Charlie and the Chocolate Factory teaser up
The teaser for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is now up at Yahoo!, for those who are interested. It should be attached to movies beginning this weekend.
One good thing about a movie like this is that you don’t have to worry about the trailer spoiling the movie, because the story is already familiar to most people. If you go through the teaser frame by frame, you can match up pretty much everything with events from Roald Dahl’s book. That’s not to say there aren’t some surprises in the movie, though.
Thanks to reader Steve for pointing out the link.
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December 9th, 2004 at 11:25 pm
Just visually speaking, I want to know what it’s like to have Tim Burton bring your pages to screen. Does this (or Big Fish) look anything like you imagined it would?
December 9th, 2004 at 11:33 pm
Just saw the trailer John, it kicks all kinds of ass. I have been holding off on reading the book, cause I wanted to see the film first. You and Tim knocked it out of the park with Big Fish, looks like you’re gonna do it again. It looks amazing man, congrats.
December 10th, 2004 at 12:23 am
Wow Congratulation to John, the film looks fantastic with a new lease on life feel about it. I watched it at Yahoo! But I’m waiting on a direct link so that I can save it to my PC and watch it in full screen.
It kind of makes me want to go out and read the book.
December 10th, 2004 at 8:20 am
Richard, by all means, read the book. It won’t spoil anything for you (particularly if you’ve already seen the earlier filmed version), and you’ll get a sense of how much range there is in adapting material.
David, I never know exactly how things are going to look with Tim Burton. He can create things better than I can imagine, so I try not to get too fixated about how it looks in my head — since it will always be different and amazing. I didn’t watch dailies, so the first I saw of many of these shots was in the teaser.
December 10th, 2004 at 9:19 am
Hi John,
I’m a big fan of Dahl’s and it feels like you got the creepy meets fantastic elements that make his books so wonderful. What was it like walking that fine line as a scriptwriter? Was there anyone (besides Burton) you went to for advice how to keep it on that path? Also, I tend to have a style that tries to walk that fine line, but sometimes I find myself going to far one way or the other because I am concerned about people “getting it.” Is there advice you can give on staying true to that vision?
Thanks!
Ryan Schriml
December 10th, 2004 at 4:30 pm
I never know what ym reaction to a Tim Burton film is until after I finish it.
The trailer looks impressive though.
December 10th, 2004 at 10:39 pm
Trailer looks fantastic. I’m on a kids lit reading craze and have just put Charlie ( along with The Phantom Tollboth and Peter Pan )on hold at the local used bookstore, and now I see the trailer.
Did Jennifer Aniston & Brad Pitt have much to do with the movie, or just their company, Plan B?
December 11th, 2004 at 1:11 am
First of all, John, I am a huge admirer of your work and I’ve been a Tim Burton fan since I was 10. But the teaser trailer for Willy Wonka, to me, was creepy. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen the Gene Wilder movie, I don’t know…but I wonder if kids will be freaked out by this new version…? Of course, I have yet to see the actual movie, but visuals and the scary song gave me a strange reaction.
December 11th, 2004 at 11:32 am
I think the creepy part is fine- I was creeped out and outright scared at many points in the original Willy Wonka as a child. And I still enjoyed the movie. I used to be scared of the Oompa Loompas.
December 11th, 2004 at 11:04 pm
Loved it, John… loved it! I think yours and Tim’s film will complement the original Gene Wilder version and Roald Dahl’s book nicely.
For the gentleman looking for a direct link to the trailer for download, I’m only too happy to oblige: http://mp3content02.bcst.yahoo.com/bmfroot04/BMFShare04/yahoomovies/14/10140074.mov .
Yes, I think much of Willy Wonka outright is fairly creepy to kids… count me as another who was more than slightly freaked out at several points in the Gene Wilder film. I’m going to revisit the book shortly, too, so you’re not alone, Bri! ([i]The Phantom Tollbooth[/i] is an always most excellent read, as with [i]Peter Pan[/i], and, for that matter, Dave Barry’s new [i]Peter and the Starcatchers[/i]. And for another old Dahl classic, [i]James and the Giant Peach[/i] is fun – I recently got the book on CD to listen to… all too splendid!)
December 11th, 2004 at 11:05 pm
Ooops, and apparently I’m far too brainwashed by today’s message board systems. My apologies for the bad HTML.
December 12th, 2004 at 12:22 am
Is this new version a musical?
December 12th, 2004 at 5:48 am
Great. Thanks George. Someone mentioned Peter Pan, which was a fine example of a good adaptation of a childrens book – movie. But in reality the film didn’t do very well at the box office, compared to the films large budget.
December 12th, 2004 at 2:08 pm
Love the new Charlie trailer. Despite the fact that the characters look familiar and some of the scenes are recognizable (Augustus in the river, the tv room), it has a completely different vibe than the Gene Wilder movie.
Did you feel a temptation to deviate from the text a little just because the 1971 movie is so well-known and you thought you needed some plot twists to avoid comparisons?
December 13th, 2004 at 3:34 am
Richard, it’s not about box office sales anymore. It takes a huge flop for a film to not make it’s money back, do to DVD sales. But in all honesty, has it really come down to box office sales=good?
Jim, of course the characters and scenes look familiar, it was taken out of the same book. It’s just a testament of how both films credit the source work. I mean true, John could have just said, “Instead of a chocolate river, let’s make Augustus fall into a river of battery acid.” But why?
And although both films may have similar scenes, characters, situations, etc. It’s the vision of John and Tim that will set the distinction of the film.
As I recall, John didn’t watch the Gene Wilder movie before he wrote the script.
December 13th, 2004 at 11:36 pm
John,
Is this more of a family film or more of a creepy film? It just seems as if it is being sold more as a family film than I had imagined it would be. I also did not read the book, but have seen the earlier film version. Thanks.
December 14th, 2004 at 3:34 pm
I just hope that this re-telling will be magical and not just creepy. I expect a little bit of creepy from Tim Burton but this is a beloved children’s book and I hope that his vision doesn’t devour the story — if he mixes in a bit of the enchantment from “Edward Scissorhands” then I think it will work.
June 14th, 2005 at 7:19 am
I liked this trailer, but I was kind of freaked out about the puppets, because I am used to the Gene Wilder version. Actually, I used to be scared of the Gene Wilder version too, because when I was 6 I saw Violet turn into the blueberry, and I got so scared (I wouldn’t chew gum for a while)!