1 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:06,680 Speaker 1: Hey, it's Aaron. Today we're bringing you an episode of 2 00:00:06,680 --> 00:00:10,280 Speaker 1: a podcast that I love, What Went Wrong. Every week, 3 00:00:10,360 --> 00:00:13,200 Speaker 1: the hosts Chris and Lizzie take a single movie and 4 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:17,439 Speaker 1: dig very very deep into the messy, miraculous story of 5 00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:21,439 Speaker 1: how it got made. This episode is their dive into 6 00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:25,840 Speaker 1: the nineteen seventy one Jane Whilder Extravaganza Willy Wonka and 7 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:29,680 Speaker 1: the Chocolate Factory and I got to be the guest. Chris, 8 00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:31,680 Speaker 1: Lizzy and I cover everything you could ever want to 9 00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:35,600 Speaker 1: know about this movie. Seriously, it's very long, including many 10 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:37,680 Speaker 1: of my super nerdy points about what I think makes 11 00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:40,920 Speaker 1: it work. After this episode first stared on their channel, 12 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:42,960 Speaker 1: by the way, I heard from several friends who listen. 13 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:46,720 Speaker 1: Turns out lots of actors and filmmakers and movie buffs 14 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:49,879 Speaker 1: subscribe to What Went Wrong with good reason. If you 15 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:52,720 Speaker 1: like this episode, I highly recommend checking out their stuff, 16 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:56,640 Speaker 1: especially their episodes on Shakespeare and Love and Cabaret. The 17 00:00:56,680 --> 00:01:00,760 Speaker 1: hosts are just really smart and passionate and great researchers storytellers. 18 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:05,280 Speaker 1: Check it out. Also an important request from me, I 19 00:01:05,319 --> 00:01:08,440 Speaker 1: have loved making this roll doll show. If you want 20 00:01:08,440 --> 00:01:10,440 Speaker 1: to hear updates on the show and what I'm up 21 00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:13,240 Speaker 1: to and make sure you don't miss anything. Please go 22 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:17,759 Speaker 1: to listen to Parallax dot com slash contact and sign 23 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:20,800 Speaker 1: up for the email list. Again, it's listen to Parallax 24 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:23,920 Speaker 1: dot com slash contact, or you can just find that 25 00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:27,760 Speaker 1: link in the episode notes. Okay, here's me and Willie 26 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:29,280 Speaker 1: Wonka on What Went Wrong? 27 00:01:29,959 --> 00:01:42,600 Speaker 2: Enjoy your favorite podcasting for you. 28 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:51,520 Speaker 3: Making a What do you get when you don't have 29 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:52,200 Speaker 3: a script? 30 00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:55,160 Speaker 1: Shooting is rushed, and your deadline out. 31 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:58,360 Speaker 4: Slipped, final cut is due, and it's making you. We 32 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:02,600 Speaker 4: tell that come they can't sleep. 33 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:09,160 Speaker 3: I don't like the sound of that. Thank you. 34 00:02:10,280 --> 00:02:12,880 Speaker 5: Whether you are watching. 35 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:14,240 Speaker 3: The face is such? 36 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:29,080 Speaker 1: What like listency and action? 37 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:32,480 Speaker 3: Hello, and welcome back to What Went Wrong? Your favorite 38 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 3: podcast full stop that just so happens to be about 39 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:37,720 Speaker 3: movies and how it's nearly impossible to make them, let 40 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:40,960 Speaker 3: alone a good one. Let alone a warning to all 41 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:43,600 Speaker 3: parents that it is your job to shape your child 42 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:45,720 Speaker 3: into a good person, and the only time you can 43 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:47,799 Speaker 3: do it is when they are a child. And if 44 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:50,519 Speaker 3: you fail, your child may be incinerated in a goose 45 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:53,920 Speaker 3: egg garbage inferno and it will be your fault. And 46 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:57,240 Speaker 3: also Candy. I am one of your hosts, Lizzie Bassett 47 00:02:57,280 --> 00:03:00,800 Speaker 3: here as always with Chris Winterbauer. Chris, what do you 48 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:01,960 Speaker 3: have for us today? 49 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:05,000 Speaker 4: Today Lizzie, we are diving into a movie that begs 50 00:03:05,040 --> 00:03:08,120 Speaker 4: the question what if we did seven in a chocolate 51 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:09,959 Speaker 4: factory but with kids? 52 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:11,720 Speaker 6: And we are. 53 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:13,919 Speaker 4: Joined by a very special guest. So we are talking 54 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:17,120 Speaker 4: about the nineteen seventy one adaptation of Charlie and the 55 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:20,240 Speaker 4: Chocolate Factory called Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. We'll 56 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:23,400 Speaker 4: get into the title, but we have an incredible guest today. 57 00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:26,520 Speaker 4: We are joined by the man behind a podcast I've 58 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:29,639 Speaker 4: been binging for the last seven days, the Secret World 59 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:32,920 Speaker 4: of Role Doll, which is amazing and we will have 60 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:35,920 Speaker 4: posted on our Patreon and whatnot before this episode, so 61 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:39,280 Speaker 4: hopefully you guys have listened. Please welcome Aaron Tracy to 62 00:03:39,320 --> 00:03:43,200 Speaker 4: the podcast. Aaron Tracy is a best selling writer, producer. 63 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:46,360 Speaker 4: He's worked across nearly every form of entertainment, from television 64 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:49,120 Speaker 4: to audio dramas to narrative nonfiction. As we mentioned, he 65 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:52,040 Speaker 4: is the creator and writer and narrator great voice of 66 00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:55,200 Speaker 4: the Secret World of roll Doll, which is a remarkable 67 00:03:55,240 --> 00:03:58,160 Speaker 4: look into the Zelig esque. I would say life of 68 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:00,800 Speaker 4: the world's most or one of the worlds most successful 69 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:03,840 Speaker 4: children's books authors. Aaron, Welcome to What Went Wrong? 70 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:06,200 Speaker 1: Oh, thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here. 71 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:09,600 Speaker 1: That was quite an introduction Zelig. You're absolutely right. I 72 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:11,680 Speaker 1: should have said Zelig. I think I said four Scump 73 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:13,920 Speaker 1: on my show, but he was the Zealig figure. 74 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:16,560 Speaker 4: It's a more contemporary reference. Yes, it's fair. 75 00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:19,960 Speaker 1: I prefers Aleg. Yeah. No, I appreciate you listening to 76 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:20,320 Speaker 1: the show. 77 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:23,640 Speaker 4: It's an amazing mini series that you think how many 78 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:25,920 Speaker 4: episodes have been released as of today? Is it nine 79 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:26,520 Speaker 4: so far? 80 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:27,960 Speaker 1: Or is it nine so far? 81 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:30,359 Speaker 4: You know, you've listened to the first episode and it 82 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:33,159 Speaker 4: ends with effectively and it's going to get crazier and 83 00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:35,799 Speaker 4: then that's kind of how you end every single episode. 84 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:39,760 Speaker 4: And yet somehow Doll ups himself in every episode. So 85 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:42,320 Speaker 4: we're going to get into the details of his life 86 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:44,160 Speaker 4: in a few moments. But I want to start Aaron 87 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:47,560 Speaker 4: with Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory. So let's start quickly, 88 00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:49,800 Speaker 4: Lizzy with you, because you can provide a template here 89 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:51,520 Speaker 4: for Aaron. What we like to do is start with 90 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:53,800 Speaker 4: you know, what's your relationship to this movie? Had you 91 00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:56,279 Speaker 4: seen it before? And what were your thoughts upon watching 92 00:04:56,400 --> 00:04:58,680 Speaker 4: or rewatching it for the podcast? So Lizzy, maybe you 93 00:04:58,720 --> 00:04:59,880 Speaker 4: can dive in to begin. 94 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:02,960 Speaker 3: Sure, Yes, of course i'd seen this before, as I 95 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:05,800 Speaker 3: think all children I assume have. I don't know if 96 00:05:05,839 --> 00:05:07,720 Speaker 3: they're still showing this to children, but they certainly did 97 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:09,960 Speaker 3: when we were growing up. I'd seen it many times 98 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:12,000 Speaker 3: as a kid. I don't think I had watched this 99 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:15,000 Speaker 3: as an adult at all. And there were certain portions 100 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:17,680 Speaker 3: of the movie that are so like burned into my 101 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:20,240 Speaker 3: mind's eye, like when they first open the you know, 102 00:05:20,279 --> 00:05:22,159 Speaker 3: the door into the candy room or whatever he calls it, 103 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:24,599 Speaker 3: the chocolate room, that I will see in my head 104 00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:26,680 Speaker 3: playing on the back of my eyelids as I die, 105 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:28,359 Speaker 3: like I know exactly what it looks like. I know 106 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:30,520 Speaker 3: what the mushrooms look like, I know what that disgusting 107 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:33,400 Speaker 3: chocolate river looks like. But then there's whole sequences like 108 00:05:33,440 --> 00:05:36,239 Speaker 3: the entire beginning of this movie. I was like David 109 00:05:36,279 --> 00:05:38,240 Speaker 3: and I were like, are we watching the right thing? 110 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:41,640 Speaker 3: It's a slow start. It's a slower start than I remembered, 111 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:47,240 Speaker 3: and a very very weird start. Charlie's teacher, David pointed out, 112 00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:49,520 Speaker 3: looks like you should be in a Pink Floyd music video. 113 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:51,800 Speaker 3: And there's never been a more apt description of a 114 00:05:51,839 --> 00:05:54,679 Speaker 3: man and his teeth I think than that. I guess, 115 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:57,000 Speaker 3: you know. I always kind of knew that, like this 116 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:01,160 Speaker 3: is a children's movie slash book for four or adults, 117 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:03,719 Speaker 3: but I didn't know how much that was the case 118 00:06:03,839 --> 00:06:06,279 Speaker 3: until rewatching it as an adult, and I was like, 119 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:08,200 Speaker 3: I don't know if this is for kids at all. 120 00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:12,599 Speaker 3: This is horrifying, truly genuinely scary, especially when they're in 121 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:18,160 Speaker 3: the tunnel. Man Gene Wilder is so fun and holds 122 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:21,440 Speaker 3: this movie together in a way that if you didn't 123 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:25,680 Speaker 3: have him, I don't know how watchable this is, just 124 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:28,800 Speaker 3: because of how bonkers and all over the place it is, 125 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:32,719 Speaker 3: and all the other actors are wonderful. I particularly love 126 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:35,520 Speaker 3: Roy Kaneer, and he looks so much like his son 127 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:40,360 Speaker 3: that I was like, wait a minute, I know, I know, crazy. 128 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:43,280 Speaker 3: It's crazy all of us to say I really enjoyed it. 129 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:45,559 Speaker 3: I don't know if I ever want to watch it again. 130 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:48,960 Speaker 3: It's just bizarre and it's scary, especially as a parent, 131 00:06:49,080 --> 00:06:51,520 Speaker 3: because it really does feel like the moral of this 132 00:06:51,640 --> 00:06:55,320 Speaker 3: movie is like the time to make a good person 133 00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:58,119 Speaker 3: is when they are a child, and if you miss 134 00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:03,480 Speaker 3: that window, you're screwed. And it's a weird moral. And 135 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:06,080 Speaker 3: Willy Wonka is a sinister character, like even at the 136 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:08,880 Speaker 3: end when he says, you know that I've been searching 137 00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:10,600 Speaker 3: for my replacement and the only one who can do 138 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:13,000 Speaker 3: it as a child, essentially because they won't question me. 139 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:17,080 Speaker 3: And I was like, Okay, I don't know what you're 140 00:07:17,120 --> 00:07:20,280 Speaker 3: trying to say here. Anyway, that's my take is uh, 141 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:24,720 Speaker 3: I enjoyed it. It's weird, and that boat ride might 142 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:25,600 Speaker 3: give me nightmares. 143 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:28,320 Speaker 4: All right, Aaron, we'll kick it to you. You've been 144 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:30,840 Speaker 4: knee deep in roll Doll for I'm assuming months at 145 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:33,000 Speaker 4: this point. Yeah, So how did it feel rewatching this? 146 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:35,480 Speaker 1: So it's one of those movies that I think if 147 00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:36,840 Speaker 1: you had asked me when the last time I saw 148 00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:38,240 Speaker 1: it was, I probably would have said I don't know, 149 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:41,800 Speaker 1: five six years ago. But rewatching it ahead of this podcast, 150 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:43,800 Speaker 1: I realized that I have not seen it since I 151 00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:45,800 Speaker 1: was a little kid. But I must have watched it 152 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:47,440 Speaker 1: a lot when I was a little kid, because so 153 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:50,120 Speaker 1: much of it felt familiar. I mean, as I was 154 00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:52,440 Speaker 1: making my show, I definitely watched a bunch of clips, 155 00:07:52,520 --> 00:07:54,600 Speaker 1: and we include some clips on the show, but watching 156 00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:56,600 Speaker 1: it from beginning to end, yeah, I don't think I've 157 00:07:56,600 --> 00:07:59,000 Speaker 1: done that since I was a kid. I was blown away. 158 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:03,520 Speaker 1: I thought it was fantastic. It's so dark, so surprising, 159 00:08:03,680 --> 00:08:06,400 Speaker 1: and I totally agree. By the way, Gene Wilder's performance 160 00:08:06,760 --> 00:08:13,000 Speaker 1: is everything. He gives the most confident, strangest performance that 161 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:14,520 Speaker 1: I can remember seeing. 162 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:17,960 Speaker 3: No, please stop right exactly. 163 00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:19,960 Speaker 1: We'll jump into it. I'm sure we'll talk about it later, 164 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:22,600 Speaker 1: but it is really a performance for the ages. It is, 165 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:24,320 Speaker 1: you know. Well, I'm sure we'll talk a bunch about this, 166 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:27,560 Speaker 1: but it is not what Doll envisioned. But it makes 167 00:08:27,560 --> 00:08:28,240 Speaker 1: the movie for me. 168 00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:28,960 Speaker 6: Yeah. 169 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:31,680 Speaker 4: The two thousand and five version, as you discuss on 170 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:34,600 Speaker 4: your show, Aaron, is a much more faithful adaptation to 171 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:37,560 Speaker 4: the book, maybe not from a Wonka perspective, but structurally 172 00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:40,160 Speaker 4: and in terms of the focus and whatnot. And yet 173 00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:42,960 Speaker 4: this version feels so much more alive to me. Even 174 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:46,360 Speaker 4: though the five version has the budget and Burton seems 175 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:49,320 Speaker 4: like a natural fit for the material, et cetera, this 176 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:52,480 Speaker 4: version is held together with scotch tape and popsicle sticks. 177 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:56,000 Speaker 4: But my review is five words and it is Gene 178 00:08:56,000 --> 00:08:58,360 Speaker 4: Wilder is a star. And I actually think the casting 179 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:01,720 Speaker 4: across the board is it's perfect in this movie. And 180 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:04,439 Speaker 4: even though I think you can feel that they didn't 181 00:09:04,480 --> 00:09:06,600 Speaker 4: quite have the budget they needed to make this movie. 182 00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:09,320 Speaker 4: More on that later, I had a smile on my 183 00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:12,520 Speaker 4: face the entire time I was watching it, and maybe 184 00:09:12,559 --> 00:09:14,400 Speaker 4: it's nostalgia. I watched it a lot as a kid 185 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:16,320 Speaker 4: as well. I hadn't seen it in a long time, 186 00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:20,240 Speaker 4: but it has something to it and I think I 187 00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:21,800 Speaker 4: have a sense of what that is, and we'll get 188 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:24,040 Speaker 4: to it by the end. And I think even though Erin, 189 00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:26,679 Speaker 4: as you mentioned, Doll's feelings towards this film are at 190 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:30,000 Speaker 4: best complicated in a way, I think it actually captures 191 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:32,960 Speaker 4: the heart the Dollion, the dark Dollion, heart of what 192 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:35,800 Speaker 4: his books try to convey better than many of the 193 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:37,200 Speaker 4: other adaptations. 194 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:37,000 Speaker 1: Of his work. 195 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:38,559 Speaker 4: But let's get into it, because this one's going to 196 00:09:38,600 --> 00:09:39,640 Speaker 4: be pretty crazy. 197 00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:42,160 Speaker 3: I have one question that maybe you're going to answer, 198 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:44,920 Speaker 3: but one of the biggest questions I had while watching 199 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:48,960 Speaker 3: this movie was where are we? Because I'd never recognized 200 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:52,240 Speaker 3: this as a kid, but like, they're clearly in England 201 00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:55,120 Speaker 3: or Europe somewhere, and it looks like it does not 202 00:09:55,160 --> 00:09:57,880 Speaker 3: look like America. Half of the people have British accents 203 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:00,560 Speaker 3: for no reason. But then you are posed to still 204 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:03,360 Speaker 3: believe that this is sort of small town America somewhere. 205 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:06,120 Speaker 3: That is strange. It makes it kind of otherworldly and 206 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:09,000 Speaker 3: alien in a way that I think ultimately works, but 207 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:11,160 Speaker 3: was confusing as an adult watching this. 208 00:10:11,480 --> 00:10:12,800 Speaker 4: Well, Aaron, you can speak to this. I mean, the 209 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:15,520 Speaker 4: book is set in an unnamed town, like the book 210 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:20,439 Speaker 4: is never specified as anywhere in particular is my understanding. 211 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:24,679 Speaker 1: But Wanka is, especially the way Gene Wilder portrays him, 212 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:27,920 Speaker 1: is completely American. Yes, you know, I think a big 213 00:10:27,960 --> 00:10:30,760 Speaker 1: theme of this movie, very much of the book also 214 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:35,160 Speaker 1: is that it's Doll's critique of American commercialism. You know, 215 00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:39,520 Speaker 1: Doll came from post war England, which was completely austere 216 00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:44,200 Speaker 1: to the wild excesses of nineteen fifties America. That's his 217 00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:47,760 Speaker 1: you know, biographical story, and he could not believe how 218 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:51,200 Speaker 1: spoiled Americans were, and so that's very much what this 219 00:10:51,240 --> 00:10:54,280 Speaker 1: book is about. I mean, Charlie, is this really impoverished 220 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:56,720 Speaker 1: English boy who is able to keep all of his 221 00:10:56,760 --> 00:11:01,240 Speaker 1: appetites in check. He is the opposite of spoil or materialistic, 222 00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:03,200 Speaker 1: and he's the one who triumphs. Right, He's the one 223 00:11:03,240 --> 00:11:06,040 Speaker 1: who wins. All the other children who very much lose, 224 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:10,000 Speaker 1: are selfish and self involved and incredibly spoiled, and they're 225 00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:13,640 Speaker 1: completely wrecked by their American style appetites. So I think 226 00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:15,960 Speaker 1: you're right that it's not completely clear that a decision 227 00:11:16,040 --> 00:11:18,439 Speaker 1: was not made about where to set this. But because 228 00:11:18,520 --> 00:11:21,480 Speaker 1: Wonka is so American, and because of this larger theme 229 00:11:21,679 --> 00:11:24,640 Speaker 1: of anti commercialism, for me, it just it very much 230 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:26,280 Speaker 1: feels like an indictment of America. 231 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:28,960 Speaker 4: Yeah, let's get into it, because Lizzie, to your question, 232 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:30,800 Speaker 4: I think the part of the reason it feels confused 233 00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:33,160 Speaker 4: is very much by necessity where they had to shoot 234 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:35,240 Speaker 4: this movie. That's what I figured, And so let's dive 235 00:11:35,280 --> 00:11:38,400 Speaker 4: into that too, so really quickly the details. So Willy 236 00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:40,600 Speaker 4: Wonka on the Chocolate Factory is a I would describe 237 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:43,920 Speaker 4: it as a fantasy comedy children's film directed by Mel Stewart. 238 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:47,400 Speaker 4: It's based on a screenplay credited to Roldahl, based on 239 00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:50,400 Speaker 4: his book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It was produced 240 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 4: by David Wolper and Stan Margleize, and it stars, as 241 00:11:53,240 --> 00:11:56,320 Speaker 4: we've mentioned, Gene Wilder is Willy Wonka, Peter Ostrom as 242 00:11:56,400 --> 00:12:00,120 Speaker 4: Charlie Bucket, Jack Albertson is Grandpa Joe, Denise Nickerson as 243 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:03,520 Speaker 4: Violet Beauregard, Julie don Cole as Ruk A Salt, Paris 244 00:12:03,559 --> 00:12:07,480 Speaker 4: Temon as Mike TV, Michael Bolner as Augustus Gloop, Rusty 245 00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:10,320 Speaker 4: Goff as the lead upa Lumpa, and many many more. 246 00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:15,400 Speaker 4: It was produced by Wolper Pictures, financed by Aaron, the 247 00:12:15,520 --> 00:12:20,960 Speaker 4: Quaker Oats Company, the Quaker Oats Company, Insane YEP, distributed 248 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:24,840 Speaker 4: by Paramount Pictures. It was released in the United States 249 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:28,440 Speaker 4: on June thirtieth, after premiering on June twenty eighth, nineteen 250 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:31,080 Speaker 4: seventy one, and as always, the IMDb log line reads, 251 00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:33,600 Speaker 4: A poor but hopeful boy seeks one of the five 252 00:12:33,679 --> 00:12:35,760 Speaker 4: coveted golden tickets that will send him on a tour 253 00:12:35,840 --> 00:12:39,120 Speaker 4: of Willy Wonka's mysterious chocolate factory. Now a few sources, 254 00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:41,800 Speaker 4: obviously the secret world of roll Doll Guys, go listen. 255 00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:44,760 Speaker 4: It is a blast I powered through it in addition, 256 00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:47,720 Speaker 4: Pure Imagination, The Making of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, 257 00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:50,720 Speaker 4: Mel Stewart's book on the film producer, a memoir by 258 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:54,240 Speaker 4: David Wolper, Gene Wilder's memoir I Love this Name so much, 259 00:12:54,360 --> 00:12:57,000 Speaker 4: kiss Me like a Stranger. I Want it Now, A 260 00:12:57,040 --> 00:12:59,000 Speaker 4: memoir of life on the set of Willy Wonka and 261 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:01,200 Speaker 4: the Chocolate Factory by you lead On Cole who plays 262 00:13:01,320 --> 00:13:03,920 Speaker 4: Rook Assault, Pure Imagination, The Story of Willy Wonka and 263 00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:06,120 Speaker 4: the Chocolate Factory of the two thousand and one documentary, 264 00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:09,480 Speaker 4: and many more articles, retrospectives, and interviews with those involved 265 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:11,280 Speaker 4: in the film. So the question is, how did a 266 00:13:11,320 --> 00:13:16,439 Speaker 4: couple of not particularly well known Jewish creatives use American 267 00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:21,000 Speaker 4: commercialism to bring to life a controversial critique of American 268 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:24,520 Speaker 4: commercialism by a powerful author with a history of anti 269 00:13:24,559 --> 00:13:28,760 Speaker 4: Semitic remarks, and what went wrong? So let's dive in. Guys, 270 00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:31,280 Speaker 4: there's a Aaron. I'm sure you are aware of this 271 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:35,000 Speaker 4: apocryphal story or this warning in Hollywood never take pitches 272 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:37,440 Speaker 4: from your kids like this. It is a trap that 273 00:13:37,520 --> 00:13:40,760 Speaker 4: executives fall into often. Is my kid had this idea 274 00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:42,840 Speaker 4: or my kid thought this thing was really good. So 275 00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:44,480 Speaker 4: now we're going to do it. And there's a famous 276 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:46,600 Speaker 4: example that I love. Adam Goodman, when he was the 277 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:48,680 Speaker 4: president of Paramount got the idea for a movie called 278 00:13:48,720 --> 00:13:50,760 Speaker 4: Monster Trucks, which I'm not sure if you guys ever 279 00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:52,920 Speaker 4: saw it, but it's about trucks that actually are powered 280 00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:55,839 Speaker 4: by monsters inside of them from his four year old son. 281 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:57,840 Speaker 4: They made it into a movie. It didn't go well. 282 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:00,880 Speaker 4: He is no longer the president of Paramoun Pictures. I've 283 00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:02,719 Speaker 4: not seen the movie. It may be fun Well, back 284 00:14:02,760 --> 00:14:04,680 Speaker 4: in nineteen sixty nine, there's a twelve year old girl 285 00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:07,280 Speaker 4: named Madeline and she falls in love with a book 286 00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:10,480 Speaker 4: called Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was published in nineteen 287 00:14:10,559 --> 00:14:13,640 Speaker 4: sixty four. And now, Aaron, you've mentioned in your show 288 00:14:13,960 --> 00:14:17,640 Speaker 4: that Doll's work, although originally published, you know, in the 289 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:22,120 Speaker 4: early to mid sixties, struggled to find its footing initially. 290 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:25,800 Speaker 4: And I'm speaking specifically about his children's book work. Perhaps 291 00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:29,080 Speaker 4: you can speak briefly about the beat it took for 292 00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:31,880 Speaker 4: him to find footing in the world of children's stories. 293 00:14:32,120 --> 00:14:33,640 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a funny thing. I mean, when we think 294 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:36,600 Speaker 1: of Roald Dahl, I think everybody immediately thinks of the 295 00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:39,960 Speaker 1: children's books. But he didn't start writing children's books until 296 00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:43,640 Speaker 1: his mid forties. So he lived this huge life before that, 297 00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:47,160 Speaker 1: which included writing for adults. He wrote for The New Yorker, 298 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:50,240 Speaker 1: these sort of sophisticated, urbane New York kind of stories. 299 00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:53,720 Speaker 1: He wrote for Playboy, he wrote like some hard r stories. 300 00:14:54,040 --> 00:14:57,360 Speaker 1: And then he did listen to his agent's advice and 301 00:14:57,440 --> 00:15:00,160 Speaker 1: start writing for children, but it didn't go well. His 302 00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:03,000 Speaker 1: very first book was James and the Giant Peach, but 303 00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:06,200 Speaker 1: it only sold a few thousand copies. Children's writers before 304 00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:09,320 Speaker 1: Dall did not write like Doll. They were not writing 305 00:15:09,440 --> 00:15:12,600 Speaker 1: these sort of dark stories that were you know. Dall 306 00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:15,920 Speaker 1: was writing like from the perspective of the children's id. 307 00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:20,440 Speaker 1: You know, it's children against cruel adults, it's children against monsters. 308 00:15:20,520 --> 00:15:23,720 Speaker 1: It recognized that the world is kind of a difficult, 309 00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:27,320 Speaker 1: sometimes evil place, and no one thought that that could 310 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:30,720 Speaker 1: possibly work for children, but of course it does. Right, 311 00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:35,200 Speaker 1: children want to be treated like adults. Children appreciate that 312 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:38,960 Speaker 1: someone can recognize that they're actually having big thoughts and 313 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:41,040 Speaker 1: that they're seeing that the world can be cruel. But 314 00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:43,880 Speaker 1: it was just such a departure from what existed before 315 00:15:43,920 --> 00:15:46,960 Speaker 1: it that it took five years before James and the 316 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:49,000 Speaker 1: Giant Peach became a hit. They actually took it over 317 00:15:49,080 --> 00:15:51,680 Speaker 1: to England because Dahl had a sort of an inclination 318 00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:54,840 Speaker 1: that British children might understand his books better, and he 319 00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:56,840 Speaker 1: was right. They published James and the Giant Peach in 320 00:15:56,840 --> 00:16:00,760 Speaker 1: England and it sold out three printings in our and 321 00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:03,040 Speaker 1: so then they republished it in America and it became 322 00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:05,120 Speaker 1: a hit there. And his next book was Charlie in 323 00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:07,680 Speaker 1: the Chocolate Factory, which became just a giant, giant hit. 324 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:10,200 Speaker 3: That's so funny. I don't know why, but it makes 325 00:16:10,240 --> 00:16:13,880 Speaker 3: complete sense that British children would understand this. Yeah, kids 326 00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:15,000 Speaker 3: would not well. 327 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:17,080 Speaker 4: And James and the Giant Peach, you know, just if 328 00:16:17,080 --> 00:16:19,840 Speaker 4: anybody hasn't read it in a while, features James's parents 329 00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:22,960 Speaker 4: were eaten by a raging rhinoceros. He's living with abusive 330 00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:26,360 Speaker 4: ants who are killed eventually, right, they're run over by 331 00:16:26,400 --> 00:16:29,640 Speaker 4: the peach. They're ravenous sharks, a giant bat, you know. 332 00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:31,720 Speaker 4: But then there's a lot of lovely elements as well. 333 00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:33,880 Speaker 4: It's complicated, which is what makes it great. And so 334 00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:36,040 Speaker 4: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a hit. It sells 335 00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:38,680 Speaker 4: ten thousand copies in its first week in the United States. 336 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:41,680 Speaker 4: Madeline reads the book three times and she does a varukasault. 337 00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:41,840 Speaker 6: Right. 338 00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:43,480 Speaker 4: She goes up to her daddy and she says, Daddy, 339 00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:44,760 Speaker 4: make this book into a movie. 340 00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:45,840 Speaker 3: Make it do it. I want it now. 341 00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:47,280 Speaker 4: We don't know if she actually said it that way, 342 00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:49,040 Speaker 4: but she did say, Daddy, make this into a movie. 343 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:51,920 Speaker 4: And fortunately for her, her dad wasn't in the nut business. 344 00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:54,840 Speaker 4: He was in the movie business. His name was Mel Stewart, 345 00:16:54,880 --> 00:16:58,400 Speaker 4: but he, like dl wasn't into children's stories. He directed 346 00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:02,440 Speaker 4: serious documents entries. So Mel Stewart was born in York 347 00:17:02,680 --> 00:17:05,000 Speaker 4: Stuart Solomon. It's a Jewish man. At this point, he's 348 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:07,399 Speaker 4: in his early forties, and he'd produced a bunch of 349 00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:10,520 Speaker 4: great documentaries. Nineteen sixty four is Four Days in November, 350 00:17:10,600 --> 00:17:13,560 Speaker 4: which was nominated for Best Documentary Feature, and he'd started 351 00:17:13,560 --> 00:17:16,000 Speaker 4: to dip his toes into narrative feature films. But he's 352 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:19,040 Speaker 4: making movies that are distinctly for adults. The first is 353 00:17:19,119 --> 00:17:22,160 Speaker 4: nineteen sixty nine's If It's Tuesday, This Must be Belgium. 354 00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:24,720 Speaker 4: This is the Humorous Adventures of a group of American 355 00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:27,360 Speaker 4: tourists taking an eighteen day guided bus tour of nine 356 00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:31,280 Speaker 4: European countries and the nineteen seventies I Love My Wife. 357 00:17:31,359 --> 00:17:34,240 Speaker 4: I have never seen this movie that stars Elliott Gould. 358 00:17:34,320 --> 00:17:36,800 Speaker 4: It follows a quote successful young surgeon who has so 359 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:38,920 Speaker 4: much in life that he becomes bored with his wife 360 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:41,160 Speaker 4: and family and feeling empty, he goes through a series 361 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:44,439 Speaker 4: of brief, meaningless affairs with attractive women. The point is 362 00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:46,800 Speaker 4: that the book doesn't seem to be a natural fit 363 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:51,000 Speaker 4: for Stuart's sensibilities or vice versa. But what's so interesting 364 00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:53,560 Speaker 4: and what you get into so well in your podcast, Darin, 365 00:17:54,080 --> 00:17:56,840 Speaker 4: is that the same could be said for Roal Dahl 366 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:00,760 Speaker 4: and his transition into making children's books. To our first 367 00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:04,320 Speaker 4: wind back the Clock, deep dive into the Man behind 368 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:09,680 Speaker 4: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory role Dahl roll Dahl was 369 00:18:09,720 --> 00:18:13,520 Speaker 4: born in nineteen sixteen in Wales to Norwegian immigrant parents, 370 00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:18,560 Speaker 4: and he suffers a double tragedy early in his life. 371 00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:21,720 Speaker 4: His older sister dies when he's three, and then, as 372 00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:24,200 Speaker 4: you discuss on your show Erin, his father seems to 373 00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:27,080 Speaker 4: kind of lose the will to live and he does 374 00:18:27,119 --> 00:18:30,440 Speaker 4: not fight the pneumonia that he's contracted, and he passes 375 00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:33,520 Speaker 4: away within a few weeks of Doll's sister, but his 376 00:18:33,600 --> 00:18:36,880 Speaker 4: mom stays in the country because his father had believed 377 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:39,520 Speaker 4: an English education was the greatest thing that you could 378 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:41,960 Speaker 4: give your children. And then I do find it ironic 379 00:18:41,960 --> 00:18:43,560 Speaker 4: that so much of his writing has to do with 380 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:45,600 Speaker 4: how miserable it is to be a child in the 381 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:48,840 Speaker 4: English school system in so many ways. And so he 382 00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:51,520 Speaker 4: goes through his schooling and then he serves in the 383 00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:53,479 Speaker 4: Royal Air Force and erin. Maybe you can give us, 384 00:18:53,560 --> 00:18:58,000 Speaker 4: like just the brief insane whirlwind from Royal Air Force 385 00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:02,840 Speaker 4: brain trauma spy, sex spy in Washington, d C. Playing 386 00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:04,720 Speaker 4: cards with the President. Maybe we can hit some of 387 00:19:04,760 --> 00:19:07,280 Speaker 4: these lily pads for us briefly and go listen to 388 00:19:07,320 --> 00:19:08,400 Speaker 4: the show for more detail. 389 00:19:08,560 --> 00:19:11,159 Speaker 3: How closely tied are sex spy and playing cards with 390 00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:12,560 Speaker 3: the President? Are those the same thing? 391 00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:13,440 Speaker 4: Let's get through it. 392 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:16,600 Speaker 1: Yeah, they are intertwined. Yeah. So Dahl, you know, as 393 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:18,720 Speaker 1: I said before, he didn't start writing children's books until 394 00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:21,359 Speaker 1: his mid forties, so he lived all these different lives 395 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:24,119 Speaker 1: before that. And that's how I sort of organize my podcast, 396 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:26,399 Speaker 1: where each episode sort of takes us into one of 397 00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:29,960 Speaker 1: these worlds. So first he was a businessman for Shell Oil. 398 00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:32,480 Speaker 1: I think you're right. Like his father's death was such 399 00:19:32,520 --> 00:19:36,439 Speaker 1: an encompassing, important, childhood defining moment for him, he was 400 00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:40,160 Speaker 1: constantly searching for what kind of man he was. Shell 401 00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:43,239 Speaker 1: Oil businessman didn't quite work out, but it did take 402 00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:45,919 Speaker 1: him to Africa. And when he was in Africa, he 403 00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:49,200 Speaker 1: would see all these planes flying overhead and he thought 404 00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:52,080 Speaker 1: that that maybe was the next adventure. That's what looks 405 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:54,040 Speaker 1: good to him. So he just he got in a 406 00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:56,879 Speaker 1: car and he drove hundreds of miles, and even though 407 00:19:56,920 --> 00:20:00,439 Speaker 1: he had never been inside of a plane before, hevolunteered 408 00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:03,160 Speaker 1: for the Royal Air Force and he flew a bunch 409 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:05,880 Speaker 1: of missions. You know, this is early in World War Two, 410 00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:08,639 Speaker 1: and he got shot down over and over again, and 411 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:11,760 Speaker 1: one of the crashes was really, really bad. His face 412 00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:15,280 Speaker 1: went hard into the console in front of him so 413 00:20:15,359 --> 00:20:18,919 Speaker 1: badly that his nose sort of smacked back through his skull. 414 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:21,359 Speaker 1: He had to get major plastic surgery. He had to 415 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:24,919 Speaker 1: spend months in a hospital, and he started getting dizzy 416 00:20:24,920 --> 00:20:28,440 Speaker 1: spells and becoming unconscious at random times, and so his 417 00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:30,760 Speaker 1: superiors said you're done, you're grounded. 418 00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:32,680 Speaker 3: Yeah, you can't fly a plane. 419 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:34,159 Speaker 1: You cannot fly anymore. 420 00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:38,880 Speaker 4: He was also six foot six in these open cockpit planes, 421 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:42,560 Speaker 4: right exactly sticking out like Karim Abdul Jabbar like this. 422 00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:46,000 Speaker 1: Is exactly like an NBA player in a convertible. Yeah, 423 00:20:46,040 --> 00:20:49,320 Speaker 1: so imagine that. Like his head was above the windshield, 424 00:20:49,560 --> 00:20:51,919 Speaker 1: so he was just being pounded by the air and 425 00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:55,760 Speaker 1: debris and bugs. It was, yeah, totally nuts. Not I guess, 426 00:20:55,760 --> 00:20:58,399 Speaker 1: a huge surprise that he would crash so much. But 427 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:01,480 Speaker 1: his superiors saw something in him. He was he was 428 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:03,960 Speaker 1: six foot six, He was really really handsome. He was 429 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:07,440 Speaker 1: a great storyteller. He was incredibly charming, and so they 430 00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:09,400 Speaker 1: wanted to find something else for him. So they sent 431 00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:12,600 Speaker 1: him to Washington, DC to join a group called the Irregulars, 432 00:21:13,080 --> 00:21:17,240 Speaker 1: which was a sort of secret spy group for six 433 00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:20,800 Speaker 1: whose job it was to find a way to get 434 00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:24,240 Speaker 1: America to come into the war on Britain side right 435 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:27,160 Speaker 1: to join the war. And they would try everything. They 436 00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:31,560 Speaker 1: would sabotage, they would create propaganda. The group was totally fascinating. 437 00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:34,480 Speaker 1: It was all of these young twenty somethings, all of 438 00:21:34,520 --> 00:21:37,520 Speaker 1: whom were incredibly handsome and happened to be great writers. 439 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:40,200 Speaker 1: Dahl was in it, so was Noel Coward the Pirae, 440 00:21:40,520 --> 00:21:43,639 Speaker 1: So was Ian Fleming, who created James Bond. So is 441 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:46,840 Speaker 1: David Ogilvie, who would go on to invent modern advertising 442 00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:49,240 Speaker 1: and be the inspiration for Don Draper on mad Men. 443 00:21:49,359 --> 00:21:51,520 Speaker 1: So you got to sort of think about like Don Draper, 444 00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:55,280 Speaker 1: James Bond, and Roald Dahl sitting at a George shown 445 00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:58,840 Speaker 1: bar late at night coming up with like sabotage ideas, 446 00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:01,280 Speaker 1: and there's a bunch of great ideas they had, And 447 00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:03,679 Speaker 1: then I mean, I can get into Doll's seductions if 448 00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:05,000 Speaker 1: you want, but yeah. 449 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:07,600 Speaker 4: Let's talk about it briefly because it's so incongruous with 450 00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:09,760 Speaker 4: I think his children's work. But one of the things 451 00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:12,119 Speaker 4: that Doll, as you highlight on your show, was so 452 00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:15,679 Speaker 4: good at was women. He had a way with women. 453 00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:18,159 Speaker 4: He seemed to understand women, And you point out in 454 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:20,879 Speaker 4: your show that he writes female characters very well, and 455 00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:23,520 Speaker 4: he often has lead female protagonists and it's not in 456 00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:24,320 Speaker 4: a token way. 457 00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:24,680 Speaker 1: Yeah. 458 00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:27,199 Speaker 4: Maybe that's from being raised without a father, you know, 459 00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:29,840 Speaker 4: and having a strong maternal presence in his life with 460 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:32,399 Speaker 4: his sisters as well, yep, but yeah, please dive in 461 00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:33,440 Speaker 4: because it's fascinating. 462 00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:36,200 Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you're exactly right. Doll was surrounded by women. 463 00:22:36,359 --> 00:22:38,440 Speaker 1: It was his mother and his sisters who raised him, 464 00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:42,119 Speaker 1: and so part of his job in the Irregulars was 465 00:22:42,160 --> 00:22:45,400 Speaker 1: to seduce women who were married to powerful men who 466 00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:47,840 Speaker 1: were not yet on the Allied side, in order to 467 00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:50,639 Speaker 1: sort of try to convince their husbands a whisper in 468 00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:53,520 Speaker 1: their husband's ear to get on the Allied side. So 469 00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:58,320 Speaker 1: there's a whole litany of powerful women that Doll supposedly seduced. 470 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:01,840 Speaker 1: We know for sure, people like Gloria Vanderbilt, several others. 471 00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:05,639 Speaker 1: The most famous is probably Claire booth Loose, who was 472 00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:08,720 Speaker 1: married to Henry Loose. Henry Loose was probably the most 473 00:23:08,720 --> 00:23:11,040 Speaker 1: powerful man in media at the time. He owned Time 474 00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:14,760 Speaker 1: magazine and Life Magazine and so many others, and they 475 00:23:14,760 --> 00:23:18,480 Speaker 1: were often printing anti British pieces, which Churchill could not 476 00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:22,399 Speaker 1: abide because he's desperate to get America FDR specifically to 477 00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:25,680 Speaker 1: come into the war on Britain side. Claire booth Loose 478 00:23:25,800 --> 00:23:28,280 Speaker 1: in her own right was also incredibly influential. She was 479 00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:30,879 Speaker 1: a major journalist for places like Vanity Fair, She was 480 00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:33,520 Speaker 1: a huge playwright. She wrote the Broadway play The Women, 481 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:36,439 Speaker 1: which was then adapted twice for the movies. Yeah, that 482 00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:37,480 Speaker 1: was her only play. 483 00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:37,960 Speaker 3: Wow. 484 00:23:37,960 --> 00:23:40,959 Speaker 1: And then she decided to run for Congress and became 485 00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:45,159 Speaker 1: a really rare woman in Congress. So she was incredibly powerful. 486 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:48,600 Speaker 1: She was thirteen years older than Dahl, but Doll dated her. 487 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:52,040 Speaker 1: They had a long term affair, and the idea was 488 00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:55,399 Speaker 1: to convince her husband and to convince her that this 489 00:23:55,520 --> 00:23:56,720 Speaker 1: was a good idea to enter the war. 490 00:23:57,040 --> 00:23:59,399 Speaker 3: Okay, I'm thrilled that her legacy was not just had 491 00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:02,120 Speaker 3: an oopsie affair with a spy called roll Doll. 492 00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:05,520 Speaker 4: Oh, she was like a lot, deeply influential person. 493 00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:08,000 Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, that's so interesting. 494 00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:10,280 Speaker 3: It's also immediately as soon as you said he was 495 00:24:10,320 --> 00:24:12,119 Speaker 3: six but six, I was like, and we're sure this 496 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:15,040 Speaker 3: is not just a Jacob E LOORDI he's so tall situation. 497 00:24:15,119 --> 00:24:15,879 Speaker 3: But it sounds like no. 498 00:24:16,359 --> 00:24:18,400 Speaker 4: He seems like he was quite the charmer on top 499 00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:20,040 Speaker 4: of it. And then he, you know, he meets his 500 00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:23,239 Speaker 4: match in Patricia Neil, the actress who was younger than 501 00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:25,640 Speaker 4: him and who was very much on the rise when 502 00:24:25,640 --> 00:24:27,960 Speaker 4: they met. You know, I think she was twenty six, Aaron, 503 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:30,800 Speaker 4: if I'm remembering your show correctly. Yeah, and she's not 504 00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:33,600 Speaker 4: interested in him. She's the first woman, you know. It 505 00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:37,080 Speaker 4: seems that he's run into who he can't woo. And eventually, 506 00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:39,440 Speaker 4: you know, she had had a very messy affair with 507 00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:42,439 Speaker 4: Gary Cooper and when that fell apart, he was the 508 00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:44,119 Speaker 4: love of her life, she you know, would say, and 509 00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:46,879 Speaker 4: she described sex with him as an act of God basically, 510 00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:50,080 Speaker 4: and with Gary Cooper, with Gary Cooper, yeah, who was 511 00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:53,440 Speaker 4: twenty years older than her. And when that fails, Dahl 512 00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:55,960 Speaker 4: eventually wears her down and she realizes I want to 513 00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:59,120 Speaker 4: have kids, and Dall would produce good looking kids, so okay, 514 00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:02,000 Speaker 4: and they get married and so begins a relationship that 515 00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:05,320 Speaker 4: I think without that relationship and the tragedy that follows, 516 00:25:05,359 --> 00:25:07,320 Speaker 4: you do not get Charlie in the Chocolate Factory and 517 00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:09,240 Speaker 4: his children's books in a lot of senses. But let's 518 00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:10,960 Speaker 4: save that for a moment because I want to get 519 00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:13,720 Speaker 4: back into our film timeline and we will return to 520 00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:15,320 Speaker 4: mister Doll in a second, because I want to tease 521 00:25:15,359 --> 00:25:18,200 Speaker 4: it out across the episode. So Mel Stewart has been 522 00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:21,280 Speaker 4: working with a producer named David Wolper, who is big 523 00:25:21,359 --> 00:25:24,440 Speaker 4: in the documentary space. And Mel Stewart is the artist, 524 00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:29,199 Speaker 4: and David Wolper is a salesman through and through, so 525 00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:33,080 Speaker 4: it's literally in his blood. His father is Irving Wolper, 526 00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:35,760 Speaker 4: who actually worked with Donald Trump. And here is a 527 00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:38,240 Speaker 4: quote from Trump the Art of the Deal, who described 528 00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:40,720 Speaker 4: Irving as quote one of the greatest bullshit artists I've 529 00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:41,280 Speaker 4: ever met. 530 00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:44,000 Speaker 3: I mean, it's a high compliment from Wow. 531 00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:44,760 Speaker 1: I did not know that. 532 00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:45,760 Speaker 3: Yeah wow. 533 00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:49,080 Speaker 4: So David Wolper, like his father, was interested in sales 534 00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:51,399 Speaker 4: of all kinds and the entertainment industry. He'd started a 535 00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:54,800 Speaker 4: TV distribution company called Flamingo Films. So after he started 536 00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:58,000 Speaker 4: Flamingo Films, Wolper shut it down, ended up working at 537 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:00,080 Speaker 4: a bank, and when he was there he started working 538 00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:02,960 Speaker 4: on divorce hearing, which was kind of a predecessor or, 539 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:05,240 Speaker 4: as he described it, a predecessor to Jerry Springer and 540 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:07,800 Speaker 4: like not great reality TV. And then he ran into 541 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:10,600 Speaker 4: somebody on the street that he bought Russian cartoons from. 542 00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:13,320 Speaker 4: So this is the wild West right of distribution. Yeah, 543 00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:15,800 Speaker 4: anybody can start up their own little distribution outfit. And 544 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:18,639 Speaker 4: this guy says, look, you like those Russian cartoons. I 545 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:20,800 Speaker 4: got some Russian space footage. You want some of that, 546 00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:23,719 Speaker 4: And so he makes a movie called Race for Space. 547 00:26:24,080 --> 00:26:26,159 Speaker 4: Stewart had worked on it, but he didn't like it, 548 00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:28,399 Speaker 4: and he told Wolpert, you know, he didn't like it, 549 00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:30,160 Speaker 4: and Rolper thought, well, this guy's smart, so we hired 550 00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:32,840 Speaker 4: him and they started working together. A decade later, mel 551 00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:35,520 Speaker 4: Stewart tells Madeline, Okay, I'm going to read Charlie in 552 00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:36,320 Speaker 4: the Chocolate Factory. 553 00:26:36,359 --> 00:26:36,720 Speaker 1: He does. 554 00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:39,000 Speaker 4: It's not quite his style, but he likes it, and 555 00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:41,120 Speaker 4: he decides I want to make it, but I want 556 00:26:41,119 --> 00:26:45,520 Speaker 4: to make it in a more realistic fashion than the book. So, Aaron, 557 00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:47,320 Speaker 4: you talk about this on your show in like the 558 00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:50,680 Speaker 4: last episode especially, But Willy Wonka is very much a cipher. 559 00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:53,120 Speaker 4: He's this enigma in the book. It's hard to parse, 560 00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:54,800 Speaker 4: it's hard to even figure out who he is. He 561 00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:57,280 Speaker 4: seems like he darts in and out of you know, view. 562 00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:00,360 Speaker 4: He's never really described in great detail. And I think 563 00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:03,359 Speaker 4: Stuart wants to ground the story much more than the 564 00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:10,480 Speaker 4: heightened version that will exist later in Tim Burton's world. 565 00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:18,520 Speaker 4: So Stuart saw a business opportunity here as well, Basically 566 00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:22,280 Speaker 4: outside of Disney. The market for family films was slim, 567 00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:24,760 Speaker 4: and this is very much true. So at the time 568 00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:29,120 Speaker 4: there are very few non Disney children's family films being released. 569 00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:31,360 Speaker 4: This is the late sixties early seventies. In fact, one 570 00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:34,639 Speaker 4: exception was written by Ian Fleming and Roll Dahll. Aaron, 571 00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:35,879 Speaker 4: which one would that be? 572 00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:37,760 Speaker 1: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. 573 00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:40,399 Speaker 4: That's right, Chitty Chitty Bang. The book was written by 574 00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:42,800 Speaker 4: Ian Fleming and then Roll Dahl would write the screenplay. 575 00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:46,160 Speaker 4: So Disney was entering the dark ages. Walt passed away 576 00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:49,959 Speaker 4: in nineteen sixty six, and so Mel Stewart has this opportunity. 577 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:52,119 Speaker 4: There's a bit of a vacuum. They consider making it 578 00:27:52,119 --> 00:27:54,199 Speaker 4: as an animated film, but Stuart doesn't want to do that. 579 00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:56,320 Speaker 4: He wants it to be realistic and grounded, and he 580 00:27:56,320 --> 00:27:58,480 Speaker 4: doesn't want it just to be for kids. He also 581 00:27:58,520 --> 00:28:01,040 Speaker 4: wants it to appeal to adults. So he tells Wolper 582 00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:03,240 Speaker 4: about the idea, and as you talk about in your show, 583 00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:07,119 Speaker 4: so Well, Aaron Wolper sees an opportunity for Synergy. So 584 00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:10,320 Speaker 4: David Wolper is working on a TV special about endangered 585 00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:13,120 Speaker 4: species called Say Goodbye, which would be nominated for another 586 00:28:13,160 --> 00:28:17,040 Speaker 4: Oscar Best documentary feature, and they had a sponsor, Quaker Oats. 587 00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:20,800 Speaker 4: So Ken Mason, the director of advertising at Quaker Oats, 588 00:28:21,119 --> 00:28:24,040 Speaker 4: was actually very against Saturday Morning cartoons and wanted to 589 00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:28,840 Speaker 4: sponsor more serious fare for children. Hence something like Say Goodbye. 590 00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:31,920 Speaker 4: And this is kind of at the height of advertising 591 00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:35,120 Speaker 4: targeting children through television, and all of a sudden, there's 592 00:28:35,119 --> 00:28:37,720 Speaker 4: a lot of pushback on these ads. There's all of 593 00:28:37,760 --> 00:28:40,600 Speaker 4: these conferences about food and nutrition and health, and people 594 00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:43,360 Speaker 4: are saying, maybe these cereals products are not actually as 595 00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:45,920 Speaker 4: good for children as we have been saying before. And 596 00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:48,880 Speaker 4: so there's an opportunity here for Mason and Quaker Oats 597 00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:54,160 Speaker 4: to attempt a different form of advertising than traditional television advertising. 598 00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:58,000 Speaker 4: And so Ken Mason, who once defended cap'n Crunch by 599 00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:00,400 Speaker 4: saying a banana has more sugar than a c of 600 00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:03,360 Speaker 4: my Sweet and Cereal, which I don't know if that's true. 601 00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:04,280 Speaker 3: Seems like it's not. 602 00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:07,560 Speaker 1: I don't think that's true, syncs. 603 00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:11,080 Speaker 4: Up with David Wolper and he produces this documentary Say Goodbye, 604 00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:13,840 Speaker 4: and Wolper says, all right, you guys are interested in 605 00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:17,320 Speaker 4: making a chocolate bar. What about Charlie and the chocolate 606 00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:20,320 Speaker 4: factory and we do a little product tie in. We 607 00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:23,000 Speaker 4: don't know how the conversation went, but here's how Wolper 608 00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:25,520 Speaker 4: described it. While it was highly unusual for a serial 609 00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:28,280 Speaker 4: company to finance a feature films, yeah, Quaker Oats decided 610 00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:30,920 Speaker 4: to name their candy the Wonka Bar and bought the 611 00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:34,479 Speaker 4: rights to the name from the author. So there are 612 00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:37,840 Speaker 4: obviously a lot of product tie ins nowadays with movies, 613 00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:40,080 Speaker 4: and there would begin to be in the nineteen eighties. 614 00:29:40,120 --> 00:29:42,280 Speaker 4: I mean some big examples like Reese's Pieces in Et, 615 00:29:42,560 --> 00:29:46,480 Speaker 4: although obviously Reesus did not finance that film BMW and GoldenEye, 616 00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:49,400 Speaker 4: which we covered. GoldenEye has an incredible amount of sponsorship 617 00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:52,520 Speaker 4: in it. Or AOL I did not know this, Lizzie. 618 00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:55,120 Speaker 4: They paid to have the title of You've Got Mail 619 00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:58,440 Speaker 4: b You've Got Mail Wow. Now we should be clear 620 00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:01,200 Speaker 4: we don't actually know the detail of the deal between 621 00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:03,800 Speaker 4: AOL and the studio. It's entirely possible that no money 622 00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:07,120 Speaker 4: exchanged hands and that an exchange for the product placement, 623 00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:10,680 Speaker 4: AOL provided promotion through its online properties. But we do 624 00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:13,120 Speaker 4: know that You've Got Mail was originally called you Have Mail, 625 00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:16,720 Speaker 4: and AOL was involved in shaping that film. The point 626 00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:20,800 Speaker 4: is that all of these deals pale in comparison to 627 00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:24,520 Speaker 4: the Quaker Oats Charlie and the Chocolate Factory deal, in 628 00:30:24,560 --> 00:30:30,560 Speaker 4: which Quaker Oats is the sole financier responsible for providing 629 00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:34,760 Speaker 4: the entire budget for the movie. And Aaron, as you mentioned, 630 00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:38,240 Speaker 4: this is so unusual because the book is a critique 631 00:30:38,360 --> 00:30:42,600 Speaker 4: of to a certain extent, American capitalism and also advertising 632 00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:44,240 Speaker 4: to children in a lot of. 633 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:47,120 Speaker 3: Ways, and Quakers is like, what better way than to 634 00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:48,840 Speaker 3: advertise our chocolate bar too, children. 635 00:30:48,920 --> 00:30:52,320 Speaker 1: Yeah, we should stop and just really sort of dive 636 00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:57,080 Speaker 1: into how insane this is that a serial company funded 637 00:30:57,360 --> 00:30:59,480 Speaker 1: a studio movie. Yeah, you're right. Everything you said is right. 638 00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:02,400 Speaker 1: That makes no sense. That did not happen before. And 639 00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:05,400 Speaker 1: you mentioned earlier that Doll hated this movie. I mean, 640 00:31:05,840 --> 00:31:08,000 Speaker 1: Dahl hated this movie. Let's just say it flat out. 641 00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:11,160 Speaker 1: He wrote the screenplay, but he was incredibly unhappy with it. 642 00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:14,440 Speaker 1: And like I said, I love this movie, and so 643 00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:17,520 Speaker 1: I disagree with Doll about it. But I am very 644 00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:20,760 Speaker 1: much on Doll's side here because Dahl wrote Charlie the 645 00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:24,360 Speaker 1: Chocolate Factory, because Quaker Oats came on to fund the 646 00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:26,720 Speaker 1: movie and they wanted to make a Wonka bar. As 647 00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:30,760 Speaker 1: you said, they completely shifted the focus and they called 648 00:31:30,760 --> 00:31:33,680 Speaker 1: it Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. So that's not 649 00:31:33,920 --> 00:31:36,920 Speaker 1: just a title change. That really is a gigantic change. 650 00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:38,480 Speaker 1: I mean, I think I can talk a little bit 651 00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:40,880 Speaker 1: about what I noticed the other day about the structure 652 00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:44,160 Speaker 1: of the movie, which is so incredibly weird, but I 653 00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:48,240 Speaker 1: think it really does shift focus to Willy Wonka starting 654 00:31:48,240 --> 00:31:50,240 Speaker 1: at the end of act one, and that is not 655 00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:52,480 Speaker 1: what Dall wanted. That is not the story he wrote. 656 00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:54,920 Speaker 1: That is not the message he was trying to get across. 657 00:31:55,200 --> 00:31:58,360 Speaker 1: It undermined his themes. So I'm on his side here 658 00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:01,760 Speaker 1: that they sort of screwed up his version of the story. 659 00:32:01,920 --> 00:32:03,440 Speaker 4: Well, let's talk a little bit about how he got 660 00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:05,800 Speaker 4: involved and then maybe how he got edged out. So 661 00:32:06,120 --> 00:32:08,440 Speaker 4: I think one of the reasons this thing actually happened, 662 00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:12,800 Speaker 4: Wolper definitely had not read the entire book and maybe 663 00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:15,440 Speaker 4: had not read any of it when he pitched the 664 00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:18,600 Speaker 4: idea to Quaker. So Stewart had read the book. He 665 00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:21,120 Speaker 4: told Wolper about it, and it seems like Wolper just 666 00:32:21,160 --> 00:32:26,000 Speaker 4: thought chocolate factory, Quaker, great, Let's stick it together. It 667 00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:26,520 Speaker 4: doesn't matter. 668 00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:28,440 Speaker 3: By the way, it may be worth mentioning because I 669 00:32:28,480 --> 00:32:32,120 Speaker 3: didn't realize this some of the brands that Quaker was 670 00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:35,600 Speaker 3: behind in the sixties and the seventies in terms of 671 00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:38,600 Speaker 3: the types of cereals because they did life, right, they 672 00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:41,720 Speaker 3: did life, and they have cap'n Crunch and crunch Yeah, 673 00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:44,360 Speaker 3: something called quisp yep. But yeah, like some of the 674 00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:48,400 Speaker 3: biggest sugariest like character driven cereals, right. 675 00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:52,560 Speaker 4: Mm hmm yep. Very mascot driven, yes, brand driven, very 676 00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:55,480 Speaker 4: much aimed at children. Again, as we'll discuss later, Ken 677 00:32:55,520 --> 00:32:58,600 Speaker 4: Mason of Quaker actually seems to have had decently mixed 678 00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:01,680 Speaker 4: feelings about this and was hoping to do something a 679 00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:04,400 Speaker 4: little bit more substantive for children in terms of the 680 00:33:04,480 --> 00:33:06,880 Speaker 4: entertainment that was being provided, which is actually kind of 681 00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:09,480 Speaker 4: like Doll. He did not like television. Doll does not 682 00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:11,960 Speaker 4: like television. If you reach Charlie a Chocolate Factory, which 683 00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:13,520 Speaker 4: I did, and you get to the Mike TV section, 684 00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:15,920 Speaker 4: you can see when the Ooperloupas do their poem about 685 00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:18,920 Speaker 4: Mike TV, you can see Doll's thoughts on television very clearly. 686 00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:22,440 Speaker 4: So it seems like though Aaron at First, this is 687 00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:24,920 Speaker 4: actually going to be a great situation for Doll because 688 00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:28,240 Speaker 4: unlike a traditional studio setup, it's being financed by a 689 00:33:28,280 --> 00:33:31,320 Speaker 4: private corporation, and so therefore it seems unlikely that they're 690 00:33:31,320 --> 00:33:33,120 Speaker 4: going to get the level of notes that you'll get 691 00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:35,920 Speaker 4: through like a studio executive for example. Right in theory, 692 00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:38,720 Speaker 4: Doll should have more control in this situation, and you 693 00:33:38,760 --> 00:33:41,440 Speaker 4: could surmise or imagine a version of it like that. 694 00:33:41,800 --> 00:33:45,000 Speaker 4: So Wolper calls Doll's agent and he negotiates a deal 695 00:33:45,040 --> 00:33:46,880 Speaker 4: to buy the rights to the book for two hundred 696 00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:49,560 Speaker 4: thousand dollars, and the agent has one condition, Doll has 697 00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:53,440 Speaker 4: to write the screenplay. At this point, that actually seems 698 00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:55,520 Speaker 4: like not a big deal because, as you discussed on 699 00:33:55,520 --> 00:33:57,880 Speaker 4: your show, Aaron Dahl had written not only A Chitty 700 00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:00,560 Speaker 4: Chitty Bang Bang, but You Only Live Twice, the James 701 00:34:00,560 --> 00:34:03,520 Speaker 4: Bond film. He'd also written for Alfred Hitchcock on his 702 00:34:03,640 --> 00:34:07,640 Speaker 4: anthology series and where years removed from his failed attempt 703 00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:11,759 Speaker 4: to adapt his story about Gremlins with Walt Disney, which 704 00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:14,120 Speaker 4: had been his kind of rude introduction to Hollywood. 705 00:34:14,239 --> 00:34:14,960 Speaker 1: So it's a deal. 706 00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:18,160 Speaker 4: Ken Mason calls Wolper back Quaker Oats is interested, and 707 00:34:18,239 --> 00:34:21,280 Speaker 4: Wolper proposes the plan that would go into action. Quaker 708 00:34:21,360 --> 00:34:23,080 Speaker 4: Oats is going to put up the money. They're going 709 00:34:23,120 --> 00:34:25,000 Speaker 4: to make it for two to three million dollars, and 710 00:34:25,040 --> 00:34:28,520 Speaker 4: then afterwards we'll shop it around for distribution. And Wolper's like, 711 00:34:28,560 --> 00:34:30,400 Speaker 4: this is going to give us the best financial results, 712 00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:33,319 Speaker 4: which really just means Wolper the best financial results. He 713 00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:35,719 Speaker 4: will be paid no matter what. There is no risk 714 00:34:35,920 --> 00:34:39,200 Speaker 4: involved in this. Now, as you mentioned, Aaron, the title 715 00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:44,359 Speaker 4: change seems to have come from Quaker. That's the general consensus. 716 00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:47,200 Speaker 4: We will get to Mel Stewart actually offers a different 717 00:34:47,239 --> 00:34:50,720 Speaker 4: reason later on. But I think it makes perfect sense 718 00:34:50,800 --> 00:34:53,000 Speaker 4: that they're going to be promoting the Wonka Bar. It 719 00:34:53,040 --> 00:34:55,480 Speaker 4: needs to be called Willie Wonka. We need Wonka in 720 00:34:55,520 --> 00:34:57,600 Speaker 4: the title, and it can't be called Charlie Wonka and 721 00:34:57,640 --> 00:35:00,640 Speaker 4: the chocolate factory. That doesn't make any sense. So by 722 00:35:00,719 --> 00:35:02,880 Speaker 4: August of nineteen sixty nine, the New York Times had 723 00:35:02,880 --> 00:35:05,200 Speaker 4: reported that Wolpur and Quaker Oats are going to produce 724 00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:09,399 Speaker 4: this children's story. They also note that Wolper also took 725 00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:12,360 Speaker 4: out an option on James and the Giant Peach that 726 00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:14,560 Speaker 4: would not obviously come to pass. Now, the movie was 727 00:35:14,560 --> 00:35:17,360 Speaker 4: already being described as a musical, which mel Stewart wasn't 728 00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:20,960 Speaker 4: really nuts about. So he actually wanted to have the 729 00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:26,360 Speaker 4: character's chanting poems and basically rapping instead of singing songs, 730 00:35:26,400 --> 00:35:31,120 Speaker 4: which would have been really interestingly. 731 00:35:29,560 --> 00:35:31,600 Speaker 3: What some of the children in this movie do anyway, 732 00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:34,960 Speaker 3: because they did not cast the greatest singers. 733 00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:38,960 Speaker 4: They didn't cast singers. No is that Sabrina Carpenter in 734 00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:41,799 Speaker 4: here though. But Wolper seems to be the driving force 735 00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:43,919 Speaker 4: behind wanting this to be a musical, because he's using 736 00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:46,600 Speaker 4: musicals to sell Quaker Oats on the idea He's sang 737 00:35:46,719 --> 00:35:49,719 Speaker 4: The Wizard of Oz the Sound of Music Oliver just 738 00:35:49,760 --> 00:35:52,319 Speaker 4: a few years before in nineteen sixty eight. Oliver, He's 739 00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:55,120 Speaker 4: had made a ton of money, and so Stuart gives in, 740 00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:57,200 Speaker 4: but he's like, it's not a musical, it's a movie 741 00:35:57,560 --> 00:36:02,200 Speaker 4: with music, Anddavid Wolper had a really good idea of 742 00:36:02,280 --> 00:36:04,640 Speaker 4: who he wanted to come in to write the music. 743 00:36:04,760 --> 00:36:08,400 Speaker 4: Lizzie Aaron Any guesses. He features prominently in twenty twenty 744 00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:12,480 Speaker 4: five's Blue Moon. Richard Rogers Richard Rogers of Rogers and 745 00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:15,840 Speaker 4: Hammerstein Oklahoma, The King and I Sound of Music. He 746 00:36:15,920 --> 00:36:19,680 Speaker 4: says no. Then Henry Mancini Breakfast of Tiffany's Pink Panther, 747 00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:22,000 Speaker 4: he also said no. He said he was busy. And 748 00:36:22,040 --> 00:36:25,520 Speaker 4: finally Wolper calls his friends Anthony Newley and Leslie Brickis, 749 00:36:25,719 --> 00:36:30,879 Speaker 4: who are not also rams in this conversation. These are 750 00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:34,600 Speaker 4: two of the biggest composer lyricists of the era, and 751 00:36:34,719 --> 00:36:37,920 Speaker 4: Newly was very much a performer as well. So Newly's 752 00:36:37,920 --> 00:36:40,320 Speaker 4: an actor, comedian, singer, composer. He'd had a string of 753 00:36:40,400 --> 00:36:42,839 Speaker 4: hits in the UK in the late fifties and early sixties. Lizzy, 754 00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:44,880 Speaker 4: we talked about Anthony Newey briefly in our episode on 755 00:36:44,920 --> 00:36:48,160 Speaker 4: Doctor Doolittle, which he acted in and was abused by 756 00:36:48,200 --> 00:36:49,120 Speaker 4: Rex Harrison in that. 757 00:36:49,120 --> 00:36:51,040 Speaker 3: Movie, as was everyone on that side. 758 00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:54,719 Speaker 4: Yet Goodbye mister Chips Scrooge, and again they had some 759 00:36:54,840 --> 00:36:57,800 Speaker 4: doll overlaps. So Newly and Brickis had done the Bond 760 00:36:57,880 --> 00:37:01,040 Speaker 4: song for Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice. 761 00:37:01,320 --> 00:37:04,480 Speaker 3: Oh, Goldfinger is my favorite Bond song of all time, 762 00:37:04,760 --> 00:37:05,799 Speaker 3: Shirley Bassie. 763 00:37:06,040 --> 00:37:08,279 Speaker 4: Yeah, that's nearly about. So they'd won a Grammy in 764 00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:11,080 Speaker 4: nineteen sixty three and the point is they're not some 765 00:37:11,080 --> 00:37:13,240 Speaker 4: sort of Constellation prize. These are two of the greatest 766 00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:15,600 Speaker 4: living musical men you know in the world right now. 767 00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:17,520 Speaker 4: And so Wolfers says, write a few songs for the movie, 768 00:37:17,520 --> 00:37:19,799 Speaker 4: and they say sure, and they sent them Rolldall's first 769 00:37:19,880 --> 00:37:22,400 Speaker 4: draft as a guide. And let's talk about this first draft. 770 00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:26,000 Speaker 4: So Aaron Rolldall tried to make it as a screenwriter 771 00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:27,959 Speaker 4: for a long time. Can you tell us a little 772 00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:31,360 Speaker 4: bit about the high that he started on entering Hollywood 773 00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:32,959 Speaker 4: and how quickly he fell off? 774 00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:35,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, you're right, and I think that those two things 775 00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:37,480 Speaker 1: are very much tied together. It's not a coincidence. When 776 00:37:37,520 --> 00:37:39,920 Speaker 1: Doll was just twenty six, he wrote a story called 777 00:37:39,920 --> 00:37:42,360 Speaker 1: The Gremlins, which you referenced, which was kind of a 778 00:37:42,719 --> 00:37:45,759 Speaker 1: propaganda piece about American and British cooperation. And it got 779 00:37:45,840 --> 00:37:48,360 Speaker 1: passed around DC and it got into the hands of 780 00:37:48,360 --> 00:37:51,480 Speaker 1: Eleanor Roosevelt and she flipped for it. She absolutely loved it. 781 00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:54,040 Speaker 1: It was basically a children's story, and she gave it 782 00:37:54,080 --> 00:37:56,120 Speaker 1: to her grandkids. She would read it to her grandkids, 783 00:37:56,160 --> 00:37:58,280 Speaker 1: and she wanted to meet the author, so she invited 784 00:37:58,320 --> 00:38:00,759 Speaker 1: twenty six year old Rolldahal, who by the way, was 785 00:38:00,800 --> 00:38:03,760 Speaker 1: a British spy at this point to the White House 786 00:38:03,880 --> 00:38:06,000 Speaker 1: to hang out with him, and it went well, just 787 00:38:06,160 --> 00:38:08,640 Speaker 1: like you know you mentioned dollas like Zelig or you 788 00:38:08,640 --> 00:38:11,719 Speaker 1: know for Scump, I mean Doll just like Charmed everyone 789 00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:14,920 Speaker 1: everywhere he went. Eleanor and Franklin invited him up to 790 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:18,240 Speaker 1: Hyde Park to spend weekends, which is just like huge 791 00:38:18,680 --> 00:38:21,120 Speaker 1: for a twenty six year old spy, like making friends 792 00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:23,239 Speaker 1: with a White House intern would have been giant, but 793 00:38:23,560 --> 00:38:25,279 Speaker 1: rolled and this is just the way his life went, 794 00:38:25,560 --> 00:38:28,480 Speaker 1: was becoming friends with the First Family. And so it 795 00:38:28,520 --> 00:38:31,600 Speaker 1: was such an exciting book that Eleanor fell in love 796 00:38:31,640 --> 00:38:34,719 Speaker 1: with that either she or someone in her circle got 797 00:38:34,719 --> 00:38:37,520 Speaker 1: it to Walt Disney, and Walt Disney fell in love 798 00:38:37,560 --> 00:38:40,200 Speaker 1: with it. And Walt Disney was absolutely at peak of 799 00:38:40,239 --> 00:38:42,359 Speaker 1: his powers. I mean, all the big movies we can name, 800 00:38:42,600 --> 00:38:45,759 Speaker 1: Dumbo and Pinocchio and Bambi, they had all been made 801 00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:48,680 Speaker 1: in just like the handful of years before this. He 802 00:38:49,160 --> 00:38:51,319 Speaker 1: loves the book as much as Eleanor does, and he 803 00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:54,280 Speaker 1: flies twenty six year old Roll Doll to Los Angeles, 804 00:38:54,320 --> 00:38:56,560 Speaker 1: puts him up at the Beverly Hills Hotel, hires a 805 00:38:56,640 --> 00:38:59,400 Speaker 1: driver for him, throws a giant party for him that 806 00:38:59,480 --> 00:39:02,640 Speaker 1: Charlie chi Applin attends and everyone attends. 807 00:39:02,640 --> 00:39:05,880 Speaker 4: Where he's like welcomed by Charlie Chaplin. Yeah, is Charlie 808 00:39:05,920 --> 00:39:07,400 Speaker 4: dressed as a gremlin? I can't remember. 809 00:39:07,440 --> 00:39:11,000 Speaker 1: I know a lot of Yeah, Charlie and the other 810 00:39:11,120 --> 00:39:13,600 Speaker 1: guests are dressed like gremlins. Yeah, I mean, can you 811 00:39:13,640 --> 00:39:16,839 Speaker 1: imagine for Dahl to just like walk into that. 812 00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:19,680 Speaker 4: He just met the president, who then set him up 813 00:39:19,719 --> 00:39:22,560 Speaker 4: with Walt Disney Like, yeah, it doesn't make any. 814 00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:25,000 Speaker 1: Said, it's insane, And they start a writer's room and 815 00:39:25,080 --> 00:39:27,960 Speaker 1: Disney sort of shows Doll the ropes, this is how 816 00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:30,240 Speaker 1: Hollywood works, This is how we are going to adapt 817 00:39:30,280 --> 00:39:33,040 Speaker 1: your story. And he hires a director, and he hires 818 00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:35,239 Speaker 1: you know, animators and kind of a whole crew, and 819 00:39:35,520 --> 00:39:38,799 Speaker 1: they get going, and Disney even puts out ads for 820 00:39:38,920 --> 00:39:42,080 Speaker 1: the Gremlins the movie before they finish the screenplay. But 821 00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:44,840 Speaker 1: Dall is just not at a point yet where he 822 00:39:44,880 --> 00:39:48,839 Speaker 1: can compromise. He has a very strong vision for what 823 00:39:49,080 --> 00:39:52,359 Speaker 1: his story is and he doesn't want it corrupted. He 824 00:39:52,360 --> 00:39:55,520 Speaker 1: doesn't want it changed at all. But of course, movie making, 825 00:39:55,600 --> 00:39:58,600 Speaker 1: screenplay writing is all about collaboration. That's what Hollywood is. 826 00:39:59,239 --> 00:40:01,759 Speaker 1: So for that reason and for other reasons, the film 827 00:40:01,760 --> 00:40:04,200 Speaker 1: falls apart. And what I talk about a little bit 828 00:40:04,239 --> 00:40:07,080 Speaker 1: on the podcast is Dall could have We might not 829 00:40:07,480 --> 00:40:11,960 Speaker 1: have ever heard of Dol because so many writers like him, novelists, 830 00:40:12,040 --> 00:40:15,600 Speaker 1: prose writers, went to Hollywood and just just failed, right 831 00:40:15,719 --> 00:40:19,279 Speaker 1: like people like Fitzgerald and Faulkner and Aldos Huxley and 832 00:40:19,320 --> 00:40:22,800 Speaker 1: so many others. Fitzgerald drank himself to death in Hollywood, 833 00:40:22,800 --> 00:40:24,840 Speaker 1: and that absolutely could have been Dall because he just 834 00:40:24,880 --> 00:40:27,920 Speaker 1: had one disappointment after the next. His next movie he 835 00:40:27,960 --> 00:40:32,080 Speaker 1: wrote it ended up actually going into production with Gregory peckstarring, 836 00:40:32,360 --> 00:40:34,640 Speaker 1: but it was called Oh Death, Where is Thy sting 837 00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:37,439 Speaker 1: ling Ling? And the reason you've never heard of it 838 00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:40,319 Speaker 1: is because after a few days of filming, the head 839 00:40:40,320 --> 00:40:42,840 Speaker 1: of the studio canceled the whole production, didn't like what 840 00:40:42,880 --> 00:40:45,239 Speaker 1: he saw and canceled it. So it's like Dall was 841 00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:49,120 Speaker 1: just just having so many disappointments in Hollywood. But then 842 00:40:49,760 --> 00:40:54,240 Speaker 1: he hooked up with Albert Broccoli, the producers of James Bond, 843 00:40:54,640 --> 00:40:57,000 Speaker 1: and he was given the opportunity to write the fifth 844 00:40:57,000 --> 00:41:00,000 Speaker 1: installment of the James Bond series, which was as much 845 00:41:00,080 --> 00:41:02,480 Speaker 1: to a guarantee as exists in Hollywood. You know, the 846 00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:06,080 Speaker 1: first four were giant, giant hits. Doll was also a 847 00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:08,480 Speaker 1: spy for six, so he was able to bring his 848 00:41:08,520 --> 00:41:11,480 Speaker 1: own experiences to the project. He was actually friends with 849 00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:14,359 Speaker 1: Ian Fleming, who created James Bond, so was like the 850 00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:18,600 Speaker 1: perfect situation for him, and it became a giant, giant hit. 851 00:41:19,120 --> 00:41:21,839 Speaker 3: Was it like public knowledge that he had been part 852 00:41:21,880 --> 00:41:23,560 Speaker 3: of six at this point or is that something that 853 00:41:23,600 --> 00:41:24,400 Speaker 3: came out later. 854 00:41:24,880 --> 00:41:26,919 Speaker 1: He definitely did not talk about it much. He didn't 855 00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:29,399 Speaker 1: boast about it, so I think most people probably thought 856 00:41:29,440 --> 00:41:31,440 Speaker 1: that he was just part of the British embassy working 857 00:41:31,440 --> 00:41:34,279 Speaker 1: in New York and DC. He didn't go around advertising 858 00:41:34,280 --> 00:41:37,680 Speaker 1: it got it, But certainly the producers of James bondnew 859 00:41:38,120 --> 00:41:40,040 Speaker 1: and we're very happy for him to bring his own 860 00:41:40,160 --> 00:41:41,400 Speaker 1: experiences to the project. 861 00:41:41,600 --> 00:41:45,560 Speaker 4: And then, of course Doll cannot help himself but put 862 00:41:45,600 --> 00:41:49,880 Speaker 4: down the project or put down James Bond. Right throughout 863 00:41:49,880 --> 00:41:52,719 Speaker 4: this process as well. He needs everybody to understand that 864 00:41:52,760 --> 00:41:55,240 Speaker 4: this is beneath him, even as it is his first 865 00:41:55,280 --> 00:41:58,680 Speaker 4: success within Hollywood and within screenwriting, and eventually when he 866 00:41:58,719 --> 00:42:01,400 Speaker 4: gets into children's books, feels the need to assert that 867 00:42:01,640 --> 00:42:04,399 Speaker 4: actually writing children's books is the most difficult thing any 868 00:42:04,400 --> 00:42:06,360 Speaker 4: writer can do. And look at all the great authors 869 00:42:06,400 --> 00:42:09,440 Speaker 4: who have completely failed at this endeavor. And what I 870 00:42:09,480 --> 00:42:11,600 Speaker 4: am doing is threading the needle in the way that 871 00:42:11,719 --> 00:42:13,799 Speaker 4: you know, almost no one else can do. There's a 872 00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:18,360 Speaker 4: really interesting delicate ego to Dol And it's also interesting 873 00:42:18,360 --> 00:42:21,080 Speaker 4: to imagine he's failing at screenwriting. He's struggling at writing 874 00:42:21,120 --> 00:42:23,400 Speaker 4: these short stories. He writes a play that doesn't land 875 00:42:23,440 --> 00:42:25,640 Speaker 4: at all. And at the same time, his wife, Patricia 876 00:42:25,719 --> 00:42:28,040 Speaker 4: Neil is you know, nominated for an Oscar and she 877 00:42:28,160 --> 00:42:30,759 Speaker 4: wins for her to opposite Paul Newman, and is just 878 00:42:30,880 --> 00:42:33,879 Speaker 4: she's the breadwinner and she's having multiple children. And there 879 00:42:33,880 --> 00:42:36,840 Speaker 4: are some really interesting elements to this marriage. Again, we 880 00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:38,880 Speaker 4: don't have time to get into here. Listen to the 881 00:42:38,920 --> 00:42:41,160 Speaker 4: secret world of World Doll. But at this point, I 882 00:42:41,200 --> 00:42:42,960 Speaker 4: think what we can say about Doll as a screenwriter 883 00:42:43,040 --> 00:42:43,920 Speaker 4: is he does not take. 884 00:42:43,760 --> 00:42:45,080 Speaker 1: Notes very well. 885 00:42:45,200 --> 00:42:47,520 Speaker 4: Like he very much likes to work by himself. He 886 00:42:47,520 --> 00:42:49,719 Speaker 4: doesn't like to work in a writer's room necessarily. And 887 00:42:49,760 --> 00:42:51,640 Speaker 4: I think what happens with Charlie and the chocolate factory, 888 00:42:51,640 --> 00:42:53,320 Speaker 4: and we don't need to dive into this too deeply. 889 00:42:53,440 --> 00:42:55,080 Speaker 4: Is this is a book that he had been writing 890 00:42:55,120 --> 00:42:58,840 Speaker 4: for quite some time. There's like an unnamed first draft 891 00:42:58,960 --> 00:43:03,759 Speaker 4: from as early as nineteen sixty one, basically, and the 892 00:43:03,800 --> 00:43:07,160 Speaker 4: story went through a lot of different variations. And in fact, 893 00:43:07,160 --> 00:43:10,040 Speaker 4: as you mentioned on your show erin in the earliest versions, 894 00:43:10,280 --> 00:43:13,520 Speaker 4: Charlie's black actually, and the story would have had a 895 00:43:13,640 --> 00:43:16,840 Speaker 4: very different tenor would have been something completely different. And 896 00:43:16,880 --> 00:43:19,040 Speaker 4: then obviously he's at the behest of his agent and others, 897 00:43:19,120 --> 00:43:21,040 Speaker 4: you know, he changes Charlie to white. You know, at 898 00:43:21,080 --> 00:43:24,000 Speaker 4: first there are ten children and ten golden tickets, and 899 00:43:24,080 --> 00:43:27,920 Speaker 4: the oup lumpas change in various ways, and he revises 900 00:43:27,960 --> 00:43:31,319 Speaker 4: and revises, and we eventually get to the version that 901 00:43:31,360 --> 00:43:34,680 Speaker 4: we more or less recognize now with five golden tickets 902 00:43:34,719 --> 00:43:37,160 Speaker 4: and Charlie Buckett and Willy Wonka and whatnot. So the 903 00:43:37,200 --> 00:43:40,400 Speaker 4: point is, when he writes this script, he sends it 904 00:43:40,480 --> 00:43:43,680 Speaker 4: in to Wolper and Stewart and they basically say, look, 905 00:43:43,760 --> 00:43:46,920 Speaker 4: this is just a transcription of the book. And I 906 00:43:46,960 --> 00:43:48,680 Speaker 4: think the problem is that Dahl had been staring at 907 00:43:48,680 --> 00:43:50,680 Speaker 4: this book for so long, and he'd already figured everything 908 00:43:50,719 --> 00:43:52,560 Speaker 4: out in the novel form. That he's not going to 909 00:43:52,560 --> 00:43:55,600 Speaker 4: bring something new at this point. There's very little showing. 910 00:43:55,640 --> 00:43:57,640 Speaker 4: There's a lot of telling. There's a lot of time 911 00:43:57,640 --> 00:44:00,960 Speaker 4: in Charlie's home. Aaron, you mentioned how how we pivot 912 00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:03,799 Speaker 4: to Wonka very quickly in the movie, you know, once 913 00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:05,880 Speaker 4: we get to the factory, and that's I think very 914 00:44:05,960 --> 00:44:07,239 Speaker 4: much intentionally. 915 00:44:06,800 --> 00:44:09,720 Speaker 3: Not fast enough somewhat are. 916 00:44:09,840 --> 00:44:12,000 Speaker 4: But the other thing is, like with this book, there 917 00:44:12,080 --> 00:44:15,800 Speaker 4: is no main conflict, right, the book does not actually 918 00:44:15,840 --> 00:44:18,279 Speaker 4: have a main conflict. It is effectively it is a tour. 919 00:44:18,680 --> 00:44:21,080 Speaker 4: Children are picked off one by one and then in 920 00:44:21,360 --> 00:44:24,880 Speaker 4: kind of just a weird happenstance turn, Charlie is announced 921 00:44:24,880 --> 00:44:26,960 Speaker 4: as the quote winner. At the very end. You know, 922 00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:29,080 Speaker 4: it just kind of plods along, and that's what happens, 923 00:44:29,120 --> 00:44:31,160 Speaker 4: and it's very fun as a child, but it's not 924 00:44:31,280 --> 00:44:34,040 Speaker 4: a movie. And it was also very expensive. He'd written 925 00:44:34,040 --> 00:44:36,480 Speaker 4: these extremely elaborate chocolate factory scenes, and they have two 926 00:44:36,480 --> 00:44:39,239 Speaker 4: to three million dollars of Quaker outs money. So they 927 00:44:39,239 --> 00:44:41,399 Speaker 4: fly Doll to Los Angeles and they do a bunch 928 00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:44,560 Speaker 4: of script meetings, and recaps of these meetings are mixed, 929 00:44:44,560 --> 00:44:47,040 Speaker 4: you know. Stewart says Doll was very professional, Wolper says 930 00:44:47,040 --> 00:44:50,080 Speaker 4: he won't change anything. I'm inclined to believe Wolper. Yeah, 931 00:44:50,120 --> 00:44:52,480 Speaker 4: they send Doll back to England. He starts working on 932 00:44:52,480 --> 00:44:55,040 Speaker 4: the second draft and they just start casting. They do 933 00:44:55,160 --> 00:44:57,480 Speaker 4: not have a shootable script, but they start casting. So 934 00:44:57,760 --> 00:45:00,360 Speaker 4: they start as early as January of nineteen seven, and 935 00:45:00,400 --> 00:45:03,520 Speaker 4: they were considering a very different Willy Wonka. So they 936 00:45:03,560 --> 00:45:05,279 Speaker 4: gathered in the Plaza Hotel in New York with a 937 00:45:05,320 --> 00:45:07,400 Speaker 4: list of potential names, and one of those names was 938 00:45:07,440 --> 00:45:09,040 Speaker 4: American actor Joel Gray. 939 00:45:09,239 --> 00:45:10,720 Speaker 3: Oh, that makes a lot of sense. 940 00:45:10,800 --> 00:45:13,200 Speaker 4: So do you guys remember Joel Gray had won Best 941 00:45:13,200 --> 00:45:16,319 Speaker 4: Supporting Actor for Cabaret Yeah, nineteen seventy three, and so 942 00:45:16,640 --> 00:45:19,600 Speaker 4: he was already known for this role from nineteen sixty 943 00:45:19,640 --> 00:45:21,200 Speaker 4: seven from the Broadway production. 944 00:45:21,400 --> 00:45:21,600 Speaker 1: Right. 945 00:45:21,680 --> 00:45:24,799 Speaker 4: In a lot of ways, he actually really fits the 946 00:45:24,920 --> 00:45:28,120 Speaker 4: Doll version of Wonka. He's five foot five. He is small, 947 00:45:28,160 --> 00:45:30,560 Speaker 4: like Wonka is very short. In the book, it may 948 00:45:30,600 --> 00:45:33,440 Speaker 4: have been very faithful, but as Stuart put it, you 949 00:45:33,840 --> 00:45:37,640 Speaker 4: don't want a short, pointy bearded guy as a cinematic 950 00:45:37,760 --> 00:45:40,320 Speaker 4: leading man. And this I think speaks to mel Stewart 951 00:45:40,400 --> 00:45:44,719 Speaker 4: and his collaborators seeing Wonka as the lead of the movie, 952 00:45:44,760 --> 00:45:47,520 Speaker 4: not Charlie as the lead of the movie, and Stuart 953 00:45:47,600 --> 00:45:49,719 Speaker 4: did have a practical concern. He was worried that with 954 00:45:49,800 --> 00:45:51,479 Speaker 4: Joel Gray, one of the kids might have a growth 955 00:45:51,520 --> 00:45:55,240 Speaker 4: spurt and end up taller than Gray while shooting which Lizzy. 956 00:45:55,520 --> 00:45:57,600 Speaker 4: That happened on the Sound of Music if you. 957 00:45:57,560 --> 00:45:58,520 Speaker 3: Remember, yeah, I did. 958 00:45:58,640 --> 00:46:01,359 Speaker 4: The children started to grow at different rates, and all 959 00:46:01,360 --> 00:46:03,400 Speaker 4: of a sudden, the heights started getting a lily wonky 960 00:46:03,440 --> 00:46:04,239 Speaker 4: between all of them. 961 00:46:04,520 --> 00:46:06,839 Speaker 3: I mean, I understand what they're trying to do here, 962 00:46:06,880 --> 00:46:08,680 Speaker 3: and it feels like it's kind of all coming from 963 00:46:08,719 --> 00:46:11,319 Speaker 3: a marketing place of they're trying to push Wonka with this. 964 00:46:11,800 --> 00:46:13,799 Speaker 3: I will say I don't think Joel Gray is a 965 00:46:13,800 --> 00:46:16,279 Speaker 3: bad choice for Willy Wonka at all. Obviously, I love 966 00:46:16,320 --> 00:46:19,239 Speaker 3: Gene Wilder. I think he is Willy Wonka. But Joel 967 00:46:19,280 --> 00:46:22,000 Speaker 3: Gray is wonderful and has a very sinister quality to 968 00:46:22,120 --> 00:46:24,440 Speaker 3: him or can so. I think he would work pretty 969 00:46:24,440 --> 00:46:24,839 Speaker 3: well too. 970 00:46:25,160 --> 00:46:27,560 Speaker 4: That's true. Well, it sounds like a lot of people 971 00:46:27,600 --> 00:46:30,000 Speaker 4: wanted the part. Anthony Newley, who was working on the music, 972 00:46:30,080 --> 00:46:33,240 Speaker 4: pushed for it hard. His agent Sue Mengers, who also 973 00:46:33,280 --> 00:46:36,800 Speaker 4: represented Barbara streisand calls Wolper up and she goes, I 974 00:46:36,840 --> 00:46:39,800 Speaker 4: want Newly as Wonka. I want him to sing two songs. 975 00:46:39,960 --> 00:46:42,160 Speaker 4: And here's the quote from Wholper. If I gave the 976 00:46:42,200 --> 00:46:45,040 Speaker 4: role to Newlee, she carefully suggested, or maybe I interpreted, 977 00:46:45,080 --> 00:46:47,160 Speaker 4: that she would get me a date with Barbara Streisand 978 00:46:47,520 --> 00:46:49,200 Speaker 4: so I hung up the phone and never thought about 979 00:46:49,239 --> 00:46:50,640 Speaker 4: it again. End quote. 980 00:46:50,760 --> 00:46:52,560 Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know if you want that day. 981 00:46:52,880 --> 00:46:53,040 Speaker 1: Well. 982 00:46:53,040 --> 00:46:55,560 Speaker 4: Anthony Newley also rallied hard for the candy Man role, 983 00:46:55,600 --> 00:46:58,560 Speaker 4: and also Sammy Davis Junior apparently rallied for that role 984 00:46:58,640 --> 00:47:00,000 Speaker 4: really hard. Both were turned down. 985 00:47:00,280 --> 00:47:02,080 Speaker 3: Doesn't he go on to record Candy Man? 986 00:47:02,440 --> 00:47:02,839 Speaker 1: He does? 987 00:47:03,040 --> 00:47:05,160 Speaker 4: He records it later it becomes a hit for Sammy 988 00:47:05,239 --> 00:47:05,759 Speaker 4: Davis Junior. 989 00:47:05,880 --> 00:47:06,040 Speaker 6: Later. 990 00:47:06,120 --> 00:47:07,919 Speaker 3: Yes, because I was going to say I know the song. 991 00:47:08,000 --> 00:47:09,360 Speaker 3: I didn't. That was one of the moments in this 992 00:47:09,400 --> 00:47:11,319 Speaker 3: movie where I was like, I did this is from 993 00:47:11,400 --> 00:47:13,719 Speaker 3: this movie. I did not put those two together because 994 00:47:13,760 --> 00:47:16,279 Speaker 3: I remember Sammy Davis Junior's version of it so well. 995 00:47:16,640 --> 00:47:19,399 Speaker 4: Fred Astaire is often mentioned to someone who was being 996 00:47:19,400 --> 00:47:23,359 Speaker 4: considered for Wonka. I. Basically, Wolper and Stewart said they 997 00:47:23,440 --> 00:47:26,160 Speaker 4: did not know about his interest until afterward. He would 998 00:47:26,160 --> 00:47:28,080 Speaker 4: have been too old. He was in his seventies and 999 00:47:28,120 --> 00:47:30,160 Speaker 4: probably too expensive. And a couple of other names that 1000 00:47:30,160 --> 00:47:33,399 Speaker 4: are interesting include Peter Sellers, who would end up having 1001 00:47:33,640 --> 00:47:37,080 Speaker 4: a brief or at least romantic relationship with Rolldal's daughter Tessa 1002 00:47:37,320 --> 00:47:38,800 Speaker 4: Adall in the nineteen seventies. 1003 00:47:38,840 --> 00:47:41,320 Speaker 1: So that's unusual when she's eighteen and he's fifty. 1004 00:47:41,400 --> 00:47:42,120 Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly. 1005 00:47:42,360 --> 00:47:44,520 Speaker 3: Ah, why did they have to do this? I love 1006 00:47:44,560 --> 00:47:45,960 Speaker 3: Peter Seller's god. 1007 00:47:46,239 --> 00:47:49,279 Speaker 4: Spike Milligan and all six members of Monty Python and 1008 00:47:49,280 --> 00:47:52,600 Speaker 4: a reportedly Spike Milligan is who Doll wanted for the part. 1009 00:47:52,880 --> 00:47:55,879 Speaker 4: So they're weekended into auditions. As the story goes, Gene 1010 00:47:55,880 --> 00:47:56,839 Speaker 4: Wilder walks in. 1011 00:47:56,960 --> 00:47:57,120 Speaker 1: Now. 1012 00:47:57,160 --> 00:47:59,919 Speaker 4: I assumed growing up that Wilder was already a huge 1013 00:48:00,239 --> 00:48:03,160 Speaker 4: because I also grew up with young Frankenstein Blazing Saddles, 1014 00:48:03,239 --> 00:48:06,160 Speaker 4: Silver Streak, you know, stir crazy with the Richard Pryor stuff. 1015 00:48:06,200 --> 00:48:08,200 Speaker 3: No, he's all the seventies exactly. 1016 00:48:08,360 --> 00:48:11,640 Speaker 4: I did not realize this. This is after Willy Wonka. 1017 00:48:11,840 --> 00:48:14,120 Speaker 4: Those were all after Willy Wonka, so this is technically 1018 00:48:14,120 --> 00:48:15,919 Speaker 4: after The Producers, which came out in sixty seven. 1019 00:48:16,000 --> 00:48:17,560 Speaker 1: I think the Producers did something for him. 1020 00:48:17,640 --> 00:48:18,680 Speaker 4: Yeah that had flopped. 1021 00:48:18,760 --> 00:48:21,239 Speaker 3: Oh really, they was kind of buried it's not a 1022 00:48:21,239 --> 00:48:21,680 Speaker 3: big hit. 1023 00:48:22,280 --> 00:48:24,279 Speaker 4: It was not a big hit. And so let's talk 1024 00:48:24,280 --> 00:48:26,280 Speaker 4: briefly about Wilder. So he was born jer Own, Silverman 1025 00:48:26,320 --> 00:48:28,160 Speaker 4: in June of nineteen thirty three, and he was a 1026 00:48:28,280 --> 00:48:30,760 Speaker 4: very accomplished theater actor before he transitioned into a film 1027 00:48:30,760 --> 00:48:33,759 Speaker 4: and TV. So his first big role was if you 1028 00:48:33,760 --> 00:48:36,720 Speaker 4: guys remember, he plays one of the hostages in Bonnie 1029 00:48:36,760 --> 00:48:39,200 Speaker 4: and Clyde and Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde. He's in 1030 00:48:39,200 --> 00:48:42,000 Speaker 4: the back seat. He was Actually he's thirty four. He's 1031 00:48:42,040 --> 00:48:44,600 Speaker 4: four and seven years older than Warren Batty and Faye 1032 00:48:44,600 --> 00:48:47,239 Speaker 4: Donaway in that movie, which is crazy because he's got 1033 00:48:47,239 --> 00:48:48,080 Speaker 4: such a babyface. 1034 00:48:48,239 --> 00:48:48,439 Speaker 1: Yeah. 1035 00:48:48,560 --> 00:48:51,800 Speaker 4: So he's nominated for Best Supporting Actor in nineteen sixty 1036 00:48:51,880 --> 00:48:54,360 Speaker 4: nine for the Producers, even though that movie did not 1037 00:48:54,520 --> 00:48:56,960 Speaker 4: It wasn't like a huge breakout hit, which obviously was 1038 00:48:56,960 --> 00:49:00,400 Speaker 4: one of his many collaborations with mel Brooks and mentioned 1039 00:49:00,400 --> 00:49:02,359 Speaker 4: this on Your Share and What Fun fact. Brooks's wife, 1040 00:49:02,400 --> 00:49:05,360 Speaker 4: Anne Bancroft, was very good friends with Roll Dahl's wife 1041 00:49:05,400 --> 00:49:08,439 Speaker 4: patriciaan Neil and Aaron Which movie did Patrician Neil turn 1042 00:49:08,520 --> 00:49:11,320 Speaker 4: down after suffering a stroke That went to Anne Bancroft 1043 00:49:11,480 --> 00:49:13,080 Speaker 4: right around this time the graduate. 1044 00:49:13,160 --> 00:49:15,080 Speaker 1: That's right, Yeah, missus Robinson. 1045 00:49:14,719 --> 00:49:17,600 Speaker 4: That's right. So the point is when Wilder auditioned, he 1046 00:49:17,719 --> 00:49:19,719 Speaker 4: was known, but he wasn't a household name, and it 1047 00:49:19,760 --> 00:49:22,719 Speaker 4: didn't matter. Stuart thought he was perfect. He read from 1048 00:49:22,719 --> 00:49:24,879 Speaker 4: the book with just the right inflection. He had quote 1049 00:49:24,880 --> 00:49:28,040 Speaker 4: a sardonic, demonic edge that Stuart was looking for. And 1050 00:49:28,080 --> 00:49:30,200 Speaker 4: according to Stewart, the minute Wilder walks into the room, 1051 00:49:30,239 --> 00:49:33,799 Speaker 4: he turns to Wolprint says that's Willy Wonka and David Walper, ever, 1052 00:49:33,840 --> 00:49:36,440 Speaker 4: the deal maker says, shut up. We can't let him 1053 00:49:36,480 --> 00:49:38,279 Speaker 4: know how much we want him. We got to get 1054 00:49:38,320 --> 00:49:40,640 Speaker 4: him for cheap, and Stuart says totally. And then when 1055 00:49:40,640 --> 00:49:43,359 Speaker 4: the audition's done, he chases Wilder down the hallway, cuts 1056 00:49:43,400 --> 00:49:45,040 Speaker 4: him off at the elevator and says, you're going to 1057 00:49:45,080 --> 00:49:47,120 Speaker 4: do this picture, no two ways about it. You are 1058 00:49:47,200 --> 00:49:50,040 Speaker 4: Willy Wonka. But the only problem is Wilder isn't sure 1059 00:49:50,080 --> 00:49:52,000 Speaker 4: he wants to. And this is a story that I 1060 00:49:52,040 --> 00:49:54,640 Speaker 4: had heard before, and I'm sure you guys have heard before. Lizzie, 1061 00:49:54,680 --> 00:49:57,399 Speaker 4: you heard this story before about what Gene Wilder's one 1062 00:49:57,480 --> 00:49:59,279 Speaker 4: condition was for taking. 1063 00:49:59,000 --> 00:49:59,600 Speaker 1: On this role. 1064 00:49:59,680 --> 00:50:00,440 Speaker 4: Are you familiar? 1065 00:50:00,520 --> 00:50:01,719 Speaker 3: No, I don't know. I don't know. 1066 00:50:01,840 --> 00:50:03,719 Speaker 4: Aaron, would you like to share? I'm sure you heard 1067 00:50:03,719 --> 00:50:05,040 Speaker 4: this one, yeah, through your research. 1068 00:50:05,200 --> 00:50:07,080 Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think I even I put the clip 1069 00:50:07,080 --> 00:50:09,560 Speaker 1: in my podcast. Actually, he said that he would only 1070 00:50:09,600 --> 00:50:12,080 Speaker 1: do the role if he could have that amazing entrance 1071 00:50:12,160 --> 00:50:15,200 Speaker 1: where he wants out of his chocolate factory with a 1072 00:50:15,280 --> 00:50:18,880 Speaker 1: cane and you don't quite know if he's very feeble, 1073 00:50:18,960 --> 00:50:20,719 Speaker 1: if he's got an injury, or what's going on with him, 1074 00:50:21,120 --> 00:50:23,439 Speaker 1: And then the cane gets stuck in a crack and 1075 00:50:23,520 --> 00:50:27,720 Speaker 1: he somersaults and jumps up and shows that he's actually 1076 00:50:27,840 --> 00:50:30,359 Speaker 1: kind of a trickster, and from then on you have 1077 00:50:30,440 --> 00:50:32,400 Speaker 1: no idea what to make of him. It is a 1078 00:50:32,520 --> 00:50:33,920 Speaker 1: completely brilliant entrance. 1079 00:50:34,320 --> 00:50:37,400 Speaker 4: So he says, this is my stipulation and melt. Stewart says, 1080 00:50:37,520 --> 00:50:39,560 Speaker 4: you're not going to do the movie if you can't 1081 00:50:39,560 --> 00:50:41,520 Speaker 4: do that, and he says no, and he says, okay, well, 1082 00:50:41,719 --> 00:50:44,680 Speaker 4: fine deal. So they get Wilder. He's paid one hundred 1083 00:50:44,680 --> 00:50:46,959 Speaker 4: and fifty thousand dollars, according to Stewart, to play the part, 1084 00:50:47,080 --> 00:50:49,279 Speaker 4: and then to cast the kids. Stewart apparently turned to 1085 00:50:49,320 --> 00:50:51,799 Speaker 4: the illustrations and descriptions from the book. And it's what's 1086 00:50:51,800 --> 00:50:54,360 Speaker 4: interesting is Charlie's hat, for example, is not in the 1087 00:50:54,440 --> 00:50:57,680 Speaker 4: later publication that I read as a kid, the later illustrations, 1088 00:50:57,680 --> 00:51:00,160 Speaker 4: but if you go back to the Shindleman illustrations, it 1089 00:51:00,200 --> 00:51:02,040 Speaker 4: is a part of the costume you know that Shindelman 1090 00:51:02,120 --> 00:51:05,160 Speaker 4: had done originally. So they hire multiple casting directors to 1091 00:51:05,200 --> 00:51:07,120 Speaker 4: read kids across the world. You've got Mary and Doherty 1092 00:51:07,120 --> 00:51:09,239 Speaker 4: in New York, You've got body Baker in London, and 1093 00:51:09,360 --> 00:51:14,360 Speaker 4: Ronata Nukel in Munich, and given Quaker Oats roots in Ravena, Ohio, 1094 00:51:14,480 --> 00:51:17,799 Speaker 4: it's perhaps fitting that they'd find Charlie Bucket in Cleveland. 1095 00:51:18,239 --> 00:51:21,320 Speaker 4: So they considered hundreds of actors from children's theaters across 1096 00:51:21,320 --> 00:51:23,960 Speaker 4: the country, including the children's theater at the Cleveland Playhouse 1097 00:51:24,000 --> 00:51:27,480 Speaker 4: where Joel Gray and Margaret Hamilton The Wicked Witch of 1098 00:51:27,520 --> 00:51:29,400 Speaker 4: the West got their starts. 1099 00:51:29,520 --> 00:51:30,000 Speaker 3: Oh wow. 1100 00:51:30,080 --> 00:51:32,359 Speaker 4: So she asked the playhouse to suggest actors who would 1101 00:51:32,360 --> 00:51:34,960 Speaker 4: be a good fit for Charlie, and they suggested Peter Ostrom. 1102 00:51:35,160 --> 00:51:38,200 Speaker 4: His dad was the General counsel of Ohio Bell Telephone. 1103 00:51:38,200 --> 00:51:40,200 Speaker 4: Shout out to kids with dads who are lawyers. 1104 00:51:40,520 --> 00:51:41,960 Speaker 3: That's me and David. 1105 00:51:41,880 --> 00:51:44,240 Speaker 4: Yeah, and David. According to Stuart, Peter was the pride 1106 00:51:44,239 --> 00:51:46,400 Speaker 4: of the children's brands of the Cleveland Playhouse. He'd been 1107 00:51:46,400 --> 00:51:48,800 Speaker 4: acting for three years and he auditions in early summer 1108 00:51:48,800 --> 00:51:51,200 Speaker 4: of nineteen seventy. He's twelve years old. They fly him 1109 00:51:51,239 --> 00:51:53,120 Speaker 4: to New York for a screen test. He reads from 1110 00:51:53,160 --> 00:51:54,560 Speaker 4: the book and they don't have any of the songs 1111 00:51:54,600 --> 00:51:56,759 Speaker 4: written yet, so he sings my Country tis of Thee 1112 00:51:56,880 --> 00:51:59,840 Speaker 4: and they say, Peter, your acting is great, You're singing 1113 00:52:00,400 --> 00:52:01,760 Speaker 4: is terrible. 1114 00:52:01,719 --> 00:52:05,360 Speaker 3: And is one hundred percent tone deaf, which, like, I 1115 00:52:05,400 --> 00:52:07,920 Speaker 3: don't care because he's very cute, he's very charming, but 1116 00:52:08,000 --> 00:52:09,760 Speaker 3: my god, when he started singing. 1117 00:52:10,000 --> 00:52:10,799 Speaker 1: Yeah, he has a. 1118 00:52:10,840 --> 00:52:12,640 Speaker 4: Quote here where he basically says, don't worry, We're not 1119 00:52:12,640 --> 00:52:14,360 Speaker 4: going to use your singing voice anyway. And they just 1120 00:52:14,480 --> 00:52:17,480 Speaker 4: reduced his singing part across the production, like every time 1121 00:52:17,520 --> 00:52:18,960 Speaker 4: you open his mouth. They're like, well, no, we can 1122 00:52:19,040 --> 00:52:21,680 Speaker 4: lose that song. Let's just move on, and they just 1123 00:52:21,760 --> 00:52:23,600 Speaker 4: kept what they needed him. Here's where it gets a 1124 00:52:23,600 --> 00:52:25,480 Speaker 4: little dark. So just before he goes off to summer camp, 1125 00:52:25,520 --> 00:52:27,520 Speaker 4: they say, look, Peter, we like you for Charlie. There's 1126 00:52:27,560 --> 00:52:31,480 Speaker 4: one problem. Charlie's really skinny, We're gonna need you to 1127 00:52:31,600 --> 00:52:34,440 Speaker 4: lose some weight. So he went to summer camp quote 1128 00:52:34,560 --> 00:52:36,719 Speaker 4: riding horses and hiking and climbing and doing all the 1129 00:52:36,760 --> 00:52:38,680 Speaker 4: things you do at summer camp, trying not to eat 1130 00:52:38,760 --> 00:52:42,200 Speaker 4: because I wanted to lose more weight. And this pies 1131 00:52:42,239 --> 00:52:45,880 Speaker 4: in to a really gnarly thread in all of dolls 1132 00:52:45,920 --> 00:52:48,560 Speaker 4: writing that I'm sure we're all aware of, which is 1133 00:52:48,600 --> 00:52:50,960 Speaker 4: there is very much a fat phobia through all of 1134 00:52:51,040 --> 00:52:52,920 Speaker 4: Doll's work, and I think at the end we'll get 1135 00:52:52,920 --> 00:52:54,719 Speaker 4: to some of the ways in which his work has 1136 00:52:54,719 --> 00:52:58,480 Speaker 4: been revised, and you could argue censored in specifically that way. Yeah, 1137 00:52:58,520 --> 00:53:00,399 Speaker 4: you should never ask a twelve year old to lose 1138 00:53:00,400 --> 00:53:01,960 Speaker 4: weight for a movie, obviously. 1139 00:53:02,080 --> 00:53:05,600 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's awful. 1140 00:53:11,200 --> 00:53:14,200 Speaker 4: Peter Ostrom was officially cast in mid August of nineteen seventy. 1141 00:53:14,360 --> 00:53:16,799 Speaker 4: He had ten days notice to move to Munich for 1142 00:53:16,840 --> 00:53:20,279 Speaker 4: five months of shooting for rook Assault. Mel Stewart wanted 1143 00:53:20,320 --> 00:53:22,720 Speaker 4: to cast someone that was like the quote spoiled children 1144 00:53:22,800 --> 00:53:25,200 Speaker 4: of Beverly Hills, but they wanted her to be English 1145 00:53:25,239 --> 00:53:27,759 Speaker 4: and to Julie don Cole, she's twelve years old like Peter. 1146 00:53:27,960 --> 00:53:28,480 Speaker 3: She's great. 1147 00:53:28,600 --> 00:53:31,160 Speaker 4: She's so good she's attending was performing art school in London. 1148 00:53:31,320 --> 00:53:33,120 Speaker 4: Casting agents come to her school. They line all the 1149 00:53:33,160 --> 00:53:36,839 Speaker 4: girls up. No no you, no, no you. She comes in, 1150 00:53:37,040 --> 00:53:39,880 Speaker 4: she meets Stuart and Marglie. She hasn't read any of 1151 00:53:39,920 --> 00:53:41,919 Speaker 4: the doll books, so she has a school bus driver 1152 00:53:42,080 --> 00:53:44,040 Speaker 4: driver her around town from bookstore to bookstore, and so 1153 00:53:44,080 --> 00:53:46,200 Speaker 4: they can find a copy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 1154 00:53:46,280 --> 00:53:48,840 Speaker 4: And during the audition, Stewart just kept saying be nastier, 1155 00:53:48,920 --> 00:53:51,760 Speaker 4: be brattier, and she nailed it. And in later interviews, 1156 00:53:51,840 --> 00:53:53,759 Speaker 4: cast members would say that of all the actors, she 1157 00:53:53,880 --> 00:53:56,600 Speaker 4: was the least like her character. In real life, she 1158 00:53:56,680 --> 00:53:59,400 Speaker 4: was extremely sweet, and she did not have a doting father. 1159 00:53:59,480 --> 00:54:01,600 Speaker 4: Her dad had actually left when she was six years 1160 00:54:01,640 --> 00:54:04,080 Speaker 4: old and she never saw him again. They spoke on 1161 00:54:04,080 --> 00:54:07,320 Speaker 4: the phone one time before he died. Some tragic stories 1162 00:54:07,320 --> 00:54:10,040 Speaker 4: around these kids. A couple more notes on casting. Denise 1163 00:54:10,080 --> 00:54:13,040 Speaker 4: Nickerson thrilled to get the part of Violet Beauregard because 1164 00:54:13,040 --> 00:54:15,000 Speaker 4: she get to work with other kids. She'd been acting 1165 00:54:15,000 --> 00:54:17,759 Speaker 4: since she was two in a commercial in Florida, but 1166 00:54:17,800 --> 00:54:19,879 Speaker 4: she'd only done at this point like Broadway and TV, 1167 00:54:19,960 --> 00:54:22,000 Speaker 4: and she was only acting across adults, and she just 1168 00:54:22,000 --> 00:54:24,040 Speaker 4: thought this is going to be great until they shoved 1169 00:54:24,040 --> 00:54:26,320 Speaker 4: her into a giant blueberry styrofoam costume. 1170 00:54:26,400 --> 00:54:27,240 Speaker 3: She's also great. 1171 00:54:27,400 --> 00:54:30,359 Speaker 4: She's great. Paris, who plays Mike TV, was eleven years 1172 00:54:30,400 --> 00:54:35,120 Speaker 4: old and he was apparently the most difficult child on set. 1173 00:54:35,400 --> 00:54:35,960 Speaker 3: That tracks. 1174 00:54:36,200 --> 00:54:39,279 Speaker 4: So let's play this video clip of Gene Wilder talking 1175 00:54:39,320 --> 00:54:42,200 Speaker 4: about working with the children on set, and let's see 1176 00:54:42,200 --> 00:54:44,799 Speaker 4: if we can guess who he's talking about here. 1177 00:54:46,040 --> 00:54:48,320 Speaker 6: How do you like working with the younger generation? 1178 00:54:49,440 --> 00:54:51,000 Speaker 1: Who do you mean by the younger generation? 1179 00:54:51,200 --> 00:54:51,759 Speaker 2: You mean the kids? 1180 00:54:52,800 --> 00:54:56,600 Speaker 1: The ones, yes, ah for them are fantastic. 1181 00:54:57,239 --> 00:54:58,879 Speaker 3: The other one I'm going to shoot in the head 1182 00:54:58,920 --> 00:55:00,719 Speaker 3: tomorrow would know. 1183 00:55:02,440 --> 00:55:04,920 Speaker 4: I think based on our research, we can assume that 1184 00:55:04,920 --> 00:55:07,919 Speaker 4: that was Paris. Julie duncle later said many years later, 1185 00:55:07,920 --> 00:55:10,200 Speaker 4: he admitted he was a bit of a troublemaker during 1186 00:55:10,440 --> 00:55:13,680 Speaker 4: the production. Again he was very young. Michael Bolner played 1187 00:55:13,680 --> 00:55:16,640 Speaker 4: a Gusta Scloop. He lived in Munich, not far from 1188 00:55:16,719 --> 00:55:18,840 Speaker 4: the studio, and his mother just saw an ad in 1189 00:55:18,880 --> 00:55:20,839 Speaker 4: the paper and brought him into audition. And he didn't 1190 00:55:20,840 --> 00:55:23,440 Speaker 4: really speak a lot of English, which Stewart did not 1191 00:55:23,640 --> 00:55:26,720 Speaker 4: care about. The kids are all fantastic. There's one actress 1192 00:55:26,719 --> 00:55:29,520 Speaker 4: they really wanted for one of the parent roles that 1193 00:55:29,520 --> 00:55:31,759 Speaker 4: they didn't get that isn't interesting, what if? Which is 1194 00:55:31,800 --> 00:55:36,080 Speaker 4: Mike TV's mother. And that actress was Jeane Stapleton and 1195 00:55:36,160 --> 00:55:38,400 Speaker 4: she had an offer for a TV series at the 1196 00:55:38,440 --> 00:55:40,919 Speaker 4: same time, and Mel Stewart was saying, don't do TV. 1197 00:55:41,160 --> 00:55:43,759 Speaker 4: TV always falls apart. Do a movie. It's a sure thing. 1198 00:55:44,080 --> 00:55:46,400 Speaker 4: Lizzy Aaron Any guesses as to what TV show that 1199 00:55:46,520 --> 00:55:47,880 Speaker 4: was that she decided to go with. 1200 00:55:48,000 --> 00:55:48,760 Speaker 1: All in the Family. 1201 00:55:48,960 --> 00:55:52,600 Speaker 4: That's right, Edith Funker, All in the Family, Jack Albertson 1202 00:55:52,680 --> 00:55:55,040 Speaker 4: they snagged for Grandpa Joe. He'd actually just won an Oscar. 1203 00:55:55,120 --> 00:55:57,319 Speaker 4: Best Actor in a Supporting Role for the subject was 1204 00:55:57,400 --> 00:55:58,920 Speaker 4: Ros's in nineteen sixty. 1205 00:55:58,600 --> 00:55:59,919 Speaker 1: Eight, starring Patricia Neil. 1206 00:56:00,080 --> 00:56:00,239 Speaker 5: Oh. 1207 00:56:00,280 --> 00:56:02,680 Speaker 4: Wow, yeah, I've not seen it. He's really good in 1208 00:56:02,719 --> 00:56:06,080 Speaker 4: this movie. I think he's very well cast. So Stewart 1209 00:56:06,080 --> 00:56:09,000 Speaker 4: and Margle's cast the movie and Wolper is scouting. He 1210 00:56:09,080 --> 00:56:11,279 Speaker 4: needs a location that's big enough for the factory in 1211 00:56:11,320 --> 00:56:13,319 Speaker 4: the Chocolate River, but it needs to be way cheap 1212 00:56:13,360 --> 00:56:15,759 Speaker 4: compared to Hollywood, so they can't use Hollywood. So in 1213 00:56:15,760 --> 00:56:17,920 Speaker 4: April of nineteen seventy. He goes to Europe. He goes 1214 00:56:17,960 --> 00:56:20,400 Speaker 4: to Ireland. He checks out the Gunnis brewery, looks the 1215 00:56:20,400 --> 00:56:23,160 Speaker 4: part lots of tubes doesn't work for technical reasons. He 1216 00:56:23,239 --> 00:56:26,080 Speaker 4: checks out Spain. They had a bankrupt chocolate factory that 1217 00:56:26,120 --> 00:56:28,840 Speaker 4: looked perfect, but the ownership was under legal dispute, so 1218 00:56:28,920 --> 00:56:31,640 Speaker 4: he skips that. He hits up breweries in Germany. None 1219 00:56:31,680 --> 00:56:33,360 Speaker 4: of them are quite right. And then he goes to 1220 00:56:33,440 --> 00:56:36,120 Speaker 4: Italy and he meets with one of my favorites on 1221 00:56:36,160 --> 00:56:39,520 Speaker 4: the show, Dino Delaurentes, who is saying you have to 1222 00:56:39,520 --> 00:56:42,400 Speaker 4: come to Italy. Everybody does the defensive Italian accent when 1223 00:56:42,400 --> 00:56:45,760 Speaker 4: they talk about Tino Delarentius, all refrain, and he's pushing 1224 00:56:45,800 --> 00:56:47,600 Speaker 4: him come shoot at Chinnichita Studios. 1225 00:56:47,640 --> 00:56:48,240 Speaker 6: You know it's. 1226 00:56:48,080 --> 00:56:50,600 Speaker 4: Hollywood on the Tibe or Ben Hur Cleopatra. They all 1227 00:56:50,640 --> 00:56:54,120 Speaker 4: shot here, and Wolper believes that Lorentis has a financial 1228 00:56:54,120 --> 00:56:56,160 Speaker 4: incentive to try to bring him over here. It's also 1229 00:56:56,239 --> 00:56:58,160 Speaker 4: possible that Laurentis was trying to get him to shoot 1230 00:56:58,160 --> 00:57:02,960 Speaker 4: at Dino Cheta Studio, which was Dino Delorentze's like knock 1231 00:57:02,960 --> 00:57:06,120 Speaker 4: off Chinnichita twenty five kilometers down the road. From Chinnichita. 1232 00:57:06,239 --> 00:57:08,319 Speaker 4: We can't be sure, but regardless, we got to show 1233 00:57:08,320 --> 00:57:10,799 Speaker 4: this story. They go to dinner and Lorenz shows up 1234 00:57:10,840 --> 00:57:13,960 Speaker 4: with three or four beautiful Italian starlets. He's really whining 1235 00:57:14,000 --> 00:57:16,000 Speaker 4: and dining Wolper and they're eating at a restaurant that 1236 00:57:16,040 --> 00:57:18,520 Speaker 4: Delorentes insists has the best steak in the world, and 1237 00:57:18,560 --> 00:57:21,120 Speaker 4: Wolper orders a steak medium rare. They bring it out 1238 00:57:21,160 --> 00:57:23,280 Speaker 4: and it's well done, and Lorentz says, how is it? 1239 00:57:23,440 --> 00:57:25,720 Speaker 4: And Wolper says, you know, it's a little too well done, 1240 00:57:25,800 --> 00:57:29,120 Speaker 4: and Delorentis picks up the steak, throws it into the street, 1241 00:57:29,560 --> 00:57:32,320 Speaker 4: screams at the waiter and tells them to bring him 1242 00:57:32,320 --> 00:57:34,760 Speaker 4: another one. They bring out the next one, and Wolper 1243 00:57:34,880 --> 00:57:37,000 Speaker 4: is so scared that when Delarentze says how is it, 1244 00:57:37,040 --> 00:57:39,120 Speaker 4: he just says, it's the greatest steak I've ever had, 1245 00:57:40,320 --> 00:57:42,480 Speaker 4: And then he says Italy is a no. So they 1246 00:57:42,560 --> 00:57:45,360 Speaker 4: choose the Bavaria Film Studios in Munich, and they're using 1247 00:57:45,400 --> 00:57:48,560 Speaker 4: the Munich Gas Works as an exterior. Actually, Alfred Hickhok 1248 00:57:48,680 --> 00:57:51,480 Speaker 4: his first film, The Pleasure Garden, was shot at Bavaria 1249 00:57:51,480 --> 00:57:54,160 Speaker 4: Film Studios in Munich and along with scenes from the 1250 00:57:54,240 --> 00:57:57,120 Speaker 4: Sound of Music, Paths of Glory, The Great Escape. So 1251 00:57:57,400 --> 00:58:00,480 Speaker 4: construction begins in mid June, shooting schedule to begin at 1252 00:58:00,520 --> 00:58:03,280 Speaker 4: the end of August. Art director Harper Goff comes in. 1253 00:58:03,560 --> 00:58:07,240 Speaker 4: He is basically drawing from Doll's original words and the 1254 00:58:07,280 --> 00:58:10,480 Speaker 4: illustrations by illustrator Joseph Schindelman, which you can post on 1255 00:58:10,520 --> 00:58:12,960 Speaker 4: our Patreon. And he's very experienced and he knows how 1256 00:58:13,000 --> 00:58:14,520 Speaker 4: to stretch a dollar. I mean. He had worked on 1257 00:58:14,760 --> 00:58:18,200 Speaker 4: Eryl Flynn's Captain Blood at Warner Brothers Casa Blanca, but 1258 00:58:18,400 --> 00:58:21,320 Speaker 4: his best work was known at Disney. Some Disney historians 1259 00:58:21,360 --> 00:58:24,520 Speaker 4: described him as the second imagineer, Walt Disney being the first. 1260 00:58:24,560 --> 00:58:26,360 Speaker 4: He did a lot of the early concept work for 1261 00:58:26,440 --> 00:58:31,080 Speaker 4: Disney's Mickey Mouse Park aka Disneyland, specifically Main Street USA 1262 00:58:31,120 --> 00:58:33,800 Speaker 4: and the Jungle Cruise, and he's actually credited with convincing 1263 00:58:33,840 --> 00:58:35,680 Speaker 4: Walt Disney to make twenty thousand Leagues Under the Sea 1264 00:58:35,760 --> 00:58:38,680 Speaker 4: is a live action film. He designed the Nautilus for 1265 00:58:38,720 --> 00:58:41,560 Speaker 4: that movie. He did another submarine, the Proteus, in the 1266 00:58:41,640 --> 00:58:44,240 Speaker 4: nineteen sixty six film Fantastic Voyage, and both of those 1267 00:58:44,280 --> 00:58:48,200 Speaker 4: movies won Oscars for Art Direction and Special effects. Now, 1268 00:58:48,280 --> 00:58:51,680 Speaker 4: another key crew member was construction manager Hendrik Winans, And 1269 00:58:51,760 --> 00:58:54,120 Speaker 4: we should talk a little bit about the candy world. 1270 00:58:54,280 --> 00:58:56,600 Speaker 4: A lot of people say it was not edible, including 1271 00:58:56,600 --> 00:58:59,840 Speaker 4: the Chocolate River, but the Chocolate River almost was edible. 1272 00:59:00,120 --> 00:59:01,800 Speaker 4: So the original plan was to mix one hundred and 1273 00:59:01,800 --> 00:59:04,320 Speaker 4: fifty thousand gallons of water with powder that's used to 1274 00:59:04,320 --> 00:59:07,360 Speaker 4: make chocolate ice cream. What might be the problem with 1275 00:59:07,440 --> 00:59:12,800 Speaker 4: that sticky stinky When you leave it out, it produces 1276 00:59:12,800 --> 00:59:15,240 Speaker 4: bubbles and it starts smelling like the bog of eternal 1277 00:59:15,240 --> 00:59:19,120 Speaker 4: stents from Labyrinth. So they added chemicals like salt conditioner 1278 00:59:19,360 --> 00:59:21,880 Speaker 4: and the special chemical that was used to control the 1279 00:59:21,920 --> 00:59:24,920 Speaker 4: foaming element in shampoos, which made it cold, dirty and 1280 00:59:24,960 --> 00:59:27,840 Speaker 4: not edible. Now, another rumor online they say that the 1281 00:59:27,880 --> 00:59:30,200 Speaker 4: flour teacup that Wonka SIPs from and bites is made 1282 00:59:30,200 --> 00:59:32,720 Speaker 4: from wax, not candy. That's actually not true. The original 1283 00:59:32,760 --> 00:59:35,360 Speaker 4: version was wax, and then when Stuart saw how Gene 1284 00:59:35,360 --> 00:59:37,160 Speaker 4: had to spit it out during rehearsal, they replaced it 1285 00:59:37,160 --> 00:59:39,840 Speaker 4: with one made from sugar. And we should also mention 1286 00:59:40,080 --> 00:59:43,480 Speaker 4: special effects technician Logan Phrase, who brought all of these 1287 00:59:43,480 --> 00:59:46,640 Speaker 4: designs to life. But let's get back to the script, 1288 00:59:46,920 --> 00:59:50,120 Speaker 4: because we don't have a script, and there's a new problem, 1289 00:59:50,480 --> 00:59:54,840 Speaker 4: which is really an old problem that anybody involved in 1290 00:59:54,880 --> 00:59:57,520 Speaker 4: this movie should have seen from the first time they 1291 00:59:57,560 --> 01:00:02,240 Speaker 4: read the book. Arin the oopel. How were they originally 1292 01:00:02,280 --> 01:00:05,120 Speaker 4: described in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 1293 01:00:05,480 --> 01:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, they were African pigmies. 1294 01:00:07,640 --> 01:00:12,160 Speaker 4: That's right. They were described basically as very small black people. 1295 01:00:12,440 --> 01:00:15,640 Speaker 4: And there was a suggestion by a number of black 1296 01:00:15,680 --> 01:00:18,560 Speaker 4: actors that read the script made to mel Stuart that 1297 01:00:18,640 --> 01:00:22,480 Speaker 4: this suggested a plantation like scenario where Willy Wonka was 1298 01:00:22,520 --> 01:00:26,120 Speaker 4: engaged in slave labor. Definitely, So mel Stewart says he 1299 01:00:26,160 --> 01:00:28,720 Speaker 4: only cared about mister Wonka's chocolate being made by a 1300 01:00:28,720 --> 01:00:31,920 Speaker 4: group of mysterious candy making elves. So in our research 1301 01:00:32,160 --> 01:00:35,440 Speaker 4: it is suggested that mel Stuart pitched green hair and 1302 01:00:35,560 --> 01:00:39,040 Speaker 4: orange faces, which seemed to assuage the concerns of the 1303 01:00:39,080 --> 01:00:42,320 Speaker 4: actors who had come forward. Now this is interesting, So 1304 01:00:42,400 --> 01:00:45,720 Speaker 4: Aaron Stuart also claims that this is partly where the 1305 01:00:45,760 --> 01:00:48,920 Speaker 4: title change came from. He claims that there were really 1306 01:00:49,000 --> 01:00:51,200 Speaker 4: three reasons why he wanted to change the name to 1307 01:00:51,200 --> 01:00:54,160 Speaker 4: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The first reason you 1308 01:00:54,200 --> 01:00:56,439 Speaker 4: already pointed out, which is that the story now really 1309 01:00:56,480 --> 01:00:59,120 Speaker 4: revolves around Willy Wonka. After we get through act one, 1310 01:00:59,400 --> 01:01:01,920 Speaker 4: Willie's the one who goes through the change. The second 1311 01:01:01,960 --> 01:01:04,480 Speaker 4: reason was that he didn't want audiences to be confused 1312 01:01:04,520 --> 01:01:06,520 Speaker 4: with the shorthand that they would use if they were 1313 01:01:06,520 --> 01:01:09,000 Speaker 4: going to recommend the movie to a friend. It would 1314 01:01:09,000 --> 01:01:11,200 Speaker 4: be much easier to say I saw Willy Wonka as 1315 01:01:11,200 --> 01:01:14,480 Speaker 4: opposed to I saw Charlie. On top of this, one 1316 01:01:14,480 --> 01:01:16,640 Speaker 4: of the other issues that some of the black actors 1317 01:01:16,680 --> 01:01:18,960 Speaker 4: who had read the script raised with him was that 1318 01:01:19,080 --> 01:01:22,440 Speaker 4: Charlie could be used as a pejorative term when speaking 1319 01:01:22,480 --> 01:01:26,480 Speaker 4: of an oppressive white man, and so it reinforced this 1320 01:01:26,600 --> 01:01:30,280 Speaker 4: idea in the book that Willy Wonka is engaging in 1321 01:01:30,360 --> 01:01:33,040 Speaker 4: slave labor. I don't doubt that all of these things 1322 01:01:33,040 --> 01:01:36,800 Speaker 4: are true, but my guess is that ultimately this was 1323 01:01:36,800 --> 01:01:39,000 Speaker 4: a Quaker Oats decision at the end of the day, 1324 01:01:39,040 --> 01:01:41,560 Speaker 4: and that it happened much earlier in the process than 1325 01:01:41,760 --> 01:01:45,560 Speaker 4: this laid into the scripting. Yeah, I only mention it 1326 01:01:45,600 --> 01:01:49,440 Speaker 4: because Stuart said it. But let's dive into the script. 1327 01:01:49,520 --> 01:01:54,080 Speaker 4: So dl agrees to change the oopa lumpus and Aaron. 1328 01:01:54,160 --> 01:01:56,960 Speaker 4: As you know, the next publication of the book, I 1329 01:01:56,960 --> 01:02:00,040 Speaker 4: believe the nineteen seventy three version, the description of the 1330 01:02:00,000 --> 01:02:03,360 Speaker 4: Oopa Lumpus has changed and they are just knee high 1331 01:02:03,400 --> 01:02:07,240 Speaker 4: and given very little description beyond that insofar as the 1332 01:02:07,240 --> 01:02:09,800 Speaker 4: color of their skin, et cetera. But in the meantime, 1333 01:02:09,920 --> 01:02:12,920 Speaker 4: Dall is writing, and Stuart and Wolper and Marglize know 1334 01:02:13,000 --> 01:02:15,880 Speaker 4: they're in trouble because Dall is not changing his script 1335 01:02:16,080 --> 01:02:18,800 Speaker 4: beyond the Oompa Lumpas. They need another writer. They want 1336 01:02:18,800 --> 01:02:20,320 Speaker 4: it to be bigger, they want it to be funnier. 1337 01:02:20,360 --> 01:02:23,280 Speaker 4: They want to add a worldwide search for the Golden tickets. 1338 01:02:23,280 --> 01:02:24,680 Speaker 4: So this is a big part of the movie that's 1339 01:02:24,760 --> 01:02:27,080 Speaker 4: not a big part of the book. So they hired 1340 01:02:27,240 --> 01:02:29,960 Speaker 4: Robert Kaufman, who had just written the totally kid friendly 1341 01:02:30,000 --> 01:02:32,720 Speaker 4: Elliott Gould sex rump I Love My Wife that Mel 1342 01:02:32,800 --> 01:02:36,160 Speaker 4: Stewart had just directed Kids Love It Now. To be fair, 1343 01:02:36,320 --> 01:02:39,480 Speaker 4: he was an Oscar nominee nineteen sixty seven's Divorce American Style, 1344 01:02:39,480 --> 01:02:41,760 Speaker 4: and he came up with some great scenes, including Stuart's 1345 01:02:41,760 --> 01:02:43,600 Speaker 4: favorite scene that didn't make it into the movie, And 1346 01:02:43,600 --> 01:02:45,479 Speaker 4: I want to read it to you guys, So there's 1347 01:02:45,480 --> 01:02:48,120 Speaker 4: this craze for wonka bars, and an English explorer climbs 1348 01:02:48,120 --> 01:02:50,000 Speaker 4: a holy mountain to beg a guru to tell them 1349 01:02:50,040 --> 01:02:52,439 Speaker 4: the meaning of life. Here's a description. There is snow 1350 01:02:52,480 --> 01:02:55,280 Speaker 4: and ice everywhere as the explorer, with torn clothes, enters 1351 01:02:55,280 --> 01:02:56,920 Speaker 4: a cave and kneels at the feet of a guru. 1352 01:02:57,120 --> 01:02:59,600 Speaker 4: The explorer says, oh, great, Guru, I've been climbing for days. 1353 01:02:59,640 --> 01:03:01,760 Speaker 4: My party is lost. I'm hungry, freezing and exhausted. But 1354 01:03:01,760 --> 01:03:03,680 Speaker 4: I need to know what is the meaning of life? 1355 01:03:03,720 --> 01:03:07,640 Speaker 4: And the guru says, you have wonka bar and explorer says, yes, yes, 1356 01:03:07,680 --> 01:03:09,400 Speaker 4: I do. It's my last bit of food. You can 1357 01:03:09,440 --> 01:03:11,680 Speaker 4: have it, but please tell me what's the meaning of life. 1358 01:03:11,800 --> 01:03:14,000 Speaker 4: The guru opens the wonka bar and discovers there is 1359 01:03:14,040 --> 01:03:16,560 Speaker 4: no golden ticket and discuss he throws it on the 1360 01:03:16,560 --> 01:03:19,200 Speaker 4: floor of the cave. The explorer says, now, oh, Guru, 1361 01:03:19,240 --> 01:03:20,800 Speaker 4: tell me what is the meaning of life? And the 1362 01:03:20,800 --> 01:03:22,840 Speaker 4: guru says, life is a disappointment. 1363 01:03:24,400 --> 01:03:25,439 Speaker 3: That's crazy. 1364 01:03:25,840 --> 01:03:28,520 Speaker 4: It's a really good scene. So Dall turns in his 1365 01:03:28,600 --> 01:03:31,080 Speaker 4: second draft in June. To be clear, Dall does not 1366 01:03:31,320 --> 01:03:34,560 Speaker 4: know that they are engaging with another writer. Dall believes 1367 01:03:34,560 --> 01:03:37,040 Speaker 4: he is the only writer on this project. Two months 1368 01:03:37,080 --> 01:03:39,840 Speaker 4: before shooting is about to begin, Stuart says that this 1369 01:03:39,920 --> 01:03:42,400 Speaker 4: draft is an improvement, but it still needs work. So 1370 01:03:42,520 --> 01:03:44,960 Speaker 4: Doll goes back to start on a third draft, and 1371 01:03:45,000 --> 01:03:48,920 Speaker 4: in the meantime, Wolper, Stewart, and Marglize bring on another writer. 1372 01:03:49,520 --> 01:03:53,280 Speaker 4: This time they hired thirty year old David Seltzer, who 1373 01:03:53,360 --> 01:03:57,120 Speaker 4: had never written a screenplay before. I think that they 1374 01:03:57,200 --> 01:04:01,080 Speaker 4: got him because he was free. So he'd worked for 1375 01:04:01,160 --> 01:04:04,520 Speaker 4: David Wolper writing for the Oscar winning documentary The Helstrom Chronicle, 1376 01:04:04,720 --> 01:04:07,600 Speaker 4: and he'd also rewritten Arthur's Lessenshire script for The Unfinished 1377 01:04:07,640 --> 01:04:10,800 Speaker 4: Journey of Robert Kennedy, another documentary, and he wanted to 1378 01:04:10,800 --> 01:04:13,160 Speaker 4: write a real screenplay, and he was very creative. He'd 1379 01:04:13,200 --> 01:04:16,240 Speaker 4: written some wacky dialogue that was actually fictional for some 1380 01:04:16,280 --> 01:04:19,040 Speaker 4: of these documentaries. And so Wolper calls Seltzer and lays 1381 01:04:19,080 --> 01:04:21,000 Speaker 4: it out, look, we don't have a script. This is 1382 01:04:21,040 --> 01:04:23,680 Speaker 4: not working with rolldall I cannot be I'm sure he's 1383 01:04:23,720 --> 01:04:27,320 Speaker 4: basically revealing he cannot afford somebody big to come in 1384 01:04:27,360 --> 01:04:29,680 Speaker 4: and rewrite this, and if this fails, he will have 1385 01:04:29,760 --> 01:04:31,840 Speaker 4: failed at bringing Rolldall's book to life you will have 1386 01:04:31,840 --> 01:04:34,880 Speaker 4: failed transitioning into narrative film. So he says, Seltzer, you know, 1387 01:04:35,040 --> 01:04:37,680 Speaker 4: can you write this movie? And Seltzer says yes, I'm 1388 01:04:37,720 --> 01:04:39,840 Speaker 4: your man, and Wolper says, great, here's the deal. I 1389 01:04:39,880 --> 01:04:42,640 Speaker 4: can't pay you, I can't give you credit, I can't 1390 01:04:42,640 --> 01:04:45,520 Speaker 4: even reveal that you are doing this, but if you 1391 01:04:45,560 --> 01:04:47,880 Speaker 4: do it, I promise I will produce your first screenplay. 1392 01:04:48,200 --> 01:04:51,680 Speaker 4: And Seltzer says, fine, I'll do it. He starts working 1393 01:04:51,760 --> 01:04:53,680 Speaker 4: on the script in secret. And the way that they're 1394 01:04:53,680 --> 01:04:55,760 Speaker 4: doing this is that Seltzer would come up with concepts 1395 01:04:55,920 --> 01:04:58,160 Speaker 4: and then they would pitch them to Doll as if 1396 01:04:58,200 --> 01:05:00,640 Speaker 4: it was their ideas, like Stuart and Will being like, hey, 1397 01:05:00,640 --> 01:05:02,320 Speaker 4: we came up with this idea, and they would pitch 1398 01:05:02,360 --> 01:05:04,400 Speaker 4: it to Doll and try to get Doll to add 1399 01:05:04,440 --> 01:05:06,280 Speaker 4: it into the script. But this is only going to 1400 01:05:06,320 --> 01:05:09,840 Speaker 4: get them so far, so they finally, after Dahl submits 1401 01:05:09,840 --> 01:05:13,040 Speaker 4: his third draft, they fly Seltzer to Munich to polish 1402 01:05:13,240 --> 01:05:15,880 Speaker 4: Doll's work. They lock him in a hotel room and 1403 01:05:15,920 --> 01:05:19,000 Speaker 4: Seltzer described it as a baptism by fire, the hardest, 1404 01:05:19,040 --> 01:05:21,320 Speaker 4: most frightening work I've probably ever had to do in 1405 01:05:21,360 --> 01:05:22,800 Speaker 4: my life. And by the way, he's doing it on 1406 01:05:22,840 --> 01:05:25,520 Speaker 4: a German typewriter. There is no final draft, there is 1407 01:05:25,520 --> 01:05:27,840 Speaker 4: no copy find in replace, like he is taking existing 1408 01:05:27,880 --> 01:05:30,360 Speaker 4: pages and rewriting them by hand. So let's talk about 1409 01:05:30,400 --> 01:05:33,800 Speaker 4: some of the changes. So the Everlasting Gobstopper tests that 1410 01:05:33,920 --> 01:05:36,480 Speaker 4: becomes the final turn of the movie. That was Seltzer. 1411 01:05:36,600 --> 01:05:36,920 Speaker 3: Wow. 1412 01:05:36,960 --> 01:05:39,160 Speaker 4: So that was obviously not part of Doll. He beefed 1413 01:05:39,200 --> 01:05:41,400 Speaker 4: up the part with mister Slugworth, made him a double 1414 01:05:41,440 --> 01:05:44,200 Speaker 4: agent and a villain, which was obviously not Doll. He 1415 01:05:44,240 --> 01:05:47,200 Speaker 4: added the scene where Grandpa Joe and Charlie disobey Wonka 1416 01:05:47,200 --> 01:05:50,640 Speaker 4: by drinking the fizzy lifting drinks, and he changed for 1417 01:05:50,760 --> 01:05:54,080 Speaker 4: uk assaults punishment. So in the book, right, it's squirrels 1418 01:05:54,240 --> 01:05:57,040 Speaker 4: with walnuts and the squirrels throw her down a tube. 1419 01:05:57,120 --> 01:05:59,160 Speaker 4: They can't do one hundred squirrels doing that. They would 1420 01:05:59,160 --> 01:06:00,840 Speaker 4: do it in the Burton versus, so he changes it 1421 01:06:00,840 --> 01:06:04,000 Speaker 4: to geese slaying the golden eggs. I assumed he also 1422 01:06:04,040 --> 01:06:06,360 Speaker 4: did the teacher in the classroom that was roll Doll. 1423 01:06:06,600 --> 01:06:09,480 Speaker 4: That's not in the book either. Yeah, Okay, Seltzer has 1424 01:06:09,520 --> 01:06:11,720 Speaker 4: said it's not really mine it's roll dolls. I did 1425 01:06:11,760 --> 01:06:12,720 Speaker 4: some patchwork on it. 1426 01:06:12,920 --> 01:06:16,080 Speaker 3: Those are some pretty massive patches though, I mean he 1427 01:06:16,240 --> 01:06:17,439 Speaker 3: provided the things that. 1428 01:06:17,360 --> 01:06:19,160 Speaker 1: Literally those are big structural changes. 1429 01:06:19,480 --> 01:06:21,840 Speaker 3: Yes, I would agree they are good ones. 1430 01:06:22,040 --> 01:06:24,480 Speaker 4: Those are the things, candidly that make it a movie. 1431 01:06:24,680 --> 01:06:25,640 Speaker 3: Yes, exactly. 1432 01:06:25,800 --> 01:06:28,600 Speaker 4: They give it some conflict, they give it some narrative tension. Yeah, 1433 01:06:28,680 --> 01:06:31,400 Speaker 4: I think, very smart ideas, and they were not easily won. 1434 01:06:31,920 --> 01:06:34,080 Speaker 4: So the script is not done, but they have to 1435 01:06:34,120 --> 01:06:38,040 Speaker 4: start shooting. Principal photography begins on August thirty first, nineteen seventy. 1436 01:06:38,080 --> 01:06:40,440 Speaker 4: The budget is two point nine million dollars. They cannot 1437 01:06:40,480 --> 01:06:44,280 Speaker 4: go over. There's no studio backstopping this. This is Quaker Oats. 1438 01:06:44,400 --> 01:06:46,520 Speaker 4: Quaker Oats is not going to just give them another 1439 01:06:46,640 --> 01:06:49,640 Speaker 4: million dollars. They also had a Quaker Oaps representative on set, 1440 01:06:49,680 --> 01:06:51,280 Speaker 4: which I'd just like to imagine as the guy on 1441 01:06:51,280 --> 01:06:54,800 Speaker 4: the Quaker Oats logo on set at all times. According 1442 01:06:54,840 --> 01:06:57,000 Speaker 4: to Julie don Cole, one of the ways that they 1443 01:06:57,080 --> 01:07:01,240 Speaker 4: kept costs down was by paying the child actor sixty 1444 01:07:01,360 --> 01:07:07,360 Speaker 4: British pounds per filming week. Per week. This was ten 1445 01:07:07,520 --> 01:07:11,040 Speaker 4: dollars more per week than Jerry Marin child actor had 1446 01:07:11,080 --> 01:07:15,640 Speaker 4: gotten on The Wizard of Oz Oh Wow, decades earlier. Yeah, so, 1447 01:07:15,680 --> 01:07:18,920 Speaker 4: the children recorded demos of their songs with composer Walter Sharf, 1448 01:07:18,920 --> 01:07:21,760 Speaker 4: and these were obviously played back during filming for lip syncing. 1449 01:07:22,040 --> 01:07:24,800 Speaker 4: The songs may have been done, but the script was 1450 01:07:24,880 --> 01:07:27,960 Speaker 4: not done. They are on set and David Seltzer is 1451 01:07:28,040 --> 01:07:31,120 Speaker 4: writing while they are in production. He is writing on set, 1452 01:07:31,160 --> 01:07:33,000 Speaker 4: and so he's writing out of order because they're not 1453 01:07:33,040 --> 01:07:36,240 Speaker 4: shooting chronologically. At the beginning of the day, they'd say, Okay, 1454 01:07:36,280 --> 01:07:38,280 Speaker 4: here's what we're shooting today or here's what we're shooting 1455 01:07:38,280 --> 01:07:40,560 Speaker 4: this week, and he would start working on those pages 1456 01:07:40,760 --> 01:07:42,640 Speaker 4: so early on. This meant he had to write new 1457 01:07:42,680 --> 01:07:44,960 Speaker 4: dialogue to get in and out of the musical numbers 1458 01:07:44,960 --> 01:07:47,800 Speaker 4: that they had already recorded. So because they had written 1459 01:07:47,840 --> 01:07:50,920 Speaker 4: Pure Imagination and The Candyman before the movie was written, 1460 01:07:51,120 --> 01:07:52,720 Speaker 4: he then had to come up with what's the scene 1461 01:07:52,720 --> 01:07:54,160 Speaker 4: that's going to lead into this and how are we 1462 01:07:54,200 --> 01:07:56,200 Speaker 4: going to get out of it? In every case, and 1463 01:07:56,240 --> 01:08:01,240 Speaker 4: then Roll Dahl finds out that he's being rewritten during production. Aaron, 1464 01:08:01,320 --> 01:08:04,040 Speaker 4: how do you think Roll responded to finding out that 1465 01:08:04,080 --> 01:08:06,600 Speaker 4: he was being rewritten? Not only was he being rewritten, 1466 01:08:06,760 --> 01:08:09,040 Speaker 4: he was being rewritten by a thirty year old without 1467 01:08:09,040 --> 01:08:11,439 Speaker 4: a single screenplay credit to his name. 1468 01:08:11,840 --> 01:08:13,200 Speaker 1: I don't think he liked it very much. 1469 01:08:13,520 --> 01:08:16,559 Speaker 4: So he calls up the production. This may have been 1470 01:08:16,600 --> 01:08:18,559 Speaker 4: when Seltzer was on set, and he says, I know 1471 01:08:18,600 --> 01:08:21,360 Speaker 4: you're rewriting me. I am disturbed by this fact. I 1472 01:08:21,400 --> 01:08:23,519 Speaker 4: want you to come to my house on the outskirts 1473 01:08:23,560 --> 01:08:26,679 Speaker 4: of London and bring the script with you. So that weekend, 1474 01:08:26,800 --> 01:08:30,400 Speaker 4: Mel Stewart flies to London, drives to dolls house and 1475 01:08:30,479 --> 01:08:33,360 Speaker 4: hands him the script, and Dall asks him to wait 1476 01:08:33,439 --> 01:08:37,200 Speaker 4: there while he reads it. Let's bear in mind roll 1477 01:08:37,280 --> 01:08:41,519 Speaker 4: Dall is six foot six inches tall. Also worth mentioning that, 1478 01:08:41,600 --> 01:08:43,960 Speaker 4: David Wolper says it was David Seltzer who went to 1479 01:08:44,040 --> 01:08:46,439 Speaker 4: Doll's house with the script. But that would have been 1480 01:08:46,600 --> 01:08:47,440 Speaker 4: very unusual. 1481 01:08:47,720 --> 01:08:50,880 Speaker 1: No, in Hollywood, usually the rewriter never meets the original writer. 1482 01:08:51,200 --> 01:08:54,760 Speaker 4: No, oh no, like never the twains shall meet. There 1483 01:08:54,840 --> 01:08:58,680 Speaker 4: is a final draft is dropped in an anonymous box somewhere, 1484 01:08:58,880 --> 01:09:00,840 Speaker 4: you know what I mean, and then given away. It's 1485 01:09:00,840 --> 01:09:01,519 Speaker 4: like spy work. 1486 01:09:01,680 --> 01:09:02,120 Speaker 1: Yeah. 1487 01:09:02,160 --> 01:09:05,240 Speaker 4: So a couple hours later, according to Stuart, Dall came 1488 01:09:05,280 --> 01:09:07,200 Speaker 4: down the stairs. He handed the script back to me 1489 01:09:07,240 --> 01:09:10,240 Speaker 4: and said that he agreed with the changes. I went 1490 01:09:10,280 --> 01:09:13,400 Speaker 4: back to Munich and that was that. It's really interesting. 1491 01:09:13,479 --> 01:09:16,240 Speaker 4: So Wolper says that Doll was really upset, but he 1492 01:09:16,479 --> 01:09:20,719 Speaker 4: didn't fight the changes. And I wonder, Aaron if, even 1493 01:09:20,760 --> 01:09:23,800 Speaker 4: though he was dissatisfied with the movie, I wonder if 1494 01:09:23,840 --> 01:09:27,680 Speaker 4: he recognized that these changes were kind of necessary to 1495 01:09:27,840 --> 01:09:30,439 Speaker 4: give it the dramatic structure it needed to be to 1496 01:09:30,520 --> 01:09:31,320 Speaker 4: be a movie. 1497 01:09:31,400 --> 01:09:32,240 Speaker 1: Yeah, that might be right. 1498 01:09:32,320 --> 01:09:34,320 Speaker 4: I'm just curious what you think, because you know Dahl 1499 01:09:34,360 --> 01:09:35,040 Speaker 4: better than I do. 1500 01:09:35,520 --> 01:09:37,320 Speaker 1: I think that there's also a chance that he was 1501 01:09:37,360 --> 01:09:38,439 Speaker 1: just done with Hollywood. 1502 01:09:38,520 --> 01:09:38,680 Speaker 6: Sure. 1503 01:09:38,720 --> 01:09:42,439 Speaker 1: At this point, remember, he was fully writing his children's 1504 01:09:42,439 --> 01:09:45,960 Speaker 1: books and was becoming a giant hit, you know, incredibly successful, 1505 01:09:46,000 --> 01:09:48,479 Speaker 1: way more successful than he ever was in Hollywood. So 1506 01:09:48,520 --> 01:09:50,000 Speaker 1: I think there's a chance he was just like, you 1507 01:09:50,000 --> 01:09:52,439 Speaker 1: know what, I got other I got other fish to fry. 1508 01:09:52,720 --> 01:09:54,640 Speaker 1: You know, I'm doing my thing here. You guys, just 1509 01:09:54,680 --> 01:09:55,799 Speaker 1: go make this movie. 1510 01:09:55,920 --> 01:09:59,880 Speaker 4: I also wonder if he was feeling still somewhat optimistic 1511 01:10:00,280 --> 01:10:02,680 Speaker 4: about the film because of how it was looking. And 1512 01:10:02,760 --> 01:10:05,360 Speaker 4: so one thing that everybody on this production says is 1513 01:10:05,400 --> 01:10:08,559 Speaker 4: that basically art director Harper Goff was working magic with 1514 01:10:08,760 --> 01:10:11,640 Speaker 4: no money. When you think about the Chocolate Room and 1515 01:10:11,720 --> 01:10:14,719 Speaker 4: how much they made this for, it's actually a really 1516 01:10:14,800 --> 01:10:18,599 Speaker 4: impressive accomplishment, Like this is a set with flowing water 1517 01:10:18,720 --> 01:10:22,320 Speaker 4: and a boat and edible scenery filling up an entire 1518 01:10:22,600 --> 01:10:27,200 Speaker 4: sound stage or studio space, made for almost nothing. Everybody 1519 01:10:27,280 --> 01:10:29,559 Speaker 4: thought it was incredible. In fact, Julie don Cole says 1520 01:10:29,560 --> 01:10:32,719 Speaker 4: that their first reaction when they walk in to see 1521 01:10:32,720 --> 01:10:35,120 Speaker 4: the Chocolate Room is the one that's used in the movie, 1522 01:10:35,160 --> 01:10:37,240 Speaker 4: and it was real. They hadn't seen it before, and 1523 01:10:37,280 --> 01:10:39,240 Speaker 4: they filmed them coming in to see it for the 1524 01:10:39,240 --> 01:10:43,240 Speaker 4: first time. And somebody that actually agreed is role doll. 1525 01:10:43,760 --> 01:10:47,160 Speaker 4: He did not like the screenplay, but he actually was 1526 01:10:47,240 --> 01:10:49,120 Speaker 4: really impressed with the production design and I want to 1527 01:10:49,160 --> 01:10:51,280 Speaker 4: play a brief clip and this show's doll on set. 1528 01:10:51,320 --> 01:10:53,479 Speaker 4: He did visit the production while they were filming. 1529 01:10:54,520 --> 01:10:57,960 Speaker 5: In the book, one can imagine these different rooms just 1530 01:10:58,000 --> 01:11:01,680 Speaker 5: as large as one wants to to, how big and 1531 01:11:01,760 --> 01:11:05,040 Speaker 5: marvelous you can make them. But within those limits, he's 1532 01:11:05,080 --> 01:11:07,280 Speaker 5: what He's almost gone beyond them. I shud thinks he 1533 01:11:07,320 --> 01:11:12,080 Speaker 5: built the most marvelous and enormous sets, build with every 1534 01:11:12,200 --> 01:11:17,240 Speaker 5: kind of ingenious gadget and beauty as well. I think 1535 01:11:17,280 --> 01:11:18,960 Speaker 5: he's a very very clever man. 1536 01:11:19,880 --> 01:11:22,760 Speaker 4: I actually think this pretty high praise coming from Dahl 1537 01:11:22,880 --> 01:11:24,720 Speaker 4: speaking of Harper Goth it is. 1538 01:11:25,080 --> 01:11:27,720 Speaker 1: But also let's remember like Doll was a good businessman's 1539 01:11:27,760 --> 01:11:30,360 Speaker 1: true and he knew that if he was saying terrible 1540 01:11:30,400 --> 01:11:32,680 Speaker 1: things about the movie before it came out, that it 1541 01:11:32,680 --> 01:11:35,400 Speaker 1: would hurt the business, right, and so not only might 1542 01:11:35,439 --> 01:11:38,200 Speaker 1: it detract from the title, but also he's going to 1543 01:11:38,240 --> 01:11:40,920 Speaker 1: get royalties since it's his name on the screenplay, So 1544 01:11:41,280 --> 01:11:44,360 Speaker 1: years later he's going to do nothing but trash the movie. 1545 01:11:44,680 --> 01:11:47,599 Speaker 1: But right now in the marketing phase, yeah, he knows 1546 01:11:47,640 --> 01:11:48,880 Speaker 1: how to play his role. 1547 01:11:49,120 --> 01:11:52,639 Speaker 3: And also like production design doesn't infringe on his sort 1548 01:11:52,640 --> 01:11:55,960 Speaker 3: of creative arts the same way that the screenwriting changes do, 1549 01:11:56,120 --> 01:11:58,000 Speaker 3: so that maybe this was a bit easier for him 1550 01:11:58,000 --> 01:11:59,840 Speaker 3: to be like, yes, beautiful, great job. 1551 01:12:00,040 --> 01:12:04,360 Speaker 4: Well, and also Harper Gough was treating the text as 1552 01:12:04,479 --> 01:12:08,200 Speaker 4: pretty faithful, something sacred to be followed, right as opposed 1553 01:12:08,240 --> 01:12:11,479 Speaker 4: to Stuart. Regardless, it seems like Goff and his sets, 1554 01:12:11,479 --> 01:12:12,960 Speaker 4: you know, and this production design was kind of like 1555 01:12:13,080 --> 01:12:15,680 Speaker 4: universally appreciated right off the bat, whereas mel Stewart, the 1556 01:12:15,720 --> 01:12:18,519 Speaker 4: director was a bit more of unacquired taste. Now, over 1557 01:12:18,560 --> 01:12:21,679 Speaker 4: the years, he became known for having a bad temper. 1558 01:12:21,800 --> 01:12:25,080 Speaker 4: Director David Vasser would later describe this temper as legendary. 1559 01:12:25,280 --> 01:12:27,679 Speaker 4: Here's the quote, and the most retold of mel Stuart's stories. 1560 01:12:27,680 --> 01:12:29,759 Speaker 4: He was on location in Africa with a small documentary 1561 01:12:29,840 --> 01:12:32,759 Speaker 4: unit when he wandered into quicksand. While he was slowly sinking, 1562 01:12:32,760 --> 01:12:35,120 Speaker 4: so the tale goes, his crew discussed the merits of 1563 01:12:35,160 --> 01:12:37,240 Speaker 4: pulling him out or letting him slowly slide under the 1564 01:12:37,320 --> 01:12:39,120 Speaker 4: mud with the sand up to his neck, they threw 1565 01:12:39,200 --> 01:12:42,240 Speaker 4: him a rope. I think that this was a difficult 1566 01:12:42,240 --> 01:12:45,719 Speaker 4: production for everybody given the budget, but I would imagine 1567 01:12:45,720 --> 01:12:48,760 Speaker 4: it was not made easier by having a director who 1568 01:12:48,800 --> 01:12:50,800 Speaker 4: was a perfectionist and did not seem to have a 1569 01:12:50,840 --> 01:12:54,160 Speaker 4: lot of warmth for his actors. Julie don Cole later 1570 01:12:54,200 --> 01:12:56,680 Speaker 4: said he had little tolerance for mediocrity. There were many 1571 01:12:56,760 --> 01:12:59,000 Speaker 4: hurt feelings when a performance wasn't up to the caliber 1572 01:12:59,040 --> 01:13:01,519 Speaker 4: he desired. Had you had memories of him screaming God, 1573 01:13:01,640 --> 01:13:04,640 Speaker 4: damn it across the set, And it seems to Melstewart's 1574 01:13:04,640 --> 01:13:07,439 Speaker 4: you know, maybe not credit, but to give him some defense. 1575 01:13:07,720 --> 01:13:09,840 Speaker 4: He was under an incredible amount of pressure and he 1576 01:13:09,920 --> 01:13:12,040 Speaker 4: knew that there was only one chance to get this right. 1577 01:13:12,240 --> 01:13:15,360 Speaker 4: So they were following immediately behind schedule. They did not 1578 01:13:15,520 --> 01:13:18,120 Speaker 4: have the staff or the infrastructure to light the enormous 1579 01:13:18,200 --> 01:13:20,880 Speaker 4: chocolate room, so every time they changed the perspective of 1580 01:13:20,880 --> 01:13:23,200 Speaker 4: the camera it took a reset. That was just eating 1581 01:13:23,200 --> 01:13:25,479 Speaker 4: and eating up so much time. They were trying to 1582 01:13:25,479 --> 01:13:27,840 Speaker 4: shoot with a boat, which is always a nightmare because 1583 01:13:27,840 --> 01:13:29,760 Speaker 4: it just keeps moving and you can never get your 1584 01:13:29,760 --> 01:13:32,240 Speaker 4: camera set. And he did a lot of takes. He 1585 01:13:32,360 --> 01:13:35,240 Speaker 4: was more like Stanley Kubrick than he was Clint Eastwood. 1586 01:13:35,400 --> 01:13:37,800 Speaker 4: Rusty GoF said it took sixty to seventy takes to 1587 01:13:37,800 --> 01:13:39,479 Speaker 4: capture the scene in the TV room where the Oop 1588 01:13:39,520 --> 01:13:43,400 Speaker 4: Balloom are doing cartwheels and headstands. It took forty takes 1589 01:13:43,400 --> 01:13:46,200 Speaker 4: for when Augustus Gloop falls into the river. Oh my god, 1590 01:13:46,280 --> 01:13:49,719 Speaker 4: It took twenty takes for Mike TV's dad to perfect 1591 01:13:49,720 --> 01:13:52,800 Speaker 4: the line not till You're twelve, son, which is a 1592 01:13:52,840 --> 01:13:56,639 Speaker 4: line that doesn't even need to be in the movie. Really, 1593 01:13:56,800 --> 01:13:58,240 Speaker 4: if it's going to cost you too. 1594 01:13:58,200 --> 01:13:59,880 Speaker 3: Much time, yeah, that's exhausting. 1595 01:14:00,160 --> 01:14:04,719 Speaker 4: And this set, unfortunately was not a safe set because 1596 01:14:04,760 --> 01:14:07,320 Speaker 4: it was being made so cheaply. So the white substance 1597 01:14:07,320 --> 01:14:09,880 Speaker 4: spewed by the wancamobile was fire extinguish or fluid. It 1598 01:14:09,920 --> 01:14:12,439 Speaker 4: gave everybody a rash. Most of the Chocolate River was 1599 01:14:12,520 --> 01:14:15,160 Speaker 4: dangerously shallow. It was just two feet deep, so they 1600 01:14:15,160 --> 01:14:18,080 Speaker 4: actually dug a hole where Michael Bolner would jump in 1601 01:14:18,120 --> 01:14:20,360 Speaker 4: as Augustus Glupe, but if he missed it, it would 1602 01:14:20,400 --> 01:14:22,160 Speaker 4: have been like jumping into a shallow pool. 1603 01:14:22,240 --> 01:14:22,880 Speaker 3: Oh my god. 1604 01:14:23,120 --> 01:14:25,800 Speaker 4: Julie don Cole had split ends that the hairdresser didn't like, 1605 01:14:25,840 --> 01:14:27,720 Speaker 4: so they'd burn them off every morning, which is why 1606 01:14:27,760 --> 01:14:30,240 Speaker 4: if you watch carefully, her hair actually gets shorter throughout 1607 01:14:30,280 --> 01:14:30,879 Speaker 4: the movie. 1608 01:14:31,240 --> 01:14:34,439 Speaker 1: The seventies Man. It was different time filmmaking that would 1609 01:14:34,479 --> 01:14:35,400 Speaker 1: not fly today. 1610 01:14:35,439 --> 01:14:38,000 Speaker 4: No well, and also not being shot in the United States, 1611 01:14:38,120 --> 01:14:40,400 Speaker 4: I think, away from the prying eyes of any studio 1612 01:14:40,520 --> 01:14:43,559 Speaker 4: or OSHA, you know. Peter Ostrom references Nickerson, who plays 1613 01:14:43,600 --> 01:14:46,839 Speaker 4: Violet Beauregard, said it was very scarius and sometimes painful 1614 01:14:46,840 --> 01:14:49,400 Speaker 4: to get rolled around in the Big Blueberry contraption. There's 1615 01:14:49,400 --> 01:14:52,040 Speaker 4: basically an inflatable version and then there's a styrofoam version 1616 01:14:52,040 --> 01:14:53,840 Speaker 4: for rolling her around. And it took her so long 1617 01:14:53,880 --> 01:14:55,920 Speaker 4: to get into the syrofoam one that she couldn't break 1618 01:14:55,920 --> 01:14:57,720 Speaker 4: for lunch because it would take her too long to 1619 01:14:57,720 --> 01:15:00,439 Speaker 4: get back into it. So during lunch they would have 1620 01:15:00,520 --> 01:15:03,080 Speaker 4: a grip feed her through a straw and then they 1621 01:15:03,120 --> 01:15:05,920 Speaker 4: would have to roll her a quarter turn every fifteen 1622 01:15:05,960 --> 01:15:08,839 Speaker 4: minutes to keep the blood flowing evenly throughout her body. 1623 01:15:09,120 --> 01:15:11,360 Speaker 4: And she said the worst part actually wasn't that, it's 1624 01:15:11,360 --> 01:15:13,439 Speaker 4: that she had to pick her nose on screen, which 1625 01:15:13,439 --> 01:15:15,120 Speaker 4: she didn't want to do because she had a big 1626 01:15:15,120 --> 01:15:17,599 Speaker 4: crush on Peter Ostrom, her co star, and she thought 1627 01:15:17,640 --> 01:15:19,960 Speaker 4: it was going to gross some out, which was very sweet. 1628 01:15:19,960 --> 01:15:21,800 Speaker 4: And then Julie don Cole said that they actually became 1629 01:15:21,920 --> 01:15:23,720 Speaker 4: very close friends, she and Nickerson, but there was some 1630 01:15:23,760 --> 01:15:26,720 Speaker 4: tension because they both had crushes on Peter Ostrom while 1631 01:15:26,720 --> 01:15:29,200 Speaker 4: they were filming. Now, let's talk about the scariest scene, 1632 01:15:29,280 --> 01:15:33,880 Speaker 4: which is the tunnel scene, which is so weird. Lizzie, 1633 01:15:33,880 --> 01:15:36,360 Speaker 4: can you describe some of the imagery that we see 1634 01:15:36,400 --> 01:15:37,879 Speaker 4: on the walls during the scene. 1635 01:15:38,000 --> 01:15:40,759 Speaker 3: I don't even know. It's just it's horrifying. It's dark, 1636 01:15:40,880 --> 01:15:44,040 Speaker 3: the colors are really dark. It's very like MK ultra 1637 01:15:44,160 --> 01:15:47,240 Speaker 3: e where there's just sort of things flashing at different times. 1638 01:15:47,439 --> 01:15:50,880 Speaker 3: You do see you know Slugworth's terrifying face. You see 1639 01:15:50,920 --> 01:15:52,760 Speaker 3: like a chicken at one point, or. 1640 01:15:53,040 --> 01:15:54,720 Speaker 1: I just see a chicken get his head cut off. 1641 01:15:54,880 --> 01:15:58,400 Speaker 3: Chicken's head being chopped off. Yeah, that's the one. It's 1642 01:15:58,400 --> 01:15:59,080 Speaker 3: not for kids. 1643 01:15:59,439 --> 01:15:59,639 Speaker 6: Yeah. 1644 01:15:59,760 --> 01:16:03,720 Speaker 4: So what's interesting is that specifically that millipede shot was 1645 01:16:03,760 --> 01:16:07,280 Speaker 4: actually the suggestion of writer Whyalan Green. Are you guys 1646 01:16:07,280 --> 01:16:09,760 Speaker 4: familiar with his credits Willy and Green, writer of the 1647 01:16:09,760 --> 01:16:12,840 Speaker 4: Wild Bunch and Sorcerer. So he had worked on the 1648 01:16:12,840 --> 01:16:16,360 Speaker 4: Hellstrom Chronicle with mel Stewart, and when mel Stewart called him, 1649 01:16:16,400 --> 01:16:18,280 Speaker 4: He's like, I need some grotesque imagery to make this 1650 01:16:18,400 --> 01:16:20,600 Speaker 4: nightmare sequence. He said, what about? He actually pitched a 1651 01:16:20,600 --> 01:16:23,120 Speaker 4: centipede going across a person's face, and that's actually Whyalen 1652 01:16:23,200 --> 01:16:25,680 Speaker 4: Green's face with the millipede going across it. 1653 01:16:25,800 --> 01:16:26,400 Speaker 1: Oh interesting. 1654 01:16:26,600 --> 01:16:28,760 Speaker 4: Some of the kids actually thought gene Wilder had gone 1655 01:16:28,760 --> 01:16:31,879 Speaker 4: insane while shooting that scene. His performance was so convincing. 1656 01:16:32,040 --> 01:16:35,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, the images are nothing compared to what gene Wilder 1657 01:16:35,080 --> 01:16:37,200 Speaker 1: is doing. Yeah, he's so scary in that scene. 1658 01:16:37,320 --> 01:16:40,360 Speaker 3: Yeah, that's the thing, Like I actually remember him more 1659 01:16:40,360 --> 01:16:42,000 Speaker 3: in that than I do the images. 1660 01:16:42,320 --> 01:16:44,960 Speaker 4: You really think, maybe we're going to hell right now 1661 01:16:45,000 --> 01:16:47,080 Speaker 4: with this guy, and it's a big difference I think 1662 01:16:47,120 --> 01:16:49,720 Speaker 4: between him and the depth performance as well. But we 1663 01:16:49,720 --> 01:16:51,920 Speaker 4: should mention too that the oompa loompas I think had 1664 01:16:51,920 --> 01:16:54,320 Speaker 4: a really hard time on this project as well. This 1665 01:16:54,400 --> 01:16:56,960 Speaker 4: was an international cast. Rusty Goff later said, you know, 1666 01:16:57,000 --> 01:16:59,559 Speaker 4: there were basically five little people working in the business 1667 01:16:59,560 --> 01:17:01,719 Speaker 4: in London at the time, so they expanded their search 1668 01:17:01,760 --> 01:17:03,960 Speaker 4: to you know, Munich and Malta and Turkey, and so 1669 01:17:04,000 --> 01:17:06,200 Speaker 4: they had ten actors whose age ranges were from their 1670 01:17:06,200 --> 01:17:08,680 Speaker 4: twenties to their seventies, and the lead role went to 1671 01:17:08,720 --> 01:17:11,519 Speaker 4: English actor Rusty Goff, and Stuart hired him because he'd 1672 01:17:11,520 --> 01:17:13,799 Speaker 4: performed Shakespeare, but he'd never been in a movie before. 1673 01:17:13,880 --> 01:17:15,960 Speaker 4: This was his first film. They had to learn these 1674 01:17:16,040 --> 01:17:18,720 Speaker 4: dance numbers, which again some of these actors are, you know, 1675 01:17:18,880 --> 01:17:22,240 Speaker 4: seventy years old. This is very physically demanding, and there's 1676 01:17:22,280 --> 01:17:24,800 Speaker 4: also a language barrier. They don't all speak English, so 1677 01:17:24,800 --> 01:17:27,240 Speaker 4: Stuart's directing them with hand signals and they have to 1678 01:17:27,320 --> 01:17:30,240 Speaker 4: lip sync English words for all of these songs. So 1679 01:17:30,280 --> 01:17:33,120 Speaker 4: I just want to really emphasize the difficulty that they 1680 01:17:33,120 --> 01:17:43,840 Speaker 4: were pulling off here. So that production is heading into 1681 01:17:43,840 --> 01:17:46,559 Speaker 4: its final stretch. And the problem that Stuart has is 1682 01:17:46,600 --> 01:17:49,160 Speaker 4: that the ending of the movie that Doll has written 1683 01:17:49,680 --> 01:17:52,599 Speaker 4: isn't great. The ending of the movie is Grandpa Joe 1684 01:17:52,920 --> 01:17:56,600 Speaker 4: saying Yippy. That's the last line of the movie in 1685 01:17:56,760 --> 01:17:59,720 Speaker 4: Roll dolls script. And Mel Stewart hates it. So he 1686 01:17:59,800 --> 01:18:02,240 Speaker 4: called for David Seltzer and the production says David Seltz 1687 01:18:02,320 --> 01:18:04,920 Speaker 4: has gone home. He says what David Selter had been 1688 01:18:04,920 --> 01:18:07,439 Speaker 4: working twenty hour days for a month. So he left 1689 01:18:07,439 --> 01:18:09,519 Speaker 4: the production and went to a log cabin near a 1690 01:18:09,600 --> 01:18:12,120 Speaker 4: lake in Maine. He was about to go fly fishing 1691 01:18:12,280 --> 01:18:14,080 Speaker 4: and the phone rings. And by phone, I mean there 1692 01:18:14,160 --> 01:18:16,800 Speaker 4: is one pay phone and if it rings, whoever's near 1693 01:18:16,840 --> 01:18:18,799 Speaker 4: it is supposed to answer and then take a message 1694 01:18:18,800 --> 01:18:21,040 Speaker 4: for whoever it's for. He goes and answers the phone 1695 01:18:21,320 --> 01:18:23,719 Speaker 4: and it's the worst call ever. It's Mel Stuart calling 1696 01:18:23,720 --> 01:18:25,160 Speaker 4: from Munich. Here's Stuart. 1697 01:18:25,280 --> 01:18:25,840 Speaker 6: What are you doing? 1698 01:18:26,120 --> 01:18:26,640 Speaker 4: Seltzer? 1699 01:18:26,840 --> 01:18:29,080 Speaker 6: I'm on vacation. I know you're on vacation, but I'll 1700 01:18:29,080 --> 01:18:31,040 Speaker 6: tell you what. I'm here and there are dozens of 1701 01:18:31,040 --> 01:18:32,360 Speaker 6: people and we're spending a lot of money, and we 1702 01:18:32,400 --> 01:18:33,880 Speaker 6: can't finish the film, and I want the end line 1703 01:18:33,920 --> 01:18:37,040 Speaker 6: of this picture. Seltzer, well, when do you want it now? 1704 01:18:37,160 --> 01:18:39,160 Speaker 6: I want it now, like in the song I want 1705 01:18:39,200 --> 01:18:40,320 Speaker 6: it now, I want it now. 1706 01:18:41,400 --> 01:18:44,960 Speaker 4: Apparently Stuart gave Seltzer five minutes. Seltzer came back and 1707 01:18:44,960 --> 01:18:47,120 Speaker 4: he said, Mel, this is really lame, but how about this. 1708 01:18:47,200 --> 01:18:49,040 Speaker 4: They go up into their spacecraft looking down on the 1709 01:18:49,120 --> 01:18:51,320 Speaker 4: chocolate factory and Willy Wank is telling Charlie all the 1710 01:18:51,320 --> 01:18:52,880 Speaker 4: wonderful things he's going to have, and he looks at 1711 01:18:52,960 --> 01:18:55,080 Speaker 4: him very seriously, and he says, but Charlie, do you 1712 01:18:55,120 --> 01:18:56,800 Speaker 4: know what happened to the man who got everything he 1713 01:18:56,840 --> 01:18:59,599 Speaker 4: always wanted? And Charlie fearfully says what And he says 1714 01:18:59,640 --> 01:19:02,839 Speaker 4: he lived happily ever after. And there's a long pause 1715 01:19:03,040 --> 01:19:05,719 Speaker 4: and David Seltzer goes, mel are you there, and Stewart 1716 01:19:05,760 --> 01:19:08,280 Speaker 4: just goes, fantastic. That's it, And that's how you got 1717 01:19:08,280 --> 01:19:10,240 Speaker 4: the end of the movie. It's something that David Seltzer 1718 01:19:10,280 --> 01:19:12,719 Speaker 4: came up with in five minutes. And I'm so curious 1719 01:19:12,720 --> 01:19:15,160 Speaker 4: to you guys have any interpretation. I have no idea 1720 01:19:15,240 --> 01:19:17,320 Speaker 4: what to think of those last lines of this movie. 1721 01:19:17,360 --> 01:19:19,800 Speaker 4: I find them like weirdly confusing. Is it intended to 1722 01:19:19,800 --> 01:19:22,720 Speaker 4: be sinister? Is it intended to be reassuring? You know 1723 01:19:22,760 --> 01:19:24,600 Speaker 4: what I'm saying. I'm just like not sure what to 1724 01:19:24,680 --> 01:19:25,640 Speaker 4: take with it. 1725 01:19:25,640 --> 01:19:28,719 Speaker 3: It played very sinister to me, I'll be honest, because 1726 01:19:28,760 --> 01:19:31,519 Speaker 3: it's such a weird tonal shift for him to take 1727 01:19:31,560 --> 01:19:34,599 Speaker 3: at that point, and the way that Gene Wilder plays 1728 01:19:34,600 --> 01:19:39,240 Speaker 3: it also feels like manically sincere I don't know, Aaron, 1729 01:19:39,280 --> 01:19:39,880 Speaker 3: what did you think? 1730 01:19:40,080 --> 01:19:42,080 Speaker 1: I mean? I think it sort of reinforces the idea 1731 01:19:42,120 --> 01:19:44,000 Speaker 1: that they think of this as a fairy tale, and 1732 01:19:44,080 --> 01:19:47,040 Speaker 1: so that's sort of a classic way to end a fairytale, 1733 01:19:47,080 --> 01:19:51,000 Speaker 1: right happily ever after, but with a little bit of undermining, which, yeah, 1734 01:19:51,080 --> 01:19:52,280 Speaker 1: so I think it works well. 1735 01:19:52,560 --> 01:19:55,320 Speaker 4: So they go into post production, and to be clear, 1736 01:19:55,360 --> 01:19:57,160 Speaker 4: they have not shot all of the Search for the 1737 01:19:57,160 --> 01:20:00,120 Speaker 4: Golden Ticket scenes. They've really just shot the Munich portion. 1738 01:20:00,160 --> 01:20:00,799 Speaker 1: Of this movie. 1739 01:20:00,880 --> 01:20:03,519 Speaker 4: They start editing the movie. David Seltzer comes back on 1740 01:20:03,600 --> 01:20:06,120 Speaker 4: to write some more of those you know, Search for 1741 01:20:06,160 --> 01:20:08,720 Speaker 4: the Golden Ticket scenes, and there are two scenes that 1742 01:20:08,760 --> 01:20:11,160 Speaker 4: Stuart loved that audiences didn't. 1743 01:20:11,439 --> 01:20:12,040 Speaker 1: One of them. 1744 01:20:11,960 --> 01:20:14,639 Speaker 4: Stayed in the movie, and this is the Argentinian man 1745 01:20:14,680 --> 01:20:17,120 Speaker 4: who cheats and finds the fifth ticket, right, this is 1746 01:20:17,160 --> 01:20:18,640 Speaker 4: not in the book. In the book, there is a 1747 01:20:18,720 --> 01:20:23,040 Speaker 4: Russian character very early on briefly mentioned who apparently falsified 1748 01:20:23,040 --> 01:20:25,360 Speaker 4: finding a ticket the photograph. Do you guys know who 1749 01:20:25,360 --> 01:20:27,559 Speaker 4: the photograph is of? When they played on the news 1750 01:20:27,640 --> 01:20:29,920 Speaker 4: this Argentinian man in the movie, I did not know this. 1751 01:20:30,080 --> 01:20:33,559 Speaker 4: That is Martin Borman, who was Hitler's aid in his 1752 01:20:33,680 --> 01:20:37,719 Speaker 4: final days, who had escaped to Paraguay, according to legend, 1753 01:20:37,880 --> 01:20:39,800 Speaker 4: And they thought it would be a funny joke that like, 1754 01:20:39,840 --> 01:20:43,559 Speaker 4: what if a secret Nazi found the Golden Ticket? Whoa 1755 01:20:44,160 --> 01:20:48,240 Speaker 4: Nobody understood it? Nobody ever understood it. No, Stuart was like, 1756 01:20:48,360 --> 01:20:51,360 Speaker 4: nobody understood it at all. And the scene that did 1757 01:20:51,400 --> 01:20:53,960 Speaker 4: get cut that Stuart loved was the scene with the 1758 01:20:54,000 --> 01:20:56,840 Speaker 4: Guru on the Holy Mountain. So they shot that scene 1759 01:20:57,080 --> 01:20:59,800 Speaker 4: and they played the test screening and nobody laughed, and 1760 01:21:00,080 --> 01:21:02,920 Speaker 4: Stuart was stunned. He thought this joke was amazing. So 1761 01:21:03,000 --> 01:21:05,240 Speaker 4: he invites the psychologist's friends to the next screening to 1762 01:21:05,240 --> 01:21:07,320 Speaker 4: help him understand. And do you guys have any guesses 1763 01:21:07,360 --> 01:21:10,400 Speaker 4: as to why the psychologist believes nobody was laughing at 1764 01:21:10,439 --> 01:21:14,240 Speaker 4: that joke. No, he said, you don't understand mel. For 1765 01:21:14,280 --> 01:21:17,760 Speaker 4: a great many people, life is a disappointment and that 1766 01:21:17,840 --> 01:21:20,720 Speaker 4: it maybe just was too close to home for audiences. 1767 01:21:20,960 --> 01:21:23,400 Speaker 4: So Stuart cut the scene. So they hire a special 1768 01:21:23,439 --> 01:21:26,880 Speaker 4: effects company to come in to do the final Wonkavator 1769 01:21:26,920 --> 01:21:30,080 Speaker 4: shot in the air, and when they did this, it 1770 01:21:30,160 --> 01:21:34,200 Speaker 4: didn't include Grandpa Joe because the FX team thought that 1771 01:21:34,240 --> 01:21:36,519 Speaker 4: in the footage they had been sent, Jack Albertson was 1772 01:21:36,560 --> 01:21:39,240 Speaker 4: a crew member making adjustments on the set and not 1773 01:21:39,439 --> 01:21:42,080 Speaker 4: a character in the movie, so they had to redo 1774 01:21:42,120 --> 01:21:44,679 Speaker 4: the miniature with Jack Albertson inside of it. They also 1775 01:21:44,720 --> 01:21:47,720 Speaker 4: did them with the fizzy lifting drinks as well. That composition. 1776 01:21:48,040 --> 01:21:50,080 Speaker 4: So David Wolper has a movie in the can and 1777 01:21:50,120 --> 01:21:52,400 Speaker 4: he goes to Paramount and they get a seven year 1778 01:21:52,479 --> 01:21:54,680 Speaker 4: license on this movie. Revenues first going to go to 1779 01:21:54,760 --> 01:21:56,880 Speaker 4: Quaker Oats until they recoup the budget. Then the profits 1780 01:21:56,920 --> 01:21:59,600 Speaker 4: are split fifty to fifty. The Wonka Bar is just 1781 01:21:59,680 --> 01:22:03,200 Speaker 4: Quacker Wrotes and maybe this is part of the problem. 1782 01:22:03,360 --> 01:22:06,200 Speaker 4: Nobody seems to have a full stake in this movie. 1783 01:22:06,439 --> 01:22:08,479 Speaker 4: So like a lot of the children in rolls All's books, 1784 01:22:08,560 --> 01:22:10,840 Speaker 4: Willy Wanka on the chocolate Factory was kind of left 1785 01:22:10,840 --> 01:22:13,880 Speaker 4: to fend for itself. Paramount didn't have a strategy for 1786 01:22:13,960 --> 01:22:16,719 Speaker 4: selling it, according to Wolper. Stewart says that they vetoed 1787 01:22:16,760 --> 01:22:18,960 Speaker 4: an offer from Radio City Music Hall to showcase the 1788 01:22:18,960 --> 01:22:21,439 Speaker 4: film and give it a single city run, which may 1789 01:22:21,479 --> 01:22:23,280 Speaker 4: have built buzz that would be like you know, modern 1790 01:22:23,360 --> 01:22:25,920 Speaker 4: and modern film, maybe platforming a movie, And instead they 1791 01:22:25,960 --> 01:22:28,800 Speaker 4: just opt for general distribution, and Willy Wonka is lost 1792 01:22:28,840 --> 01:22:31,160 Speaker 4: in a crowd of summer films. So it premieres in 1793 01:22:31,240 --> 01:22:33,840 Speaker 4: Chicago on June twenty eighth, nineteen seventy one, and it's 1794 01:22:33,920 --> 01:22:38,200 Speaker 4: dominated across the summer by Love Story. Anybody remember Ryan. 1795 01:22:38,040 --> 01:22:39,840 Speaker 1: O'Neil kelligra I liked that movie. 1796 01:22:39,840 --> 01:22:41,559 Speaker 4: And there's a bunch of genre films that beat it 1797 01:22:41,600 --> 01:22:44,760 Speaker 4: out to like the Original Willard, the Andromeda Strain, the 1798 01:22:44,800 --> 01:22:49,280 Speaker 4: Omega man Clute. Oh yeah, now, maybe like Doll's Stories. 1799 01:22:49,280 --> 01:22:51,280 Speaker 4: It would do better in the UK. So it premieres 1800 01:22:51,280 --> 01:22:53,879 Speaker 4: in London in December of nineteen seventy one, and Princess 1801 01:22:53,920 --> 01:22:57,559 Speaker 4: Margaret attended quote an aid of the National Society for 1802 01:22:57,600 --> 01:23:00,519 Speaker 4: the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, which was a great 1803 01:23:00,560 --> 01:23:02,680 Speaker 4: look because a lot of people said this movie is 1804 01:23:02,760 --> 01:23:04,160 Speaker 4: so cruel to children. 1805 01:23:04,520 --> 01:23:05,439 Speaker 3: Yeah so. 1806 01:23:05,479 --> 01:23:08,599 Speaker 4: According to Mel Stewart, Willy Wonka was an enormous flop. 1807 01:23:08,680 --> 01:23:11,040 Speaker 4: It was number fifty three on the box office chart 1808 01:23:11,080 --> 01:23:14,360 Speaker 4: for nineteen seventy one. It grows roughly four million dollars domestically. 1809 01:23:14,520 --> 01:23:17,000 Speaker 4: It played for only three days in one theater in Munich, 1810 01:23:17,040 --> 01:23:19,479 Speaker 4: which sold out one night thanks to Michael Bowlner's family 1811 01:23:19,560 --> 01:23:22,479 Speaker 4: and friends. The reviews didn't help. Variety called it an 1812 01:23:22,479 --> 01:23:24,880 Speaker 4: ok musical fantasy. The New York Times said children have 1813 01:23:24,920 --> 01:23:26,760 Speaker 4: so few good films to claim as their own, Willy 1814 01:23:26,800 --> 01:23:28,799 Speaker 4: Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is not one of them. 1815 01:23:28,960 --> 01:23:31,760 Speaker 4: Gene Siskel gave it two stars, but Roger Ebert loved 1816 01:23:31,760 --> 01:23:35,439 Speaker 4: it four stars. He said It's delightful, funny, scary, exciting, 1817 01:23:35,600 --> 01:23:37,920 Speaker 4: and most of all, a genuine work of imagination. 1818 01:23:38,360 --> 01:23:38,840 Speaker 1: That's great. 1819 01:23:39,040 --> 01:23:41,800 Speaker 4: Well, the newspapers didn't care. They misspelled Willy and the 1820 01:23:41,840 --> 01:23:44,519 Speaker 4: Wonka Bar flopped. Aaron, what is one of the reasons 1821 01:23:44,560 --> 01:23:45,719 Speaker 4: that the Wonka Bar flopped? 1822 01:23:46,040 --> 01:23:49,320 Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm I'm sort of forgetting, But didn't they screwed 1823 01:23:49,360 --> 01:23:51,640 Speaker 1: up so that it melted in the package before it 1824 01:23:51,720 --> 01:23:52,120 Speaker 1: was opened. 1825 01:23:52,360 --> 01:23:55,000 Speaker 4: Yes, unlike Willy Wonka making ice cream that never melts. 1826 01:23:55,040 --> 01:23:59,200 Speaker 4: They made a chocolate bar that always melts, and it flopped. 1827 01:23:59,800 --> 01:24:02,360 Speaker 4: The Wonka Bar was a flop. Willy Wonka and the 1828 01:24:02,439 --> 01:24:05,280 Speaker 4: Chocolate Factory was a flop. Gene Wilder was convinced he 1829 01:24:05,360 --> 01:24:07,280 Speaker 4: was only going to be in flops. He'd been in 1830 01:24:07,320 --> 01:24:09,120 Speaker 4: a string of them, so he left for California to 1831 01:24:09,160 --> 01:24:11,280 Speaker 4: do Woody Allen's Everything You Always wanted to Know About 1832 01:24:11,320 --> 01:24:13,479 Speaker 4: Sex but were afraid to ask, hoping that it would 1833 01:24:13,520 --> 01:24:17,640 Speaker 4: resurrect his career. Dall would later disown the movie in 1834 01:24:17,880 --> 01:24:21,040 Speaker 4: many ways, and James and the Giant Peach would never 1835 01:24:21,080 --> 01:24:23,479 Speaker 4: be made with David Wolper, and in a weird twist 1836 01:24:23,479 --> 01:24:25,800 Speaker 4: of fate, it would eventually be what studio that would 1837 01:24:25,800 --> 01:24:27,000 Speaker 4: make James and the Giant Peach. 1838 01:24:27,479 --> 01:24:28,160 Speaker 3: Is it Disney? 1839 01:24:28,400 --> 01:24:31,519 Speaker 4: It's Disney, that's right now. Wilder was nominated for a 1840 01:24:31,520 --> 01:24:34,920 Speaker 4: Golden Globe for his performance is Willy Wonka and his 1841 01:24:34,960 --> 01:24:37,760 Speaker 4: career turned around swiftly. Willy Wonka was nominated for an 1842 01:24:37,760 --> 01:24:41,120 Speaker 4: Oscar Song score by Leslie Brickis and Anthony Newley. It 1843 01:24:41,240 --> 01:24:43,160 Speaker 4: lost to Fiddler on the Roof. 1844 01:24:43,240 --> 01:24:47,479 Speaker 3: Okay, but for whatever reason, Yeah, that's an amazing score. 1845 01:24:48,160 --> 01:24:52,400 Speaker 4: For whatever reason, the movie stuck around, and especially after 1846 01:24:52,439 --> 01:24:55,880 Speaker 4: being released on VHS, it became a cult hit. I 1847 01:24:55,880 --> 01:24:58,479 Speaker 4: think some people think, you know, it was when Wilder 1848 01:24:58,520 --> 01:25:01,120 Speaker 4: became a superstar that people st going back to his 1849 01:25:01,240 --> 01:25:03,919 Speaker 4: earlier work. Some people think that it was an audience 1850 01:25:03,960 --> 01:25:07,679 Speaker 4: that grew into this type of material that was meant 1851 01:25:07,840 --> 01:25:10,080 Speaker 4: to be somewhat edgy for children. Lizzie and I talked 1852 01:25:10,080 --> 01:25:13,040 Speaker 4: about this recently. Arin with movies like Labyrinth and The 1853 01:25:13,120 --> 01:25:16,120 Speaker 4: Dark Crystal, even something like Goonies or Temple of Doom, 1854 01:25:16,160 --> 01:25:17,720 Speaker 4: there was kind of a darkness to a lot of 1855 01:25:17,720 --> 01:25:20,040 Speaker 4: the children's stuff made in the eighties and especially in 1856 01:25:20,080 --> 01:25:22,519 Speaker 4: the nineties that was I think that wouldn't quite have 1857 01:25:22,600 --> 01:25:24,880 Speaker 4: fit the seventies in quite the same way. But I 1858 01:25:24,920 --> 01:25:27,040 Speaker 4: think part of it is that over time we've actually 1859 01:25:27,080 --> 01:25:29,720 Speaker 4: grown to appreciate the movie for what it is and 1860 01:25:29,760 --> 01:25:32,759 Speaker 4: for its lack of polish, and not hold it against 1861 01:25:32,760 --> 01:25:34,519 Speaker 4: the movie. So I would imagine if a movie's coming 1862 01:25:34,520 --> 01:25:36,400 Speaker 4: out in theaters and you go see it and it 1863 01:25:36,439 --> 01:25:38,479 Speaker 4: feels a little janky, and it doesn't feel as big 1864 01:25:38,560 --> 01:25:41,000 Speaker 4: or imaginative as the book that you've read, it might 1865 01:25:41,000 --> 01:25:43,720 Speaker 4: feel like a disappointment. Whereas if you stumbled across this 1866 01:25:43,800 --> 01:25:46,120 Speaker 4: movie on TV or on VHS and you just see 1867 01:25:46,120 --> 01:25:48,840 Speaker 4: Gene Wilder's unhitched performance and it's clear that they just 1868 01:25:49,000 --> 01:25:52,320 Speaker 4: threw themselves headlong into this without actually having the resources 1869 01:25:52,320 --> 01:25:54,600 Speaker 4: to make it, that maybe that would be endearing as 1870 01:25:54,640 --> 01:25:56,680 Speaker 4: opposed to a turnoff. But I'm really curious what you 1871 01:25:56,680 --> 01:25:57,200 Speaker 4: guys think. 1872 01:25:57,520 --> 01:25:59,320 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I don't think it 1873 01:25:59,360 --> 01:26:01,920 Speaker 1: needs all those I think it's just actually a really 1874 01:26:01,920 --> 01:26:04,720 Speaker 1: good movie. I think Gene Wilder, yes, he gives one 1875 01:26:04,720 --> 01:26:07,160 Speaker 1: of the all time great performances. It's just so confident. 1876 01:26:07,400 --> 01:26:09,560 Speaker 1: I love how much it feels like he's about to 1877 01:26:09,600 --> 01:26:11,960 Speaker 1: break the fourth wall, like he's almost going to talk 1878 01:26:12,000 --> 01:26:15,880 Speaker 1: directly to the audience into camera, but never quite does, 1879 01:26:15,960 --> 01:26:18,080 Speaker 1: and so you're you're kind of on edge every time 1880 01:26:18,120 --> 01:26:20,920 Speaker 1: he opens his mouth. I also think the structure makes 1881 01:26:21,080 --> 01:26:23,320 Speaker 1: absolutely no sense. I mean, it's so weird that it 1882 01:26:23,360 --> 01:26:26,320 Speaker 1: starts off as Charlie's movie, and it's like any great 1883 01:26:26,400 --> 01:26:28,800 Speaker 1: myth of the hero, where he's going to go on 1884 01:26:28,880 --> 01:26:33,040 Speaker 1: an adventure and triumph. But as soon as Act one ends, 1885 01:26:33,240 --> 01:26:36,200 Speaker 1: we are now in Willy Wonka's point of view, and 1886 01:26:36,240 --> 01:26:39,200 Speaker 1: it's Willy Wonka who actually does the changing. Charlie doesn't 1887 01:26:39,240 --> 01:26:41,360 Speaker 1: change at all. When Charlie wins at the end by 1888 01:26:41,360 --> 01:26:45,040 Speaker 1: giving the Gobstopper to Willy Wonka and showing that he's 1889 01:26:45,040 --> 01:26:46,880 Speaker 1: not going to betray him. That's something Charlie would have 1890 01:26:46,920 --> 01:26:48,680 Speaker 1: done in the first five minutes of the movie. It's 1891 01:26:48,720 --> 01:26:51,639 Speaker 1: Willy Wonka who becomes a better man through the course 1892 01:26:51,680 --> 01:26:54,320 Speaker 1: of the movie, which is a really kind of cool, 1893 01:26:54,640 --> 01:26:57,960 Speaker 1: strange structure that I can't remember seeing before. So no. 1894 01:26:58,280 --> 01:27:01,200 Speaker 1: I also I love slug Worth. I loved all of 1895 01:27:01,240 --> 01:27:05,200 Speaker 1: those little interludes of seeing each person find the golden ticket. 1896 01:27:05,439 --> 01:27:08,400 Speaker 1: I thought those were terrific. Yeah, the movie has so 1897 01:27:09,080 --> 01:27:11,160 Speaker 1: much going for it. I guess I'm not shocked that 1898 01:27:11,200 --> 01:27:13,120 Speaker 1: it wasn't a hit when it came out, just because 1899 01:27:13,160 --> 01:27:17,960 Speaker 1: it was so probably unexpected, the darkness and specifically Wilder's performance. 1900 01:27:18,120 --> 01:27:20,479 Speaker 1: But yeah, it doesn't surprise me at all that it's 1901 01:27:20,520 --> 01:27:22,000 Speaker 1: become a classic. 1902 01:27:22,520 --> 01:27:26,040 Speaker 3: Yeah. I think that this movie does what the best 1903 01:27:26,080 --> 01:27:29,599 Speaker 3: and most enduring quote unquote kids movies do, which is 1904 01:27:29,640 --> 01:27:32,559 Speaker 3: that it's very entertaining to watch as a kid. I 1905 01:27:32,560 --> 01:27:34,960 Speaker 3: think that the weird structure, to your point, Aaron, actually 1906 01:27:35,000 --> 01:27:37,599 Speaker 3: helps with that there's something about this that is very 1907 01:27:37,640 --> 01:27:41,000 Speaker 3: sort of childlike, the journey that you're going on, and 1908 01:27:41,320 --> 01:27:43,320 Speaker 3: you get to know Charlie, you get to like him, 1909 01:27:43,479 --> 01:27:45,680 Speaker 3: and as a kid, then you're kind of along for 1910 01:27:45,760 --> 01:27:48,679 Speaker 3: the ride once he shows up at the factory, which 1911 01:27:48,680 --> 01:27:50,599 Speaker 3: I think is very enjoyable as a kid. But then 1912 01:27:50,840 --> 01:27:55,160 Speaker 3: this movie is an entirely different movie for adults. And 1913 01:27:55,240 --> 01:27:57,800 Speaker 3: so it's one of those movies where kids will watch it, 1914 01:27:57,840 --> 01:28:00,360 Speaker 3: they will be entertained, they enjoy it, and then adults 1915 01:28:00,400 --> 01:28:03,839 Speaker 3: will also watch it and be you know, horrified, be laughing, 1916 01:28:04,000 --> 01:28:07,400 Speaker 3: be confused, be entertained. It is genuinely something that I 1917 01:28:07,400 --> 01:28:10,720 Speaker 3: think everyone of every age can take something out of 1918 01:28:10,760 --> 01:28:13,519 Speaker 3: this movie. That's very hard to do, and I think 1919 01:28:13,560 --> 01:28:15,759 Speaker 3: a lot of the times, as we've seen on this podcast, 1920 01:28:15,840 --> 01:28:18,719 Speaker 3: those movies that achieve that don't necessarily do that well 1921 01:28:18,800 --> 01:28:21,040 Speaker 3: at the box office. Some of them do, but especially 1922 01:28:21,040 --> 01:28:23,080 Speaker 3: when they're darker and they're like kind of hard to 1923 01:28:23,160 --> 01:28:25,360 Speaker 3: pin down in that way, I feel like they end 1924 01:28:25,439 --> 01:28:27,360 Speaker 3: up having much longer legs. 1925 01:28:27,840 --> 01:28:28,360 Speaker 1: Yeah. 1926 01:28:28,400 --> 01:28:32,040 Speaker 4: Well, unfortunately, Quaker Oats did not participate in the long 1927 01:28:32,160 --> 01:28:35,639 Speaker 4: term financial success of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. 1928 01:28:35,680 --> 01:28:38,879 Speaker 4: So in nineteen seventy seven, David Wolper sold his company 1929 01:28:39,160 --> 01:28:42,519 Speaker 4: to Warner Brothers, and he convinced Quaker Oats to sell 1930 01:28:42,560 --> 01:28:44,840 Speaker 4: its fifty percent stake in the movie for five hundred 1931 01:28:44,880 --> 01:28:47,479 Speaker 4: thousand dollars. I'm guessing that Warner Brothers didn't just want 1932 01:28:47,479 --> 01:28:49,680 Speaker 4: fifty percent of that movie. I'm guessing if they were 1933 01:28:49,720 --> 01:28:52,080 Speaker 4: going to buy Wolper's company, they wanted everything out right. 1934 01:28:52,360 --> 01:28:55,320 Speaker 4: Warner Brothers then turned around and made a fortune on 1935 01:28:55,360 --> 01:28:58,200 Speaker 4: the VHS of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. In fact, 1936 01:28:58,280 --> 01:29:00,880 Speaker 4: on its twenty fifth anniversary, they rely it in theaters, 1937 01:29:00,880 --> 01:29:02,720 Speaker 4: and then they did a new release of the home 1938 01:29:02,800 --> 01:29:05,839 Speaker 4: video vhs at that point. Now I should mention Ken Mason, 1939 01:29:05,880 --> 01:29:08,400 Speaker 4: who had been the Quaker Oats representative who Wolper was 1940 01:29:08,439 --> 01:29:10,400 Speaker 4: working it with at the time. It doesn't seem like 1941 01:29:10,400 --> 01:29:12,880 Speaker 4: he minded. He'd quit Quaker Oats after a brief stint 1942 01:29:12,920 --> 01:29:15,720 Speaker 4: as president and COO in the mid nineteen seventies, and 1943 01:29:15,760 --> 01:29:18,439 Speaker 4: he did spend his later years writing passionately about the 1944 01:29:18,439 --> 01:29:22,240 Speaker 4: effects of advertising, corporations and television on children in kind 1945 01:29:22,240 --> 01:29:24,320 Speaker 4: of an odd Dolly in turn. Now, some of the 1946 01:29:24,400 --> 01:29:27,160 Speaker 4: child actors continued working, but they all eventually left the 1947 01:29:27,200 --> 01:29:30,840 Speaker 4: movie industry, and I will say, despite candidly what seemed 1948 01:29:30,880 --> 01:29:33,479 Speaker 4: like very unsafe conditions on this set, it doesn't seem 1949 01:29:33,520 --> 01:29:35,880 Speaker 4: like anyone was hurt, and they all speak fondly of 1950 01:29:35,920 --> 01:29:39,360 Speaker 4: their adult co stars and their experiences on this movie. 1951 01:29:39,439 --> 01:29:41,960 Speaker 4: Roll Dahl died in nineteen ninety. This was a few 1952 01:29:42,000 --> 01:29:46,080 Speaker 4: years after giving an interview that revealed a virulent anti 1953 01:29:46,080 --> 01:29:48,200 Speaker 4: Semitic streak. If you want to learn more about that, 1954 01:29:48,360 --> 01:29:51,519 Speaker 4: please listen to Aaron's incredible coverage, and I believe the 1955 01:29:51,560 --> 01:29:55,599 Speaker 4: seventh episode of his podcast, The Secret World of Roll Dahl. 1956 01:29:56,000 --> 01:29:59,280 Speaker 4: It's a really complicated history, and I think especially then 1957 01:29:59,439 --> 01:30:02,240 Speaker 4: in the eighth and ninth episodes, when you discuss the 1958 01:30:02,240 --> 01:30:05,080 Speaker 4: fans dilemma and how do we engage with work created 1959 01:30:05,120 --> 01:30:08,000 Speaker 4: by people who have moral failings or believe things that 1960 01:30:08,000 --> 01:30:10,880 Speaker 4: we do not agree with. It's a really wonderful conversation 1961 01:30:11,040 --> 01:30:13,800 Speaker 4: and I felt very illuminating as we talk on this 1962 01:30:13,840 --> 01:30:17,120 Speaker 4: podcast about directors you know, and who have problematic histories 1963 01:30:17,120 --> 01:30:17,559 Speaker 4: and whatnot. 1964 01:30:17,800 --> 01:30:19,400 Speaker 1: Yeah. Thanks, I'm so glad. Yeah. 1965 01:30:19,560 --> 01:30:22,519 Speaker 4: Roldall's works were purchased by Netflix in twenty twenty one 1966 01:30:22,760 --> 01:30:26,679 Speaker 4: for a reported one billion dollars, and at that time 1967 01:30:26,720 --> 01:30:29,280 Speaker 4: his family did issue an apology for his anti Semitic 1968 01:30:29,360 --> 01:30:32,280 Speaker 4: remarks that remains online that you can go see. And 1969 01:30:32,360 --> 01:30:35,360 Speaker 4: of course, most recently his works have been adapted by 1970 01:30:35,600 --> 01:30:39,160 Speaker 4: I think, perhaps most successfully Wes Anderson, who seems to 1971 01:30:39,200 --> 01:30:42,680 Speaker 4: be an oddly perfect fit for the Dollyan's sensibilities and 1972 01:30:42,720 --> 01:30:45,400 Speaker 4: seems to be able to give it a quick, witted life. 1973 01:30:45,439 --> 01:30:49,200 Speaker 4: So Gene Wilder gives I think Willy Wonka the energy 1974 01:30:49,200 --> 01:30:51,720 Speaker 4: that he needs to exist as a character, and I 1975 01:30:51,760 --> 01:30:54,920 Speaker 4: feel that that's completely absent from Johnny Depp's interpretation of 1976 01:30:54,920 --> 01:30:57,040 Speaker 4: the character in two thousand and five, even though Burton 1977 01:30:57,080 --> 01:30:59,240 Speaker 4: seems like an obvious fit, and Wes Anderson seems like 1978 01:30:59,280 --> 01:31:02,120 Speaker 4: a great mix of the two with he's an incredibly 1979 01:31:02,120 --> 01:31:04,760 Speaker 4: heightened visual stylist, but he also has that kind of 1980 01:31:04,840 --> 01:31:07,760 Speaker 4: energy and warmth that you need to bring Doll's kind 1981 01:31:07,760 --> 01:31:11,760 Speaker 4: of dry British sensibilities to life. Now let's end with 1982 01:31:11,880 --> 01:31:14,439 Speaker 4: Gene Wilder, because in two thousand and two he said, 1983 01:31:14,479 --> 01:31:17,080 Speaker 4: I don't want my gravestone to say Willy Wonka lies year, 1984 01:31:17,240 --> 01:31:20,680 Speaker 4: Doctor Frankenstein. I wouldn't mind. And Gene Wilder did die 1985 01:31:20,680 --> 01:31:23,360 Speaker 4: in twenty sixteen, and as one of his biographers put it, 1986 01:31:23,439 --> 01:31:27,080 Speaker 4: every single obituary highlighted Willy Wonka. And I did pull 1987 01:31:27,160 --> 01:31:29,840 Speaker 4: up the New York Times obituary, which did say star 1988 01:31:30,000 --> 01:31:34,120 Speaker 4: of Willy Wonka and young Frankenstein. And so I just 1989 01:31:34,160 --> 01:31:36,000 Speaker 4: do think it's funny that you do not get to 1990 01:31:36,160 --> 01:31:38,920 Speaker 4: choose the thing that you are remembered for. And in 1991 01:31:38,960 --> 01:31:42,240 Speaker 4: a sense, like Roal Dahl, who resisted children's stories for 1992 01:31:42,280 --> 01:31:45,559 Speaker 4: so long and Mel Stewart who resisted making a children's movie, 1993 01:31:45,680 --> 01:31:48,880 Speaker 4: Gene Wilder two was trapped in the legacy of Willy 1994 01:31:48,920 --> 01:31:52,120 Speaker 4: Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. So, Aaron, we end with 1995 01:31:52,160 --> 01:31:54,360 Speaker 4: a segment called what went Right, where we pick at 1996 01:31:54,479 --> 01:31:56,240 Speaker 4: least you know one thing from the movie that for 1997 01:31:56,320 --> 01:31:59,120 Speaker 4: us in particular went right when so much often goes wrong. 1998 01:31:59,280 --> 01:32:01,599 Speaker 4: And perhaps you would like to go first, what went 1999 01:32:01,680 --> 01:32:03,639 Speaker 4: right on Willy Wonka on the Chocolate Factory. 2000 01:32:03,960 --> 01:32:06,200 Speaker 3: I'm going to say what went right? Here is the 2001 01:32:06,320 --> 01:32:09,400 Speaker 3: unsung hero of the screenplay. It sounds like David Seltzer. 2002 01:32:09,560 --> 01:32:09,760 Speaker 2: You know. 2003 01:32:09,960 --> 01:32:13,680 Speaker 3: The changes that you said that he made are pretty 2004 01:32:13,680 --> 01:32:17,600 Speaker 3: major structural changes to this that make it have some 2005 01:32:18,080 --> 01:32:21,200 Speaker 3: kind of story arc. Without that, it really doesn't. I mean, 2006 01:32:21,200 --> 01:32:24,200 Speaker 3: that's amazing. I didn't know that those changes were not 2007 01:32:24,400 --> 01:32:27,360 Speaker 3: original to roll Doll, So I have to give it 2008 01:32:27,400 --> 01:32:29,360 Speaker 3: to him. He was in an impossible position and he 2009 01:32:29,360 --> 01:32:31,439 Speaker 3: seems to have done a pretty incredible job here. 2010 01:32:31,800 --> 01:32:36,120 Speaker 4: I agree. I think he made subtle yet crucial changes, 2011 01:32:36,160 --> 01:32:38,559 Speaker 4: and those are the hardest. And Aaron, your screen writer, 2012 01:32:38,680 --> 01:32:40,679 Speaker 4: you can speak to this. I mean, I think it's 2013 01:32:40,760 --> 01:32:44,400 Speaker 4: really hard not to try to reconceptualize something from the 2014 01:32:44,439 --> 01:32:46,720 Speaker 4: ground up, sort of structurally, and to be able to 2015 01:32:46,760 --> 01:32:49,800 Speaker 4: go in surgically and say I'm just going to add this, this, 2016 01:32:49,880 --> 01:32:52,040 Speaker 4: and this and that's going to give it a completely 2017 01:32:52,040 --> 01:32:53,800 Speaker 4: new valance is very impressive. 2018 01:32:53,960 --> 01:32:56,080 Speaker 1: And to do that while they're shooting. Yeah. Yeah, so 2019 01:32:56,120 --> 01:32:58,599 Speaker 1: it's you know, thirty thousand dollars an hour or whatever, 2020 01:32:59,080 --> 01:33:00,920 Speaker 1: and he's got a come up with all of these 2021 01:33:00,920 --> 01:33:03,360 Speaker 1: solutions on the fly. Yeah, that's an incredibly hard job. 2022 01:33:03,640 --> 01:33:04,519 Speaker 4: Aaron, how about you. 2023 01:33:05,040 --> 01:33:07,280 Speaker 1: I'm going to give it to Mel Stewart. I was 2024 01:33:07,360 --> 01:33:10,200 Speaker 1: kind of shocked after watching the movie looking up the director, 2025 01:33:10,360 --> 01:33:12,559 Speaker 1: and I had never seen another of his movies. I've 2026 01:33:12,560 --> 01:33:15,240 Speaker 1: almost ever heard of another of his movies, which is 2027 01:33:15,360 --> 01:33:18,639 Speaker 1: bizarre because this is actually a really good directing job. 2028 01:33:18,720 --> 01:33:21,160 Speaker 1: This is a hard directing job. The movie goes through 2029 01:33:21,200 --> 01:33:24,400 Speaker 1: so many different tones. It easily could have fallen apart. 2030 01:33:24,479 --> 01:33:26,320 Speaker 1: It could have fallen into horror, It could have fallen 2031 01:33:26,400 --> 01:33:29,080 Speaker 1: into fantasy, it could have fallen into just a sacering 2032 01:33:29,200 --> 01:33:32,679 Speaker 1: kids movie. But he's balancing all of those different kinds 2033 01:33:32,720 --> 01:33:35,799 Speaker 1: of tones, which is, you know, really really, really difficult. 2034 01:33:35,880 --> 01:33:39,040 Speaker 1: So I'm curious about mel Stewart. I don't quite understand. 2035 01:33:39,080 --> 01:33:40,960 Speaker 1: I mean, the movie you know obviously was a flop, 2036 01:33:41,000 --> 01:33:44,200 Speaker 1: and so that's probably why he you know, didn't work again, 2037 01:33:44,439 --> 01:33:46,680 Speaker 1: you know, outside of the documentary world. But I was 2038 01:33:46,720 --> 01:33:49,200 Speaker 1: really surprised that he hasn't directed a handful of my 2039 01:33:49,280 --> 01:33:50,160 Speaker 1: other favorite movies. 2040 01:33:50,439 --> 01:33:54,360 Speaker 4: I wonder how much he wanted to direct narrative film 2041 01:33:54,400 --> 01:33:56,439 Speaker 4: in the sense that it seems like he would get 2042 01:33:56,479 --> 01:33:59,760 Speaker 4: frustrated with the pace and with working with actors based 2043 01:33:59,800 --> 01:34:01,760 Speaker 4: on the stories that I read, And it seems like 2044 01:34:01,800 --> 01:34:03,840 Speaker 4: with documentary there's a lot more A lot of the 2045 01:34:03,880 --> 01:34:07,639 Speaker 4: documentaries he did were working with existing footage and then 2046 01:34:07,920 --> 01:34:10,400 Speaker 4: adding in talking heads, you know what I mean, and 2047 01:34:10,520 --> 01:34:12,439 Speaker 4: narration and whatnot, And so I wonder if there was 2048 01:34:12,479 --> 01:34:15,120 Speaker 4: just a level of control with documentary that was preferable 2049 01:34:15,120 --> 01:34:18,439 Speaker 4: to him creatively. I agree, you know, obviously, with that flop, 2050 01:34:18,479 --> 01:34:20,320 Speaker 4: and it's made outside of the studio system. I'm sure 2051 01:34:20,360 --> 01:34:23,080 Speaker 4: that Hollywood wasn't, you know, knocking down his door trying 2052 01:34:23,080 --> 01:34:25,080 Speaker 4: to get him to direct another movie. But you would 2053 01:34:25,080 --> 01:34:27,519 Speaker 4: imagine that he could have gotten another movie made. But 2054 01:34:27,560 --> 01:34:29,799 Speaker 4: I agree he did an amazing job with the movie. 2055 01:34:29,960 --> 01:34:32,679 Speaker 4: I'm gonna give mine, well, so somebody should give those 2056 01:34:32,680 --> 01:34:33,840 Speaker 4: to Gene Wilder. 2057 01:34:33,800 --> 01:34:35,519 Speaker 3: So we can all give ours to Gene Wide. 2058 01:34:35,520 --> 01:34:37,439 Speaker 4: Okay, well, I'll give it to Gene Wilder. I'll give 2059 01:34:37,479 --> 01:34:42,400 Speaker 4: mine to Brickus and Newly because that damn song pure imagination. 2060 01:34:42,800 --> 01:34:44,600 Speaker 4: I could have sung that melody ever since I was 2061 01:34:44,640 --> 01:34:47,679 Speaker 4: a kid. And the Candy Man, The Candy Man, Yeah, 2062 01:34:47,720 --> 01:34:51,280 Speaker 4: they wrote some great music, and this movie it's odd 2063 01:34:51,320 --> 01:34:53,559 Speaker 4: that it has touch good music in a sense outside 2064 01:34:53,600 --> 01:34:55,840 Speaker 4: of again, the traditional Hollywood system, So I'll give. 2065 01:34:55,760 --> 01:34:56,160 Speaker 1: It to them. 2066 01:34:56,439 --> 01:34:57,800 Speaker 4: That brings us to the end of our coverage of 2067 01:34:57,800 --> 01:35:00,639 Speaker 4: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Aaron. I just really 2068 01:35:00,640 --> 01:35:02,720 Speaker 4: want to reiterate what a pleasure it was to listen 2069 01:35:02,760 --> 01:35:05,200 Speaker 4: to your show, thank you, and what a treat it 2070 01:35:05,360 --> 01:35:08,080 Speaker 4: was to have you on as an expert on Roll 2071 01:35:08,120 --> 01:35:11,640 Speaker 4: Dall and all of this material. It's so illuminating and 2072 01:35:11,680 --> 01:35:14,880 Speaker 4: it's such an interesting story. Please plug your show, tell 2073 01:35:14,920 --> 01:35:16,840 Speaker 4: the folks where they can find it, and anything else 2074 01:35:16,840 --> 01:35:18,639 Speaker 4: that you have going on that they should check out. 2075 01:35:18,840 --> 01:35:21,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's called The Secret World of Roll Doll And 2076 01:35:21,120 --> 01:35:23,759 Speaker 1: it's on Apple, it's on Spotify, it's wherever you're listening 2077 01:35:23,760 --> 01:35:25,960 Speaker 1: to this, you can listen to it. We just aired 2078 01:35:26,000 --> 01:35:28,960 Speaker 1: our ninth episode, but we've got another one coming up, 2079 01:35:29,000 --> 01:35:31,120 Speaker 1: and then we've got some bonus episodes and hope to 2080 01:35:31,120 --> 01:35:34,160 Speaker 1: do a whole nother season. So probably not about Roll Dall, 2081 01:35:34,280 --> 01:35:37,519 Speaker 1: but another interesting profile of someone who has a bit 2082 01:35:37,520 --> 01:35:40,320 Speaker 1: of a secret life. And yeah, I just want to 2083 01:35:40,320 --> 01:35:42,040 Speaker 1: thank you guys so much for having me on. This 2084 01:35:42,080 --> 01:35:44,920 Speaker 1: is a great show. I'm a giant movie buff and 2085 01:35:45,400 --> 01:35:48,360 Speaker 1: you know I love these sort of very completest, very 2086 01:35:48,400 --> 01:35:50,280 Speaker 1: research heavy episodes that you guys do. 2087 01:35:50,560 --> 01:35:52,360 Speaker 3: Thank you so much, and thank you so much for 2088 01:35:52,400 --> 01:35:54,880 Speaker 3: being here. This was really fascinating and now you've got 2089 01:35:54,920 --> 01:35:58,160 Speaker 3: me thinking about who else could you cover in another 2090 01:35:58,360 --> 01:35:59,960 Speaker 3: wonderful season of the Secret World. 2091 01:36:00,439 --> 01:36:01,320 Speaker 1: Send me ideas. 2092 01:36:01,400 --> 01:36:02,800 Speaker 3: I feel like you've got one and you'll have to 2093 01:36:02,800 --> 01:36:05,160 Speaker 3: tell us off and we'll know and then you'll all 2094 01:36:05,200 --> 01:36:07,080 Speaker 3: have to wait until season two comes out. 2095 01:36:07,360 --> 01:36:08,680 Speaker 1: I got a few ideas. 2096 01:36:08,800 --> 01:36:10,479 Speaker 3: All right, thank you so much. 2097 01:36:11,439 --> 01:36:11,719 Speaker 1: Guys. 2098 01:36:11,720 --> 01:36:13,760 Speaker 4: If you're enjoying this podcast, there's a few easy ways 2099 01:36:13,760 --> 01:36:16,400 Speaker 4: to support us. Lizzie, can you tell the fine folks 2100 01:36:16,439 --> 01:36:19,439 Speaker 4: at home how they can keep this chocolate factory churning? 2101 01:36:19,760 --> 01:36:22,400 Speaker 3: I sure can. You can tell a friend or family 2102 01:36:22,439 --> 01:36:24,840 Speaker 3: member about this show. You can leave us a rating 2103 01:36:24,960 --> 01:36:27,439 Speaker 3: review on whatever Podcascher you are listening to this on. 2104 01:36:27,520 --> 01:36:29,120 Speaker 3: You can give us a shout out, or you can 2105 01:36:29,160 --> 01:36:31,599 Speaker 3: follow us on social media at what Went Wrong Pod 2106 01:36:31,680 --> 01:36:35,759 Speaker 3: on Instagram and TikTok. You can subscribe to this show 2107 01:36:35,880 --> 01:36:38,080 Speaker 3: in both Spotify and Apple, and if you do that, 2108 01:36:38,120 --> 01:36:41,799 Speaker 3: you will get one bonus episode every month, at least one. Honestly, 2109 01:36:42,160 --> 01:36:44,320 Speaker 3: it's probably more than that. At this point, we did 2110 01:36:44,360 --> 01:36:46,360 Speaker 3: a whole bunch for the Oscars and we really enjoyed it. 2111 01:36:46,400 --> 01:36:48,479 Speaker 3: So we're going to keep doing a minimum of one 2112 01:36:48,520 --> 01:36:51,800 Speaker 3: bonus episode every month behind the paywall for you subscribers. 2113 01:36:51,800 --> 01:36:53,479 Speaker 3: And then if you want to go the extra mile, 2114 01:36:53,880 --> 01:36:57,280 Speaker 3: you can subscribe to us on Patreon and there you 2115 01:36:57,360 --> 01:37:02,200 Speaker 3: get everything I just mentioned, plus you get access to newsletters, polls, 2116 01:37:02,320 --> 01:37:05,799 Speaker 3: extra credit, the fan community, and an ad free feed 2117 01:37:06,000 --> 01:37:08,360 Speaker 3: of the show. And if you want to really turn 2118 01:37:08,400 --> 01:37:12,200 Speaker 3: it up to eleven, you can, for fifty dollars a 2119 01:37:12,240 --> 01:37:15,320 Speaker 3: month become a full stop patron and get a shout 2120 01:37:15,320 --> 01:37:17,800 Speaker 3: out at the end of every episode, just like one 2121 01:37:17,800 --> 01:37:18,200 Speaker 3: of these. 2122 01:37:18,680 --> 01:37:20,519 Speaker 4: So, since we've done a lot of songs recently and 2123 01:37:20,560 --> 01:37:23,320 Speaker 4: impressions and David opened this episode with an amazing oopa 2124 01:37:23,360 --> 01:37:25,200 Speaker 4: lupa song, I thought we could mix things up a 2125 01:37:25,240 --> 01:37:28,080 Speaker 4: little bit. I'll read everybody's names and then I have 2126 01:37:28,200 --> 01:37:32,599 Speaker 4: selected candy from Willy Wonka's Factory for the heroes of 2127 01:37:32,760 --> 01:37:34,840 Speaker 4: every one of the movies that we've covered thus far 2128 01:37:34,960 --> 01:37:37,880 Speaker 4: this year. All right, so the full stop shout outs 2129 01:37:37,920 --> 01:37:42,880 Speaker 4: go too. Adrian Pang, Korea, Angeline, Renee Cook, Beatrix Earhart, 2130 01:37:43,080 --> 01:37:49,280 Speaker 4: Ben Hindelman, Blaze, Ambrose, Brian Donahue, Britney Morris, Brooke, Cameron Smith, 2131 01:37:49,560 --> 01:37:54,360 Speaker 4: c Grace, b Chris lel, Chris Zaka, David Frisco, Lante, 2132 01:37:54,640 --> 01:37:59,920 Speaker 4: Darren and Dale, Conkling, Don Scheibel, m Zodia, Evan Downe, Felicia, 2133 01:38:00,720 --> 01:38:05,400 Speaker 4: Film It Yourself, Frankenstein, Galen and Miguel, The Broken Glass Kids, 2134 01:38:05,760 --> 01:38:08,240 Speaker 4: The cast and Crew of win a Trip to Browntown. 2135 01:38:08,680 --> 01:38:14,040 Speaker 4: Grace Potter Half Greyhound, James McAvoy, Jason Frankel, j J Rapido, 2136 01:38:14,520 --> 01:38:20,400 Speaker 4: Joy Hillpiper, Jose Emilano, Salto del Giorgio, Karina Canaba, Kate Elrington, 2137 01:38:20,600 --> 01:38:25,479 Speaker 4: Kathleen Olsen, Amy Olgishlager, McCoy, Lazy, Freddie, Lenna l j 2138 01:38:26,080 --> 01:38:32,360 Speaker 4: Lydia Howes, Mark, Bertha, Mary Posis, Humans, Matthew Jacobson, Michael McGrath, 2139 01:38:32,680 --> 01:38:38,839 Speaker 4: Nate the Knife, Rosemary Southward, Rural Juror, Sadie Just Sadie Scott, 2140 01:38:38,840 --> 01:38:45,360 Speaker 4: O'sheita Somnchinani, Steve Winterbauer, Suzanne Johnson, the Provost Family where 2141 01:38:45,400 --> 01:38:50,000 Speaker 4: the o's sound like oh's, and Tom Kristen okay. So 2142 01:38:50,080 --> 01:38:53,400 Speaker 4: here are the candy shoutouts for Lawrence of Arabia as 2143 01:38:53,400 --> 01:38:56,559 Speaker 4: he crosses the food, ice cream that never melts, for 2144 01:38:56,680 --> 01:38:59,559 Speaker 4: Sarah in the Labyrinth, Fizzy lifting drinks so she can 2145 01:38:59,600 --> 01:39:03,479 Speaker 4: always her way out for Derek and American History, X 2146 01:39:03,800 --> 01:39:06,840 Speaker 4: stick jaw for talkative parents so he'll just shut up 2147 01:39:06,840 --> 01:39:10,439 Speaker 4: a bit. For a Cura Curasawa's crew, hot ice creams 2148 01:39:10,479 --> 01:39:13,439 Speaker 4: for cold days. When shooting the Seven Samurai Climax in 2149 01:39:13,479 --> 01:39:17,719 Speaker 4: the rain for Forrest Gump, everlasting gobstoppers for his runs 2150 01:39:17,760 --> 01:39:21,280 Speaker 4: across the country. For Rick and Casablanca, square suites that 2151 01:39:21,320 --> 01:39:23,719 Speaker 4: look round because it is possible to be two things 2152 01:39:23,760 --> 01:39:27,320 Speaker 4: at once. For Sean Connery in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, 2153 01:39:27,479 --> 01:39:29,599 Speaker 4: magic hand fudge. When you hold it in your hand, 2154 01:39:29,600 --> 01:39:31,439 Speaker 4: you taste it in your mouth, and this way his 2155 01:39:31,479 --> 01:39:34,360 Speaker 4: hands will be occupied. For Bob Evans and the Cotton Club, 2156 01:39:34,400 --> 01:39:36,719 Speaker 4: a machine with white powder sprang out of it because 2157 01:39:37,200 --> 01:39:39,720 Speaker 4: you get it. For Miles and Spider Man into the 2158 01:39:39,760 --> 01:39:42,519 Speaker 4: Spider Verse, rainbow drops. Suck them and you can spit 2159 01:39:42,600 --> 01:39:46,280 Speaker 4: in six different colors, one for each Spider person. For 2160 01:39:46,360 --> 01:39:49,519 Speaker 4: Seth Rogen in the Interview, exploding sweets for your enemies, 2161 01:39:49,760 --> 01:39:52,519 Speaker 4: for the cast of Game of Thrones, cavity filling caramels 2162 01:39:52,560 --> 01:39:55,360 Speaker 4: so you don't die of dental disease in Westros. For 2163 01:39:55,439 --> 01:39:59,040 Speaker 4: Florence Pew and don't worry, Darling, lickable wallpaper. And for 2164 01:39:59,160 --> 01:40:02,519 Speaker 4: Leonard Shelby, chewing gum that never loses its flavor you 2165 01:40:02,680 --> 01:40:08,000 Speaker 4: endlessly searching gumshoe. Detective Lindzy, can you tell the folks 2166 01:40:08,000 --> 01:40:09,880 Speaker 4: at home what we have coming next week? 2167 01:40:10,160 --> 01:40:15,120 Speaker 3: Well, we have a really uplifting, happy movie that we're 2168 01:40:15,120 --> 01:40:17,719 Speaker 3: covering next week, very much in the same genre as 2169 01:40:17,720 --> 01:40:20,960 Speaker 3: today's children's movie, and that is, of course Martin Scorsese's 2170 01:40:21,360 --> 01:40:23,960 Speaker 3: Taxi Driver. But this is very important. We are going 2171 01:40:24,000 --> 01:40:27,200 Speaker 3: to have a bonus episode airing on Friday that will 2172 01:40:27,240 --> 01:40:31,519 Speaker 3: be covering the stocking case that happened to Jodie Foster 2173 01:40:31,760 --> 01:40:34,160 Speaker 3: kind of as a result of Taxi Driver. It will 2174 01:40:34,200 --> 01:40:36,320 Speaker 3: be an important precursor to listen to that before you 2175 01:40:36,360 --> 01:40:38,280 Speaker 3: listen to the main episode. So come back to this 2176 01:40:38,320 --> 01:40:41,080 Speaker 3: feed on Friday for a special out of frame episode 2177 01:40:41,080 --> 01:40:44,000 Speaker 3: on that case, featuring Chris. Do you want to reveal 2178 01:40:44,000 --> 01:40:44,880 Speaker 3: our guests. 2179 01:40:45,040 --> 01:40:50,880 Speaker 4: The hosts of the incredibly popular Red Handed podcast who 2180 01:40:50,960 --> 01:40:53,320 Speaker 4: joined us all the way from across the Pond and 2181 01:40:53,360 --> 01:40:58,120 Speaker 4: shed a lot of light into this unusual situation. 2182 01:40:58,320 --> 01:41:01,439 Speaker 3: That's right, we have Hannah Maguire and Sarutibala on the show. 2183 01:41:01,479 --> 01:41:04,400 Speaker 3: They were wonderful, So please come back on Friday. Listen 2184 01:41:04,400 --> 01:41:06,280 Speaker 3: to that out of frame episode first, and then on 2185 01:41:06,360 --> 01:41:09,840 Speaker 3: Monday we will be back with Taxi Driver. See you 2186 01:41:09,880 --> 01:41:11,440 Speaker 3: then bybye. 2187 01:41:12,360 --> 01:41:15,400 Speaker 1: To support what Went Wrong and gain access to bonus episodes, 2188 01:41:15,520 --> 01:41:19,040 Speaker 1: subscribe on Patreon, Apple or Spotify for five dollars a month. 2189 01:41:19,439 --> 01:41:22,519 Speaker 1: Patreon subscriptions also come with an ad free RSS feed. 2190 01:41:22,720 --> 01:41:25,280 Speaker 1: You can also visit our website What Went wrongpod dot 2191 01:41:25,320 --> 01:41:27,719 Speaker 1: com for more info. What Went Wrong is a sad 2192 01:41:27,720 --> 01:41:31,439 Speaker 1: boom podcast presented by Lizzie Bassett and Chris Winterbauer. Post 2193 01:41:31,479 --> 01:41:35,120 Speaker 1: production in music by David Bowman. This episode was researched 2194 01:41:35,120 --> 01:41:37,680 Speaker 1: by Laura Woods and edited by Karen Kruppsaw.