If it weren’t for director Mel Stuart and producers Stan Margulies and David L. Wolper agreeing to Gene Wilder‘s one condition, Willy Wonka as we know him would have never existed. It might seem like an inconsequential detail to an outsider, but after reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, Wilder knew that an important aspect to Wonka’s character needed to make the final cut.
And that’s an air of mystery. Gene Wilder needed Willy Wonka to have an unknown, obscure, or enigmatic quality to set him apart from any regular chocolatier. We know him to be unusual by all means, but all throughout the movie, we can never tell if the things he says or does are rooted in actuality or mere fabrication.
According to Gene Wilder himself, whose interviews have surfaced posthumously on TikTok, it was make or break to have Willy Wonka act crippled, never truly revealing whether he was or he wasn’t. When Charlie and the other Golden Ticket winners arrive at Wonka’s factory, we see Gene Wilder emerge in all his glory, limping with a cane.
“And no one will know from that time on whether I’m lying or telling the truth,” Wilder says. “He [Mel Stuart] said, ‘You mean, if we don’t do that, you won’t do the part?’, and I said ‘Yeah, that’s what I’m saying.'” Gene mimics Stuart taking notes and mulling the decision over, then says reiterates him saying, “Okay, okay. We’ll do it.”
“And I meant it too,” Wilder continues. “Because it was a tricky part. But that element of ‘Who knows? Is he lying or is he telling the truth?’ was what my main motive was. And I liked that. It appealed to me a lot.”
In August 2016, Gene Wilder died from complications of Alzheimer’s disease, though he kept his diagnosis and prognosis quiet for three years, never wishing to sadden Willy Wonka fans.
And the rest is history. Willy Wonka has been adapted by Johnny Depp and now Timothée Chalamet since then, against Wilder’s best wishes, but as Sinéad O’Connor once said, nothing compares to you, Gene.