Johnny Depp Developed His Willy Wonka Role Watching Children’s Shows
Actor Johnny Depp dove headfirst into the character of Willy Wonka in the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and he got his inspiration from watching children’s TV shows.
Depp’s interpretation of Willy Wonka was almost childlike, with some people comparing him to the persona Michael Jackson displayed. Depp, who often embraced character acting, said in this instance, he wanted to model Willy Wonka after someone who spoke to children in somewhat of a “musical” way.
“On this film with Willy Wonka there wasn’t specifically any one or two guys that were models, so to speak, for the character, but there were memories that I have of when I was a little kid of watching children’s shows and children show hosts,” he told IGN.
“And I distinctly remember, even at that age, their speech pattern and their kind of musical quality of the way they’re speaking to the camera, to the children. I thought, even then, it was really strange. I thought it was super bizarre because it was all, ‘Hello, children. How are you??’ You know, that kind of thing,” he mused.
Johnny Depp used Mr. Rogers as inspiration for Willy Wonka
Depp drew inspiration from the shows he watched as a child. “Guys that I watched like Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Rogers and Uncle Al became that main part of the ingredient. And game show hosts that I remember seeing and watching and thinking, ‘My God! They can’t be like that at home. They can’t actually be like that.’ Which sort of led me to believe that they put on a mask to get that all-important positive smile,” he recalled.
“So, that was the other side of Wonka. And then doing stuff for the look of Wonka was incredibly important. It was incredibly important to have a feel for it and to be able to put that costume on and click those veneers into my mouth and the teeth, which actually changed the shape of my face a little bit,” Depp said.
Willy Wonka also lives inside Johnny Depp
Depp used children’s shows to conjure who Willy Wonka is, but he revealed that there is a good amount of Wonka inside him.
“As a kid, from what I understand, I’d like to think I was like Charlie, but I don’t think I was,” he said. “My [mother] says that I was… she uses the term hellion. I wasn’t obnoxious or precocious, but I was curious. A lot of practical jokes and stuff like that. I got on her nerves, basically. I pissed her off quite frequently.”
Depp also squashed the notion that he was inspired by Michael Jackson for the character. “The weird thing is, that actually never occurred to me, that there would ever be any kind of connection to Michael Jackson,” he shared.
“It never entered my mind. I still don’t quite understand it,” Depp admitted. “I guess I can on one level because of the make-up and the children and the fantasyland kind of thing. But it seems weird to me. I say if there was anyone you’d want to compare Wonka to it would be a Howard Hughes, almost. Reclusive, germaphobe, controlling.”
