Wonka’s Calah Lane speaks about what it was like to work with Timothée Chalamet on the set. Lane plays young teenager Noodle in Wonka, a friend of Willy Wonka who tag teams with him on his journey to become a renowned chocolatier. Directed by Paul King and starring Olivia Colman, Hugh Grant, and Keegan-Michael Key alongside Lane and Chalamet, Wonka is set for release on December 15.
In an exclusive interview with Screen Rant, Lane unpacks her experience working with Chalamet on the set of Wonka. Lane says she and Chalamet “became friends the moment we laid eyes on each other.” The young actress went on to praise Chalamet’s work, saying that “he’s really great at becoming his characters.”
It wasn’t hard to create chemistry. We really became friends the moment we laid eyes on each other. We just became best friends. And yeah, he’s super fun to work with. We did Thanksgiving together, and then we had chemistry not only on the screen, but off the screen too. I really love watching him get into character and watching him become the Willy Wonka because he did a really, really good job, and he’s really great at becoming his characters. Yeah, I love how he likes to go back and forth with Paul, and I love how he likes to talk to the director and figure things out. He’s really good at that.
Wonka Is Just The Latest Project To Showcase Timothée Chalamet’s Vast Range
While Chalamet takes on a more lively role in Wonka‘s cast, it represents a turn from his claim-to-fame roles. At 22 years old, Chalamet made a splash in the independent film industry when he earned an Oscar nomination for his role in Call Me by Your Name. Chalamet followed up this dramatic role with further dark material, including the addiction narrative Beautiful Boy and the cannibalism love story Bones and All.
That said, Chalamet has already shown off a wide range of roles even early in his career. As a teenager, he entered the sci-fi genre when he played Matthew McConaughey’s young son in Interstellar, which he later followed up by playing the lead Paul Atreides in Dune. The actor also played an offbeat comedic role under auteur director Wes Anderson in 2021’s The French Dispatch. The 27-year-old actor is still in the process of building up his career, and he is so far doing so via a vast array of projects.
Wonka is perhaps Chalamet’s most lighthearted role since his career took off. In the film, Chalamet is effervescent and vibrant, playing a curious young man who experiences exciting discoveries as a young inventor. Based on reactions to Wonka, Chalamet portrays this energy well, showing off even more of his wide-ranging abilities.
Wonka
Wonka is a prequel film to Roald Dahl’s classic novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and follows the origins of the legendary candy maker. From his first encounter with the Oompa Loompas to founding his deliciously magnificent headquarters, Wonka explores the character in a new light. Timothee Chalamet assumes the role of Willy Wonka himself.
- Release Date
- December 15, 2023
- Director
- Paul King
- Cast
- Sally Hawkins , Olivia Colman , Keegan-Michael Key , Rowan Atkinson , Timothee Chalamet , Jim Carter
- Genres
- Family , Adventure , Comedy
- Writers
- Paul King , Simon Farnaby
- Studio(s)
- Warner Bros. Pictures
- Budget
- $125 million
- Distributor(s)
- Warner Bros. Pictures
- prequel(s)
- Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory , Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
