I responded to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory because it respected the fact that children can be adults. That will carry on alongside this."But it's time for this classic book to have a new film made of it That film is now more than 30 years old The book is 40 years old It's time for it to be reinterpreted And what we loved about Tim was that he was so inventive. Warner are not doing this because they want in any way to stop their very precious and successful DVD of Willy Wonka. Johnny Depp described Tim Burton and Dahl as "a match made in heaven".More significantly, Amanda Conquy, who handles the literary estate, insists that they never saw it as a remake of the first film. "We think it is a new film based on the book of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," she says."Warner Brothers are still selling the DVD of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, which is very, very successful, particularly in the States where it has cult status for children.
With a back catalogue of dark and offbeat movies such as The Nightmare Before Christmas and Beetle Juice, he seemed closer in spirit to Roald Dahl than Mel Stuart was three decades ago. Warner Brothers have had the rights for about eight years, but only with the combination of Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and, as Charlie, Freddie Highmore (the young actor acclaimed for his performance in Finding Neverland) coming together some two years ago did the family give the project the green light.Burton was, of course, an intriguing prospect. "He would have loved it," Liccy said after a private screening. Dahl was said to have been disappointed with the original film, not least because he had wanted the altogether more eccentric Spike Milligan to play Wonka.Previous suggestions of a re-make had always fallen at the tough hurdles erected by the Dahl estate which, in an indication of the power it wields, had full approval on director, screenplay and lead casting. Genuinely innovative reinterpretations of a classic story, such as Baz Luhrmann's take on Romeo and Juliet, have fared better.Yet Felicity (known as Liccy) Dahl, Roald Dahl's widow, and other members of his family are confident that the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory would have secured Dahl's blessing and will come to surpass the sugar-coated 1971 version. "It's just some people sitting around thinking, 'How can we make some money?' Why else would you remake Willy Wonka?" he said in a bitter interview in America last month.
"I don't see the point of going back and doing it all over again." Film fans may well agree. From The Manchurian Candidate with Denzel Washington to Alfie with Jude Law, the evidence of recent remakes is that they prove to be a sad and unsatisfactory diminution of a good original.For all the jaw-dropping pyro-technics of Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds starring Tom Cruise, there are many who would argue for the 1953 version. For generations of children, Gene Wilder has been Willy Wonka. The mad chocolate-factory owner created by Roald Dahl was brought to life on the big screen in 1971 and has come to be a much-loved children's movie classic. Dalek sounded muddy and muffled following the pristine onslaught of Battles.In the more intimate theatre space, Barbara Morgenstern and To Rococo Rot's Robert Lippok produced melodic, gently undulating electronica. Black Galaxy and Kreepa teamed up with a resourceful fusion of guitar, trombone and electronics, the latter duo bringing in a home-made box which produced immediate hands-on noises.Michael Rother and Dieter Moebius were in of Neu! and Cluster in the Seventies, and promised to be a highlight, but 10 minutes into their set, the festival ended as Birmingham's centre of was evacuated.. So there were some jitters when it was announced that the chisel-cheekboned Johnny Depp was to reprise the role under the direction of the Edward Scissorhands creator Tim Burton Wilder himself accused the producers of money-grabbing.
