SINGAPORE – There was only one actor that director Paul King had in mind to play a diminutive, sarcastic Oompa Loompa: one-time romantic comedy star Hugh Grant.
The British film-maker felt the English actor’s knack for playing cynical, grumpy old men would make him ideal to play the chocolate-loving small-sized being in the film Wonka.
The origin tale of Willy Wonka and how he becomes the kooky chocolatier in British writer Roald Dahl’s beloved classic Charlie And The Chocolate Factory opens in Singapore on Dec 6. The musical fantasy features American-French actor Timothee Chalamet as the titular confectioner.
While the book features many Oompa Loompas, there is only one of them in this film.
“Hugh embodies the curmudgeonly and unpleasant personality,” said King, 45, over Zoom. He was speaking from the London press conference of Wonka on Nov 29.
He had cast Grant in Paddington 2 (2017), in which he hammed it up as a failed actor and villain named Phoenix Buchanan.
While filming Paddington 2 was fun, being an Oompa Loompa could not be more different.
Grant’s character in Wonka was created using motion capture, and the experience, the 63-year-old said, was awful and miserable.
“It was like wearing a crown of thorns. It was very, very uncomfortable,” he said of having multiple cameras focused on his face to help the animators create his Oompa Loompa character.
“I made a big fuss about it. I did not know where I was, what was happening,” said the star of romantic comedies such as Notting Hill (1999) and Music And Lyrics (2007).
And when he thought the arduous process was over, he was called in two months later to do it all over again.
“This went on for two years. I couldn’t have hated the whole thing more,” he said.
King added with a laugh: “That’s the curmudgeon spirit.”
Grant, who has worked on films with lots of computer-generated imagery (CGI), such as Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves (2023), said he was still not used to being on a green-screen set.
“I kept asking, am I supposed to be acting with my body? And I never got a satisfactory answer,” he lamented. “Frankly, what I did with my body was terrible, and it has all been replaced by an animator entirely.”
Asked if it was all worth it when he saw his green-haired and orange-skinned miniature self, Grant gave a firm “no”.
“I still can’t really work out what’s me, where I end and where the animator starts,” he said. “It’s very confusing, with CGI now, you can’t tell what’s going on.”
While Grant’s character was created by CGI, the other cast members relished being on a physical set.
King engaged the services of award-winning Welsh chocolatier Gabriella Cugno to create the film’s bespoke confectionery, including an edible garden and tea cups. Cugno reportedly created hundreds of pieces of chocolates that were consumed through the filming.
Said Keegan-Michael Key, 52, who plays a corrupt Chief of Police: “The handmade bespoke chocolates were absolutely beautiful. I ate quite a bit.”
The American actor-comedian admitted he was asking if he could do more takes for his chocolate-addict character just to eat more sweets.
The spectacular set and chocolates aside, King said it was challenging and daunting to “tread in the footsteps of a storyteller as great as Roald Dahl”.
He added: “Dahl has written these extraordinary, enduring characters. The great thing about working in someone else’s universe is you get to stand on their shoulders, and we can play with all the ideas that he’d already come up with.”
The film-maker, who is known for the winning Paddington family films (2014, 2017), said Wonka is a film best enjoyed with the family.
“Willy made a lot of friends when he was alone in the city, and they became his family. Wonka is a film about family, the lasting impression of what your birth family gives you and the family you make along the way.”
So would Grant work with King again?
The father of five children, aged five to 12, said: “I slightly hate making films, but I have lots of children and need money.”
Wonka opens in Singapore on Dec 6.
