Hugh Grant hopes his kids like 'Wonka' after being 'traumatized' by 'Paddington 2'
Hugh Grant never saw himself in Charlie Bucket, the pure-hearted hero of “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.”
“What’s the spoiled girl called?” he says, pausing for a moment to think. “I identified with Veruca Salt.”
Grant, 63, is back and deadpan as ever promoting his movie musical “Wonka” (in theaters Friday), a feel-good prequel to Roald Dahl’s 1964 children’s book "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." Timothée Chalamet stars as the young and hungry chocolatier, taking the mantle from previous big-screen Wonkas including Gene Wilder (in the 1971 original) and Johnny Depp (in the 2005 remake).
In this new film, Grant has a small but scene-stealing role as an Oompa Loompa, the first of many orange-skinned green-haired helpers who come work for Wonka at his candy factory. We meet Grant’s Oompa Loompa midway through the film, when he sneaks into Wonka’s bedroom to steal chocolate. He later aids Wonka in his fight against candy-hoarding mafiosos and sings new renditions of the classic Oompa Loompa songs.
“Wonka” reunites Grant with director Paul King, after the actor's role as tap-dancing con artist Phoenix Buchanan in 2018’s beloved “Paddington 2.” King knew he wanted Grant to play an Oompa Loompa before he even wrote the script.
“The Oompa Loompas don’t really have any dialogue in the (other) movies, but in the book, they have these pages-long poems that are so witty but sardonic,” King says. “They’re cruel in that wickedly funny Roald Dahl way. So I was reading them over and over, and Hugh’s voice just played in my head. I love Hugh and I loved working with him on ‘Paddington 2,’ so it was just too good to resist.”
USA TODAY chatted with Grant last month about the film and what his five children (ages 5 through 12) really think of “Paddington 2.”
Question: Your “Wonka” co-star Olivia Colman recently said Timothée is lovely and gentle “like a human Paddington.” Would you agree?
Hugh Grant: I think Paul King is the real Paddington. Timothée Chalamet is rather more complex, I would say. I’ve sat next to him now in quite a number of interviews, and he’s a mystery man. He might seem nice, but he also might be evil.
So was it an instant “yes” when Paul asked you to play an Oompa Loompa?
Pretty much. I love working with him and his co-screenwriter, Simon Farnaby, who’s also in the movie and is a very funny actor. We like kicking the comedy football around, as they say. I almost enjoy working on Paul’s films, which is saying a lot because I hate my work.
Given that your character is mostly computer-generated, did you ever get to shoot your scenes with Timothée face to face?
Normally these things are done completely separately: separate times, separate location. But we did try a hybrid, where I was on set in a little tent nearby so we could hear each other. And then between takes, we bonded with bitchy gossip about Hollywood people.
You have told Seth Meyers that your kids hated “Paddington 2.” Why was that?
They were very upset by it. Traumatized, really. They just kept turning to me and saying, “Why are you in it so much?” I think they were embarrassed. But then they got older, and now they were nudging me all the way to school today, pointing to me (in “Wonka” ads) on the sides of buses.
Have they seen “Wonka” yet?
They will see it next week. But if they don’t like it and tell me how marvelous I am, I won’t feed them. They know the rules.
Timothée Chalamet:'Wonka' is his parents' 'favorite' film that he's ever done