Fifty years ago, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory opened in theaters. It was June 1971, and... well, to be honest, the film didn't make much of a splash, and quickly faded into obscurity. However, as the years went by, the adventures of Charlie in a candy-colored wonderland only grew in popularity, becoming more and more beloved by new generations of children.
Today, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a universally beloved classic, even more than the 1964 Roald Dahl book on which it's based. It spawned a 2005 remake starring Johnny Depp and multiple new versions of the classic story are in development at Netflix and Warner Bros. Even fifty years later, Willy Wonka is as relevant as ever. No small part of the film's success is due to the incredible casting; Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson, and Roy Kinney make up some of the bigger names among the adult cast members, but the child actors were none too shabby themselves, perfectly capturing the whimsy of children on the adventure of a lifetime... Well, until most of them get dragged away by Oompa-Loompas, at least.
While celebrating the 50th anniversary of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Peter Ostrum, Julie Dawn Cole, Paris Themmen, and Michael Bollner all spoke to Screen Rant about their work on that original film. If their names aren't familiar, fans of the movie might know them better as Charlie Bucket, Veruca Salt, Mike Teevee, and Augustus Gloop. Sadly, the final Wonka kid, Denise Nickerson, who played Violet Beauregarde, passed away in 2019.
Screen Rant: This is a historic event! First things first, if any of you are diabetic, I think we can sue this Wonka guy for everything he's got. Who's in?
Paris Themmen (Mike Teevee): I'm in.
Okay. No, seriously. 1971. 50 years. Maybe as kids you don't think that far ahead, I mean, I'm 30, and I stop myself from ever thinking that far ahead, but did you ever think this would be such a cultural milestone for generations of people?
Peter Ostrum (Charlie): Never in a million years. (Laughs)
Julie Dawn Cole (Veruca Salt): Or not even in 50 years!
Peter Ostrum (Charlie): But here we are.
I know that you all did some acting and you did other things, and you had your own careers. I'm wondering when you were younger and trying to distance yourself from this overwhelming opus, did you ever feel like... Maybe I'm being melodramatic, but Peter denying Christ?
Peter Ostrum (Charlie): Well, it wasn't... When it opened, Zak, it was not an overwhelming success at all. So... you could deny it and people said, "No problem." It wasn't that big of a hit! It was only years later that it acquired so much notoriety. We're probably talking 20, 25 years into it, that people started looking back and realizing what kind of a gem the film actually was. But initially, it really was not that popular, it kind of came and went. It was easy to walk away from, because there wasn't a whole lot there, initially. Initially.
Paris Themmen (Mike Teevee): I would say also, that whereas I spent a lot more time embracing it in the years since then... I don't get that question a lot, by the way, and it's interesting that Peter answered the question about Peter denying! But anyway, we'll get past that. There was a time when it first came out, before it was popular, that the other kids used to sing the Oompa Loompa Song to me, sort of relentlessly. And I had that feeling of, like, "No, stop!" As a child, they tried to use it to torture me, briefly, at that time. And that's the closest I would say to a period where I would have had to deny it.
Julie Dawn Cole (Veruca Salt): I think I went through a period where kids that knew me, then started calling me names. They called me stuck-up and spoiled and rich girl. It didn't really last, and it wasn't true. But it wasn't... As Peter said, it came and went. It wasn't something that we actually had to walk away from. It walked away on its own. But when it came back it was like, "Okay." And then it grew legs and the momentum. When we first reunited in 1997... so about 25 years later, it had some momentum. And then it grew and grew, and here we are, 50 years later, wow!
Maybe you'll get this a million times today, but two words: Gene Wilder. I mean, it's a family movie, I imagine everyone on the set was prepared to deal with the fact that most of the highest names on the call sheet were kids. But did Gene in particular have any sage moments for you? Did he get to become a surrogate paternal figure on set? Tell me a little bit about working with him... Or was he horrible?
Peter Ostrum (Charlie): No, (Laughs) Gene was wonderful! I've said this before, and I'll say it again, but both he and Jack (Albertson) kind of took me under their wing, so to speak. I was the newbie, the new kid on the block. No film experience. A little bit of theater experience, but they were wonderful to work with. And they provided a calming atmosphere on the set, so to speak. Both he and Jack did. Again, wonderful to work with. And nothing but fond memories from them. The success of that film, it goes back to Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson, and obviously the other kids in the cast, but they were really the stars of the film, initially. That's what people look back upon, and the success of that film, you can link it to Gene Wilder.
Julie Dawn Cole (Veruca Salt): And the warmth that Gene had, he just was. He was a very warm, kind-hearted, lovely person. You can't really fake that. That comes across. For me, there's that wonderful moment at the end when they are in the elevator, and he gives him a hug at the end. It brings a tear to my eye every time I see it. You just feel the warmth. It's real!
Paris Themmen (Mike Teevee): And I feel like I should mention, since you were talking about surrogate parents, Gene would have been Peter's surrogate dad, and he had a surrogate grandfather. The rest of us also had surrogate parents who were there, and there were some gems there. Dodo Denney, Roy Kinnear, who I think is probably the funniest actor in the whole movie. You know, etc. etc. We each had our own parents, and also, we each had... Mine, Dodo, she called me "Miner Kliner Mouse" because we were in Germany when we were shooting. So she gave me a little mouses as a present. My mom actually was there. Julie, your mom wasn't there. So I guess I had two moms in Germany. And you had a father and... What would you call your person, a nanny? What was she?
Julie Dawn Cole (Veruca Salt): A chaperone. I had my chaperone, yeah. I didn't have any family out there with me, but I had a chaperone/tutor. And Roy Kinnear. Yeah, as Paris said, each parent took their own kid under their wing.
The 50th anniversary 4K Blu-ray release of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is out now.