wonka movie seriously and not like it’s an SNL pre-taped sketch.
But even though King feels that Wonka is “more like a movie with songs than a musical,” that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t love to hear Chalamet serenading everyone. In fact, King seems to think that we will all be blown away by Chalamet’s voice while he’s singing all of those fun songs about chocolate. Again, it’s not a musical.
“[Chalamet]’s got a beautiful singing voice,” King said. “The person it reminded me of was Bing Crosby. There’s quite a range, because it does go from a couple of bigger, showstopper-y sort of things, to moments of real, pure emotion and he can do it all,” King expressed, and topped it off by saying, “I’m going to sound like a crazed fan.” Actually, as far as fans go, that is pretty tame.
It’s not too far-fetched, since he’s been known to sing some show-stopping numbers in the past. Just let him do his thing.
Wonka will shimmy into theaters on December 15th.