John August

Projects

Everyone in London smokes

Charlie, News

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 — these eye disorders tend to plague me when starting production.

Imagine my relief when I realized the real reason for my miserable eyes: everyone in London smokes.

Now, this is not a slag on Londoners or their great city. Lord knows I love both. But I quickly realized the term “non-smoking room” means that the blankets are not currently on fire. And the non-smoking section of a restaurant is the table without an ashtray.

Yes, I know I’m spoiled coming from Los Angeles, where smoking indoors, or in the presence of any living creature, is considered abhorant. But here’s to social shaming. When I come home from dinner, I want to feel it in my stomach, not smell it on my clothes.

Truthfully, in my week here, I have seen a few people not smoking. But they were children, and looked a little daft.

Did I ever watch the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?

Charlie, QandA

I remember reading on IMDb, that you told Tim Burton that you had never seen the original [Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory](http://imdb.com/title/tt0067992/). 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 a remake or sequel or neither?

–Richard
Gold Coast, Australia

First off, I’m hesitant to say too much, because I don’t want to spoil anything about the new movie.

It’s true that when Tim Burton asked me to write [Charlie and the Chocolate Factory](http://imdb.com/title/tt0367594/), my first question was whether I should watch the original movie. (It’s not like I was raised off the grid by hippie survivalists, but somehow I had never seen it.) Tim urged me not to watch it until after I handed in the first draft, which I think was wise.

Halfway into my second draft, I finally watched the 1971 Gene Wilder version, and it was jarring. No disrespect to the movie, which is obviously beloved by a generation of my peers, but it was visually and narratively very, very different from Roald Dahl’s book. True, most of the main story elements were still there, such as the rotten children and the chocolate river. But some of the choices made – killing off Charlie’s father, adding Slugworth, the acid trip on the pink boat — wouldn’t have been my choices.

And in some ways, it’s great that the original movie did its own thing, because it gives the new movie a chance to use some of the overlooked parts of Dahl’s book. (But no, I won’t divulge which parts those are.)

Although the press will inevitably call this a remake of Willy Wonka, it should properly be called a new version of Roald Dahl’s book. I honestly think that if the 1971 movie had never been made, we would still be making this one. It’s testimony to the timelessness of Dahl’s books that they remain so popular today.

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

Charlie, Projects

davidkelly_240_001Continuing 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](http://imdb.com/title/tt0367594/) will be played by [David Kelly](http://imdb.com/name/nm0446303/).

(No, not the [guy who writes “The Practice.”](http://imdb.com/name/nm0005082/) It’s the guy who was in [Waking Ned Devine](http://imdb.com/title/tt0166396/).)

I haven’t met him yet, but I will next week when we have the cast reading in London. I’ll be over there for two weeks, so expect fewer updates until after production begins on June 21.

The status of Barbarella

Dead Projects, Projects

Paul Wood from Essex, England writes:

I contribute to a Drew Barrymore fan site ([The Drew Barrymore Collective](http://www.drew-barrymore.org/)). I was looking for updates on Barbarella because that’s the film I want to see more than any other. Would you be so kind as to give us an update on how the script is coming along? I’d be interested to know how far along the line the production process is and if the film is still on the cards.

Alas, unfortunately, all of the cards have been played. The project is dormant, and quite possibly dead.

To briefly recap the tumultuous history of Barbarella:

1. Drew asked me to write Barbarella while I was working on the first Charlie’s Angels. Being a huge fan of Drew and the original Barbarella, I said yes immediately. This was in 2000.

2. The underlying rights have always been a mess. Ultimately, Fox 2000 and Warner Bros. agreed to pool their respective rights and develop the project together.

3. Based on the rights they owned, the studios could develop a movie featuring the Barbarella character, but not the plot of the first movie. This wasn’t really much a problem, though, because it’s not like the original movie had a masterful plot anyway.

4. I turned in my first draft in April 2001, and my second draft later that year.

5. I flew to France and met with Michel Gondry, who was Drew’s first choice to direct it. But he really wanted her for another movie (which hasn’t been made yet).

6. Everyone got busy. I did the second Charlie’s Angels with Drew. Laura Ziskin, the other producer on the movie, did Spider-Man.

7. In 2003, we got everyone back together to figure out what the next step was on Barbarella. Unfortunately, we learned that the rights situation had gotten much more complicated. Unless we could get the movie into production within the next nine months, everything would fall apart. We couldn’t, so…

8. Everything fell apart.

9. Now the script is in limbo. Unless someone budges, the movie can’t be made because it involves a character we no longer own. It would be a good writing sample for me, except that I have actual produced movies people can see.

So that’s the sad history of Barbarella. Hopefully, something will change and Barbarella will get her day in the sun.