Once upon a time, Hugh Grant was just the charming British actor your mom and aunts loved who made headlines for some indiscretions in the ’90s. Those days are over. Today, he has been a villain in various projects, is circling a horror film from A24, and, perhaps in an indirect connection to this second, will be starring in Wonka later this year as an Oompa Loompa and, well… you just have to see the thing.
The above photo from the film about the origin of the famous fictional chocolatier was first revealed by People and is now making the rounds on Twitter. In the film — which will also have various songs — Timothée Chalamet will bring a younger version of the role Gene Wilder made iconic to life, and, while some are curious, many online feel this thing is opening up a door to horrors they have only seen in nightmares.
It should be noted such unsettling imagery is more than par for the course in Roald Dahl stories and their subsequent adaptations. The original Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory film has a scene on a boat which features a shot of a chicken being beheaded (yes, really), Matilda somehow doesn’t run away from child abuse, murder, and suicide, and circling back to the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory story, the original Oompa Loompas came from Africa in the book, were not orange and did not earn money for their work. Elsewhere in the Twitter discourse, some reference this and one fan suggests a more interesting take would be following an Oompa Loompa tired of working for free for a wealthy and eccentric man.
Whether this will be touched on in the story — the Oompa Loompa played by Grant does not look like he is in that jar willingly in the photo — remains to be seen. For now, all anyone can do is bide their time until a trailer comes out and the full film comes into cinemas December 15 of this year. Not much is known about its plot, and, aside from Chalamet and Grant, it also features Keegan-Michael Key and even Rowan Atkinson. Just what they will do in the story is unknown at this time, as is what Sally Hawkins will do, though it has been confirmed Paterson Joseph of Timeless fame will be present as usual antagonist Arthur Slugworth.