Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory/Trivia


 * A Birthday, Not a Break: A bit inverted: While the scene with Julie Dawn Cole's character Veruca Salt and her "demise" after her "I Want" Song was filmed on October 26, 1970, the actress realized in real life that the date on which it was shot was actually her 13th birthday and no one remembered it and that Denise Nickerson would be Veruca's singing voice according to the DVD commentary.
 * Breakaway Pop Hit: A temporary case. For a little while, the opening number "The Candy Man" was better known than the film when it became a big hit for Sammy Davis, Jr., but once the movie became Vindicated by Cable, the cover version was dismissed as kitsch later.
 * The Sammy Davis, Jr. version has found use as a jingle/theme by Chris Evans on his BBC Radio 2 breakfast programme.
 * Disowned Adaptation: Roald Dahl hated the original movie adaptation of his book, to the point where he refused to allow the movie of the sequel to be made. However, his widow also said he would have loved the Tim Burton adaptation if he had lived long enough to see it, though some doubt that on basis of Roald Dahl being as the type who dislikes film and TV in general (see Author Filibuster.)
 * Hey, It's That Guy!:
 * When did the Waco Kid get into candy-making?
 * Charlie's Uncle Joe is Ed Brown.
 * Celebrated character actor Ray Kinnear is Veruca's father.
 * Tim Brooke-Taylor of The Goodies as an increasingly-irritated computer operator.
 * Life Imitates Art: Sort of. Julie Dawn Cole, who played Veruca, swiped a few props from the set, including a Golden Ticket and an Everlasting Gobstopper. However, she lost the mink coat that was made specifically for the movie, having apparently left it on the back of her chair when she went to lunch. The director yelled at her until she cried when he found out -- it was real fur.
 * Retroactive Recognition:
 * Julie Dawn Cole -- Veruca Salt -- would go on to be a well-known British actress.
 * Denise Nickerson -- Violet Beauregard -- would later be known as "Allison" from The Electric Company
 * Riff Trax: Mike Nelson and Neil Patrick Harris tackled this movie.
 * Shout-Out
 * "I'm a bird!" "I'm a plane!" "I'm... going too high!"
 * To the book's sequel: In the movie, Wonka mentions that Oompa Loompas were a favorite food of Vermicious Knids, which are the villainous alien race in Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.
 * Willy Wonka also makes several literary references, among them a direct quote from The Importance of Being Ernest ("The suspense is terrible, I hope it lasts") and another from Ogden Nash ("Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker").
 * What Could Have Been: Jean Stapleton was offerred the role of Mike Teevee's mother at the same time she was also being offered the role of Edith Bunker. Even the director, who begged her to be in the movie, later admitted that she made the right choice.


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