Timothee Chalamet to play Willy Wonka in new prequel film, Wonka

An emerging US actor has been revealed as the new Willy Wonka in the upcoming prequel movie.

The sugary world of Willy Wonka just got a little sweeter.

Timothée Chalamet will star as the title character in Wonka, reportedDeadline.

The Warner Bros. prequel takes us back to Willy Wonka’s early days, showing the confectioner as a young man who has not yet introduced the world to outrageous candies, such as lickable wallpaper, hair toffee and chocolate ice cream that never melts.

Despite the concerns of some Wonka obsessives — many of whom stand by the OG character embodied by Gene Wilder — to others, Chalamet, 25, seems like a natural for the role.

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Timothee Chalamet is set to play Willy Wonka in the upcoming prequel, Wonka. Picture: AAP Image/Brendon Thorne

For one thing, the movie promises musical numbers, which will allow the actor to show off his dancing chops: He became a TikTok sensation last year when people took to slowing down his dancefloor action in Call Me by Your Name and adding sparkle effects.

It took the bit from awkward to sexy with just a few strokes of the keyboard.

One person who won’t be surprised by Chalamet’s moves is 27-year-old Saoirse Ronan, with whom he co-starred in 2017’s Lady Bird and 2019’s Little Women.

During an appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers, the actress said, “Timmy is a really good dancer. He did ballet for a while.”

Of making the Oscar-nominated movie Little Women — in which they dance together — she said, “He would try to (change) the steps. I’d tell him that we should follow the ropes.”

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Actor Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka and the Oompa Loompas from the original Charlie and The Chocolate Factory.

Chalamet – whose other credits include Beautiful Boy and the upcoming Dune – is third in line to the Wonka throne.

Hollywood’s first version of novelist Roald Dahl’s candy man — from his novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory — was played by Wilder in 1971’s Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, and a second iteration came courtesy of Johnny Depp in a 2005 movie that shares the book’s title.

Johnny Depp also played the iconic role in a 2005 movie. Picture: AP Photo/Warner Bros. Pictures/Peter Mountain

On the upside, author Dahl — who died in 1990 — will not be around to critique Chalamet’s performance.

Despite getting paid $US300,000 for movie rights to his book, according to Storyteller: The Authorized Biography of Roald Dahl, he watched the 1971 flick and disliked the music, changes to his narrative — and even the casting of Wilder.

In summation, Dahl had a one-word description of the effort: “Crummy.”

This story originally appeared on NY Post and has been reproduced here with permission