PRODUCTION WONKA
S t Paul’s Cathedral has held many august events across the last 300 years, from the funeral of Admiral Lord Nelson to the wedding of Charles and Diana. Sir Christopher Wren’s baroque masterpiece has welcomed heads of state, spiritual leaders – and now a galloping giraffe, a flock of flustered friars and a bumbling, stumbling Rowan Atkinson. The cathedral’s latest selection of rather eclectic guests comes courtesy of a set piece in Wonka , which alongside Barbie and The Color Purple is one of Warner Bros’ hopefuls for the coming awards season. Of course, no animals or architectural marvels were harmed in the making of this movie – since the onus for crafting much of the on-screen mayhem at St Paul’s fell upon the visual effects supervisor Graham Page and his team at Framestore. “To shoot that scene, we had puppeteers and a full-scale puppet of a giraffe,” recalls Page, of the moment the titular chocolatier enters the cathedral atop a giraffe, “and we had to block out the scene we ran through with the monks — so you’ve got all these monks running around and falling over. Then, there is a full-scale giraffe and Rowan Atkinson dressed as a priest. And it’s all happening in St Paul’s – a rather serious place. It was just fantastic.” Fantastic is an appropriate word for Wonka . Directed by Paul King (known for Paddington and Paddington 2 ), the film acts as a prequel to Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , introducing a
THE SWEET SPOT The set is transformed into a whimsical world with a vibrant colour palette, aided by VFX flourishes from the Framestore team
young Willy Wonka (Timothée Chalamet) who’s bidding to change the world one chocolate at a time. “It was such a brilliant project because it’s got such a wide breadth,” continues Page. “It’s got the giraffe, flamingos, dogs and Oompa Loompa. There are huge environments and so many fun, quirky details, yet the world has still got to be tangible and real. It’s not swinging so far into fantasy or science fiction that you have free rein. You have to think about how to ground things and make them feel real.” The script is written by King and his Paddington 2 co-scribe Simon Farnaby
(who also stars as the zookeeper), and comes with the blessing of Dahl’s estate. King is clearly a fan, not only of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , but also the writer’s whole oeuvre – building his world with elements inspired by Dahl’s broader whimsical canon, like The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me or The Twits . He also paid close attention to Mel Stuart and Gene Wilder’s iconic 1971 Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory , and to Tim Burton and Johnny Depp’s 2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory . “The Gene Wilder film gave us a particular reference for the castle scene at the end of our film,” explains Page.
IMAGES Warner Bros
An Oompa Loompa, giraffes and a chocolate waterfall. Will Lawrence talks creating Wonka ’s madcap visual effects with Framestore’s Graham Page
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