Archive for the 'Charlie' Category

• e  6 New interview up

  I did an interview this afternoon with Sam Heer at BlogTalkRadio’s 123Film station, in which we talked about Go, The Nines, the Burton movies and screenwriting in general.

• e  32 Writing on demand

  Screenwriting isn’t a career that only happens in hermit-mode.

• e  45 How long should it take to write a script?

  Knowing the answer is part of the craft, just like a cabinetmaker promising a delivery date.

• e  38 Simple is better than accurate

  Simplicity is not the same as idiocy, or pandering.

• e  49 Rethinking motivation

  Try replacing the question of what the character wants/needs with, “Why is the character doing what he’s doing?”

• e  2 Charlie on ABC

  In the U.S., ABC will be “network television premiering” Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on Saturday, Feb. 9th. Theatrical movies aren’t showing up on free television much anymore, but Charlie should work well. It falls into TV act breaks fairly naturally.

• e  11 Publicity 101

  It would be nice if the general public had some sense that movies are actually written, and that the actors aren’t making up their dialogue.

• e  98 Clive Cussler really, really dislikes Sahara

  An author rails against his Hollywood adaptation.

• e  42 Writing what can’t be shot

  Movies are about what characters do and say, not who they were before the story started.

• e  20 How accurate is the page-per-minute rule?

  Most screenplays are about 120 pages, and most movies are around two hours. But the conversion rate between paper and celluloid is rarely one-to-one.

• e  17 Charlie out on DVD

  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is out on DVD today (at least, in North America). There are three versions available: a widescreen version, a full screen version, and a two-disc set with bonus features.

  Obviously, don’t get the full screen version.

  It’s frustrating that they even sell one, much less call it “full screen.” In order [...]

• e  47 Why is Charlie so passive?

  In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, why is Charlie so passive in the movie?

  As the main character I would think he would do something during the big adventure in the factory but he does nothing. He faces no challenges. He is not tested in any way. He doesn’t even have the opportunity to make [...]

• e  66 Two big debuts

  This past weekend, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory opened to strong reviews and a hefty $56.2 million at the box office. I’m happy, of course, but that good news was eclipsed by even better news: the birth of my daughter on Monday.

  Her long-awaited arrival explains my lack of posting this past week, and the [...]

• e  16 Ton of Charlie clips online

  Reader Francois just pointed out a large selection of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory clips hosted at IESB. I’m sort of surprised Warner Bros. made so many available, but they all look authentic and authorized. (CUT TO: Me furiously deleting any reference to their existence after WB says they’re not allowed.)

  Presumably, these clips [...]

• e  18 I didn’t get here on my looks

  The summer issue of Written By magazine is out, and the cover story is about my involvement with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

  First the good news. The story by Mark Olsen is terrific, everything I could have hoped for. Often with reporters, you hold back a bit, because you’re nervous about being misquoted [...]

• e  15 Back from the Charlie press junket

  This weekend, I travelled to The Bahamas for the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory press junket. For those who aren’t familiar with the term, a press junket is a two or three day period during which the stars and filmmakers of a movie meet with the press (both domestic and international) to answer questions about [...]

• e  18 Deciding which parents get to visit the factory

  I have a question about your upcoming film, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. What made you decide to have each child bring only one guardian to Wonka’s factory, and how did you choose which one would go?

  –Michael Daphne, Alabama

  In Roald Dahl’s book, each of the four rotten kids (Veruca, Violet, Augustus and Mike) brings both of [...]

• e  11 Cheaper Charlie shirts

  Reader “Bri” was thoughtful enough to point out that Hot Topic has started selling less-expensive Charlie and the Chocolate Factory t-shirts. They’re perfect for your your rebellious kid sister who wants to express her individuality in a completely conformist way.

  The “Life Had Never Been Sweeter” shirt comes from a line of dialogue (narration, actually) [...]

• e  8 More Charlie goodness

  A sharp-eyed reader wrote in to point out that the flash site for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is now open for business. You can find a lot more downloads, but still no “Cast and Crew” section yet. Ahem.

  Also, the full trailer is now up at Apple, without any of that AOL baggage [...]

• e  18 Holy Buckets! It’s the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory trailer!

  The full trailer for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is finally here in all its Quicktime glory. For now, it’s exclusively at Moviefone, but you can see it in theaters starting on Friday. It should be attached to Madagascar most places.

  But why wait? You can see it here.

  Hint: Click on the [...]

• e  14 Official Charlie site updated

  A helpful reader named Ethan pointed out that the official site for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has been updated with new graphics and photos.

  Unfortunately, a quick mousing-around reveals that way too much of it is still “coming soon.” But at least there are now placeholders for some crucial omissions, such as filmmaker bios [...]

• e  12 Buy clothes Charlie Bucket couldn’t afford

  My best-dressed friend Jen sent me a link to Kitson, which has started selling a line of exclusive, and expensive, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-related merchandise.

  I certainly don’t lay any claim to the idea of Golden Tickets or t-shirts, but I was a little giddy to see that three of the slogan shirts feature dialogue [...]

• e  10 Annoying Trend Watch: Technorati spam blogs

  I use a Technorati watchlist to keep track of mentions of me, this site, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. (Note: last three links are feeds.) Technorati follows blogs, so it’s a nice way to gauge what topics people find interesting enough to write about. For instance, teenage girls tend to point out [...]

• e  1 New Charlie posters up

  Ain’t It Cool News has the six new one-sheets for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Five of the posters feature the young Golden Ticket winners, while the final one has a new image of Willy Wonka, with the appropriate tagline, “semi-sweet and nuts.”

  I hadn’t seen any of these one-sheets before this morning, but I [...]

• e  9 New Charlie poster

  I haven’t seen a physical version of it yet, but JoBlo.com has the artwork for the second Charlie and the Chocolate Factory poster. This one shows Freddie Highmore as Charlie, along with his four rotten tour-mates (Mike Teavee, Augustus Gloop, Violet Beauregarde and Veruca Salt).

  Before you ask:

  No, I don’t get any input on posters. [...]

• e  2 Wonka Industries open for business

  It’s easy to overlook, but on the main webpage for this summer’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, there’s an icon for Wonka Industries. One click takes you to the corporate site for the world’s most beloved chocolateer. A lot of stuff is still to-be-added, but click around and you’ll find some new images I [...]

• e  17 German (and French) Charlie teasers now available

  Warner Bros. Germany has their own version of the teaser trailer up for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or Charlie und die Schokoladen-Fabrik. I wouldn’t normally single it out, but they went through the effort to re-do the “Willy Wonka” song in German, and, well, it’s kind of amazingly great.

  Any Deutsch-speaking readers who’d like [...]

• e  18 UK Charlie teaser now up

  Warner Bros. UK has a new teaser trailer up for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It’s almost exactly the same as the US version, with the addition of some burning puppets about two-thirds of the way through, right after the lyric, “A magician and a chocolate wiz.”

  “What’s the deal with those flaming puppets?” you [...]

• e  4 New photos up

  Courtesy FilmForce, there are new photos up for two projects. Click on each for a larger version.

  The first is from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, showing most of the principal cast in the Chocolate Room.

  From left to right, the characters in the photo are Charlie Bucket, Veruca Salt, Grampa Joe (Charlie’s grandfather), Mrs. Gloop, [...]

• e  18 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 [...]

• e  22 Everyone in London smokes

  For the past week, I’ve been in London working on the last details for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. My eyes have been really dry and scratchy, which made me worry I was geting conjunctivitis (a.k.a. “pink eye”) or a stye (a.k.a. “who hit you?”). For various reasons — stress, lack of sleep [...]

• e  29 Did I ever watch the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?

  I remember reading on IMDb, that you told Tim Burton that you had never seen the original Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I don’t think I have read anything on your site about that subject. Have you in fact seen the original Willy Wonka? What do you advise on that anyway? And is Charlie [...]

• e  2 David Kelly to play Grandpa Joe in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

  Continuing my policy of only reporting stuff after it’s already public knowledge, I guess I’m now allowed to say that the role of Grandpa Joe in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will be played by David Kelly.

  (No, not the guy who writes “The Practice.” It’s the guy who was in Waking Ned Devine.)

  I haven’t [...]

• e  8 Everything is turned in

  For the first time in almost a year, I’m caught up on all my writing.

  Yesterday, I turned in the oft-delayed Tarzan, and this morning I emailed revisions on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Adding to the joyous feeling: this is a three-day weekend in the U.S. (Monday is Memorial Day), so I won’t [...]

• e  43 Freddie Highmore cast as titular Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

  I’m always reluctant to talk much about CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, because I never know what’s been approved by the studio for public release, and what’s supposed to be kept secret. But since this item showed up in Variety this week, I’m probably in clear mentioning that Freddie Highmore has been cast as [...]

• e  Comments Off AICN Charlie and the Chocolate Factory faux-review noted

  This morning, the good folks at Ain’t It Cool News put a correction up, stating that yesterday’s review of my CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY script was in fact bogus. I want to thank them, and especially Mr. Beaks, for taking care of it.

• e  21 AICN review of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory script is completely bogus

  This morning on Ain’t It Cool News, someone using the pseudonym Michael Marker posted what he claimed was a review of my CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY script. In fact, it was an elaborate and tedious piece of fiction. Not only did this guy not read the current draft, I suspect he’s never [...]

• e  Comments Off I’m not writing The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

  A few people have written in to ask if I’m working on the upcoming adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE. I’m not. A few months ago, I had a few phone calls with the director, Andrew Adamson, and read through some of the materials. Although I [...]