The prequel (like the 1971 film "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" starring Gene Wilder) is set to be inspired by Roald Dahl's 1964 novel, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" but will feature a younger version of Wonka than the one Wilder played.
In an interview with Time magazine published earlier in October, Chalamet opened up about taking on the role of the enigmatic chocolatier. He explained that working on "Wonka" was a pleasant experience because "it's not mining the darker emotions in life."
"It's a celebration of being off-center and of being OK with the weirder parts of you that don't quite fit in," Chalamet said.
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Recording music for the film at Abbey Road Studios (named after the street in London where it's located), on the other hand, made him feel like he was "desecrating history."
"I felt out of my league," Chalamet told the publication.
Earlier in October, Chalamet shared a photo of himself dressed as Wonka, wearing the iconic top hat and maroon coat the chocolatier is often seen wearing in movies, on social media.
Chalamet's casting as a young Wonka has at least two well-known fans - Paris Themmen and Peter Ostrum, the former child actors who played Mike Teavee and Charlie Bucket, respectively, in the 1971 film.
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"I think it's nice for them that they're not doing a remake, they're doing a prequel because that way it will avoid direct comparison," Themmen told Insider in July. "Especially in the area of Gene Wilder, that might always be a good thing because he was so wonderful in our version of the film."
Ostrum agreed, saying that "anything new that they can do with the character Willy Wonka is a positive," even though each adaptation of the book has been pretty different.
"The remake with Johnny Depp was very positive too - very different film than ours," Ostrum said. "But each, you know, has its own following."
He added: "It's exciting that they're doing a prequel. It will give more information. I want to know what happened to Willy Wonka prior to me meeting him."
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