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Today marks the release of Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory 40thAnniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition, a new box set to celebrate one of the most popular family films of all time. Starring Gene Wilder in one of his most memorable performances, the story of Willy Wonka is a timeless classic that has an enduring legacy some four decades later. I had the rare opportunity recently to sit down and discuss this new anniversary collection with the film's renowned Director, Mel Stuart. It was a mesmerizing experience for me having grown up with this movie, so to have a chance to speak to the legend behind the film was as surreal as Wonka's chocolate factory itself. Here's what we had to discuss...
Paul Hunter: Hi Mel, it's a pleasure to meet you. You’ve been a director for many years now, how did you get started in the business?
Mel Stuart: I was a film researcher for Walter Cronkite and he was doing a series called The Twentieth Century and I didn't like working for a big network, I didn't like working for CBS, so I told him I'd keep working for him, but I'm also going to work on the outside. I started up my own business of film research and a man named David Wolper came to me and wanted to find some footage for his picture called The Race For Space, and I found it for him. He asked me what I thought of his picture and I said I thought it was badly edited, so he said come out to California and join our company. I went out to California and he told me about a documentary that had to be done about Willie Davis and the Dodgers. I told him I'd direct it, even though I had never directed a picture before in my life, and so he gave me the job. I went on from there to do documentary after documentary for Wolper Productions.
PH: In the fall of 1969 your daughter approached you and asked you to turn Charlie and the Chocolate Factory into a movie, can you describe this moment?
MS: Willy Wonka came about because my daughter read the book and screamed at me that I had to make a movie out of it. Now I mean is that luck, or is that not luck? (laughs). I wouldn't have read that book because I don't read children's novels, but that's how Willy Wonka came about. I thought the book was a very lovely children's story and I didn't think it was a movie I'd want to make. My daughter kept on insisting I make the movie, so I told her I met with Wolper to tell him the story, but then we forgot about it. A couple of months later we were at the Quaker Oats Company and they said we'd like to do a documentary, what do you have about chocolate? David told them we were working on this film about Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and they bought the idea. So that's how the picture came about.
PH: The original Roald Dahl novel was named “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, how did you end up changing the film's title to “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”?
MS: Very simple, the name Willy Wonka is a much better name to have people come see the movie. In other words, if somebody said to you what movie did you see last night? It's better to say Willy Wonka. If you say Charlie, it wouldn't mean anything. It was purely an idea to have a better name for the movie because Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory sounds much more interesting.
PH: The music in the film has become timeless. Was it your decision to add these musical pieces such as “Pure Imagination” and the “Oompa Loompa” songs?
MS: The music was added against my will, if you really want to know the truth (laughs). I wanted to make this picture for adults and not for children, so when they came to me with the idea of adding a score because Mary Poppins has a score and The Wizard of Oz has a score, but I was against it to be very honest. I couldn't do anything about it though, they felt it was important for sales for the movie to have a score. Then I heard songs like Pure Imagination and thought wow, that's fantastic. And overall the score is fantastic; it became so important for the film. That was a mistake that I'm glad I didn't make, not having music in it. For every scene the song has a particular reason behind it, so they brought these moments to life. The Oompa Loompa songs, everybody knows Oompa Loompa, and Pure Imagination, all of them add to a brilliant score and I'm just glad I was overruled.
PH: Let's talk about the recention the film had. Initially wasn’t a huge success, what do you think contributes to the films enduring legacy even today?
MS: When it first came out it was the early 70's, so maybe it was because at that time there were so many hard hitting movies that were a reflection of the political and social climate at the time. Willy Wonka wasn't distributed well by Paramount and it just sort of fell by the wayside. The most important thing that happened was that cable television came and there were more than three networks that began playing it. Then VCRs came in, which eventually turned into DVD, and people could buy it, which is something people couldn't do in the old days. There was simply no way to have a movie in your home. When it first came out a lot of kids saw the movie, and then when they became parents they gave it to their children. I think one of the reasons for the success of the movie was that I always intended to make the movie for adults. The Roald Dahl script was made with Shakespeare quotes and English poetry and it wasn't made for kids. I made it so that adults could enjoy it while they were watching it with their kids. My whole life I was used to doing documentaries so my outlook on life was very realistic; it was a big change to do a musical film with so many songs.
PH: Speaking of the 40th Anniversary release, you wrote an excellent book called “Pure Imagination” that tells the making of Willy Wonka. Tell me a bit about how this project started.
MS: When the picture became more popular, my son who's a big literary agent in New York, suggested I go and write a book about Willy Wonka because there's an audience for it. I started it with a guy named Josh Young, because I'm not a writer, and we put together a book with all the backstories of the making of Willy Wonka and how it came about. It discussed all the weird things that happened during the making of the film. The book was released and it sold out, then Warner Bros. told me they wanted to put it in their package for the 40th Anniversary release.
PH: Aside from “Pure Imagination”, what other surprises with fans find in this 40th Anniversary release?
MS: They have a DVD, a Blu-ray, and there's also a documentary film made about me with my kid and the making of the picture. There's a Golden Ticket in each package and if you get the right one it's a free trip to Hollywood. So if you buy the box it may be your Golden Ticket with this free trip.
PH: Great, well thank you so much for your time today Mel it was a pleasure to meet you and best of luck with the 40thAnniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition.
For more information on the Willy Wonka 40thAnniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition, check out the futureshop.ca product page here.
