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Sunday, March 10, 2013

So Shines a Good Deed in a Weary World

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is one of the most twisted children's movies out there. Of course I'm referring to the version with Gene Wilder, who is completely twisted. And I love it. As a kid I wasn't so keen on it - I think I was scared of Wonka. The way he revels in the bad decisions the children make and doesn't do anything to save them when they are in danger. ("Stop. Police. Help.")

But when I revisited the movie as an adult years ago, I loved it. I loved everything about it. Wonka's weirdness is delightful to me now. Why is he so weird?? Why does he try to terrify everyone? What's up with that weird boat ride!?!? And the car wash scene? Weird, wacky stuff.

So when my friend invited me to come to a special showing of this movie at the Redford theater in Detroit, with guest appearances by the actors who played Charlie Buckett and Mike Teevee, I was suuuper excited!! And yesterday the day was finally here. It was magical, not only to hear some inside scoop from two of the stars of the movie, and see them in real life, but to watch the movie in a large theater with an equally large crowd was really special. When Charlie found the golden ticket, all the children in the theater gasped and squealed  It was adorable. When Veruca fell down the bad egg shaft, everyone cheered. And so on. It was such a fun way to experience a movie I love so much.

An extra nice touch was the organist who played music from the movie before the movie and during intermission. Magical.

Some of the inside scoop Charlie and Mike Teevee told us?

* Charlie really did sing his parts, but he didn't do his own burps in the fizzy lifting scene.
* Charlie filmed all of his running scenes before anything else, and when he finally met Gene Wilder, Gene said to him, "I never want to see you running again."
* The scene where Mike Teevee says, "Dad says I can't get a real gun," and his dad says, "Not until you're 12." took 45 takes.
* Charlie had great camaraderie with both Wonka and Grandpa Joe in real life.

Here are some pictures of the event:





"We are the magic makers and we are the dreamers of dreams."

3 comments:

Sara said...

I was so thoroughly entertained! Everything about it was great. Maybe the best day I've had out at the movie show!

Katherine said...

I agree with Sara! It was SO COOL!!

violet50 said...

It would have so much fun to be there!