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Timothée Chalamet was born to play Willy Wonka.
Earlier this week, the first trailer for the musical prequel “Wonka” premiere, and speaking with Rolling Stone, director Paul King revealed how he cast the Oscar-nominated actor.
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“It was a straight offer because he’s great and he was the only person in my mind who could do it,” King said. “But because he’s Timothée Chalamet and his life is so absurd, his high school musical performances are on YouTube and have hundreds of thousands of views.”
There are a number of videos online of Chalamet’s performances from his time as a student at New York City’s Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts.
In one popular clip, Chalamet dances and raps a song called “Timmy Tim”.
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“So I knew from stanning for Timmy Chalamet that he could sing and dance really well,” King said. “And I knew that was in his arsenal, but I didn’t know how good he was. When I spoke to him he was quite keen. He’d done tap dancing in high school and he was like, ‘I’d quite like to show people I can do that.’ ”
Along with Chalamet, the film also features performances from Keegan-Michael Key, Sally Hawkins, Olivia Colman and Hugh Grant, who King previously worked with on “Paddington 2”.
“Wonka”, co-written by King and Simon Farnaby, opens in theatres Dec. 15.